national surname chiming

Chapter 497
With the emergence of Zheng Chenggong's fleet on the southern sea route, the Burmese's will to resist finally completely collapsed.

And when Mangbai was trying to lead the remaining main direct line troops to withdraw southward to Bagu, Li Dingguo seemed to know that he was going to leave in advance, and sent envoys into Ava City to negotiate terms with Mangbai.

Mangbai didn't want to see him at first, but he wanted to know what kind of conspiracy Li Dingguo could say, so he finally met.

The emissary was also very straightforward, and only put down a few words: "Surrