Light Dance Jiajing

The atmosphere in the Duke of Qian's Mansion was gloomy. The man sitting in the middle of the main hall was dressed in a gray robe. He was Mu Chaofu, the seventh-generation grandson of Qianning King Mu Ying. The Mu family had been passed down for seven generations until his death. Ever since their ancestor Mu Ying pacified the southwest, the Mu family was ordered to garrison here. Now the Mu family is prosperous and has long established roots in Yunnan. Mu Chaofu was wearing the same hat and belt as usual, only his face looked a little gloomy. The officials below him were all in official uniforms, sitting there in neat rows, each of them concentrating on thinking. In the past few days, they often went in and out of the Duke of Qian's Mansion just for the matter of the Miao bandits.

Mu Chaofu raised his eyes and said to an official, "Sir Wang, where are the bandits hiding now? How should we report it now?"

The man being questioned was none other than Wang Qian, the commander of Yunnan. Upon hearing the question, Wang Qian quickly clasped his fists and said, "My lord, I think the Miao bandits are nothing more than a temporary nuisance. However, they are escaping very quickly. Today, we received reports that they have penetrated deep into Burma and should have entered Ava territory. If it were before, you would have only ordered the Burmese envoy to kill them. But now Ava is facing internal and external troubles and cannot even protect itself. I am afraid that you have no time to take care of it."

The Burma-China Envoy was the title granted by the Ming court to the King of Ava. Ava used to be a vassal of the Yuan Dynasty, and then became a vassal of the Ming Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Mongols. Successive Ava rulers were friendly to China. However, in recent years, Ava and the Baigu Dynasty have been at war for years, and its national strength has been exhausted. Mubang and Mengyang in the north then joined forces to capture the capital of Ava. At this time, the King of Ava was no longer the original royal family, but the son of Mengyang chieftain Silun. Silun was afraid of the power of the Ming Dynasty and still paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty. The court was also unable to intervene in the internal struggles in Myanmar, so it simply gave the title of Burma-China Envoy to the current King of Ava as a fait accompli. The throne was not obtained in a legitimate way, which naturally aroused resistance from the Burmese. Now Ava is in constant civil strife, and the King of Ava can naturally be counted on at this time. Why didn't the Miao people stay in the border area where the barbarians live together, but fled to Myanmar? If we leave it alone, we will not be able to explain to the court if trouble occurs again in the future. But do we have to send troops deep into Myanmar? This is not as simple as saying it.

Mu Chaofu sighed and said, "The cost of sending troops far away is huge. Besides, the court is in great trouble in the north. How dare we lightly use the sword in the south before the trouble in the north is eliminated? Please report the truth. The Miao bandits escaped because I was not strong enough in pursuing them. I will wait and see what the emperor thinks."

The people at the head of the group understood what he meant when they heard his words. He was going to take the responsibility on themselves. The Mu family had been passed down for seven generations since Mu Ying had taken root in Yunnan. The successors of each generation were cautious and diligent, and they did not dare to slack off. Over the years, they had managed this mixed land of foreigners peacefully. The Mu family enjoyed high respect and love among the officials and people of Yunnan and Guizhou. When he said this, everyone stood up immediately. Yunnan Governor Rao Renkan said, "Your Excellency has worked hard to prevent the bandits from... If the problem becomes serious, it will be a crime. I am responsible for handling money and grain, adjusting taxes and labor service, rectifying military equipment, and pacifying the military and civilians, so I cannot escape the blame. "The Ming Dynasty official system governor was only a temporary assignment. Although he was in charge of the military and civilian affairs of a province, and the provincial government, the provincial judicial commissioner's office, and the provincial military commissioner's office were all under his control, the governor was still regarded as a Beijing official in terms of administrative and legislative status. This governor had only been in office in Yunnan for a year, so he probably could not be held accountable.

When he said this, the governor also hurriedly said: "As the head of a province, I have failed to fulfill my responsibility to protect the people and the country, and allowed bandits to run rampant. Where is the face of the court? I feel extremely guilty and I really have no face to rule the province anymore."

Hearing that the governor was going to resign, everyone knew the same thing. Although the Provincial Government was nominally the highest level of local administrative body, its authority was only over the administration and finance of a province. The Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office was an agency specializing in judicial and supervisory affairs, and also had the responsibilities of recruiting and training and supervising the army. The Military Commander-in-Chief was a military agency in charge of military and political affairs of a province, and it governed the garrisons and reported directly to the Ministry of War.

The heads of the three major institutions were all officials holding seals, and they were not subordinate to each other, but were directly under the leadership of the court. This dispersion of power and mutual checks and balances strengthened the court's direct control over the local areas, which was conducive to maintaining the centralized system. However, the fact that the three departments were not subordinate to each other also brought about the defect of inefficient operation of local institutions. Whenever there was a major event, the governor had to "meet in the capital, discuss it, and then report it to the relevant departments for approval. Especially when encountering local civil unrest or turmoil, the two departments had no right to mobilize the army and had to report it to the court, which often made it easy for the local areas to form a situation of losing control.

The Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and the Commander-in-Chief saw that the two senior officials were vying to show off in front of the Duke, and they hurried to speak out whether they were willing or not. As soon as they opened their mouths, Mu Chaofu waved his hand to interrupt them and said, "Don't say anything more. I will go to the court to petition the Emperor. My Mu family has been stationed in the southwest for generations. Thanks to the grace of God and the efforts of my colleagues, there has not been a famine for many years. Although Yunnan and Guizhou are not rich, the people have always lived in peace, and the Han and the Yi people are still in harmony. The Miao bandit chaos this time is really unpredictable. The most urgent task is to not allow the more than 20,000 bandits to make a comeback." Mu Chaofu naturally knew that without Even with the order from the Ministry of War, the commander-in-chief has no right to use troops. Even if he is in a high position and in charge of a region, he cannot mobilize troops from local garrisons. Although he has the power to make arbitrary decisions in the event of a major war, the Miao bandits have escaped, and they need to report to the court to organize troops and redeploy them. Mu Chaofu and a group of generals naturally know that the Miao bandits cannot just disappear like that. Unpredictable variables are waiting for them, especially in Yunnan and Guizhou, where the power of the chieftains is complicated. If they take the opportunity to cause trouble, it will be a headache to suppress them. Now everything has to wait for the emperor's order.

Although there have been no major wars in Yunnan and Guizhou over the years, the Yi people are mixed and the local chieftains are entrenched. The Mu family has been able to stand on this land until now, which is not without ability. Mu Chaofu pondered for a while, and had some ideas in his mind, so he said: "Now that the banditry has been quelled for the time being, we must not be careless in pacifying the military and civilians."

The governor quickly said, "Don't worry, sir. I will personally supervise the work and make sure the situation is stable and there is no chaos."

Mu Chaofu nodded and continued, "Continue to use large sums of money to recruit merchants traveling on the China-Myanmar border, and send them deep into the Burmese-controlled areas to scout out the mountains, rivers, roads, soldiers, food supplies, and other conditions. Report back at any time if you discover the whereabouts of the Miao bandits." The Censor also nodded in agreement.

Mu Chaofu turned to look at the commander-in-chief and said, "The bandit threat is unpredictable. Lord Wang should continue to command the guards not to slack off and be ready for war at all times. In addition, in the name of the Duke of Qian's Mansion, send a letter to the neighboring chieftains to prepare for war and reinforcements as scheduled."

A few days later, an urgent memorial landed on the emperor's desk. Compared with the lengthy rhetoric of the Hanlin scholars, this memorial was particularly concise. The first few sentences were words of apology, saying that the bandits were rampant and the whole province's efforts had not been able to control them, allowing them to escape, etc., and he asked for punishment for the failure to suppress the bandits. But the tone changed in the latter part, and the Jiajing Emperor curled his lips. This was not an apology at all, it was more like acquittal. Mu Chaofu went on to write: My family has guarded this land for generations, from top to bottom, but we are alienated and isolated, and our actions are constrained, making it impossible to suppress the barbarians... This was said very clearly. The Miao bandits could not be blamed on him for escaping. Now it was clear that he wanted military power. As a noble, he had to avoid the suspicion of the emperor for recruiting soldiers and power. Such bold and outspoken words would not make him suspicious, which showed that he had no choice but to do so.

The emperor pondered for a while. The Ming Dynasty's border threat was Mongolia in the north, and he really didn't care about the south. He would not send a large army to conquer Myanmar. During the Ming Yingzong era, he conquered Luchuan three times and sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight for nine years. He did get rid of the powerful local chieftain separatist forces in one fell swoop, in exchange for decades of stability in the southwest. However, a large amount of military supplies were stored in the south, and the cost was staggering. It was one of the indirect factors that led to the Tumu Fort Incident. Now it's just a few Miao bandits causing chaos. It would be better to give them to Mu Chaofu. With the right to temporarily command troops, only by ensuring that there is no chaos in the southwest can the court free up its hands to defend against the remnants of the Mongols. Fortunately, Mu Chaofu did not ask him for money. Even if he asked, he would not give it. Money is needed everywhere in such a big country. Besides, he needs money to build a Taoist temple. Isn't he just asking for the right to command troops in Yunnan? He didn't say that he wanted the court to increase troops. He could just control the garrisons. The emperor was not an indecisive person, and there was no need for court discussion on this matter. He immediately wrote a big "approved" on the memorial.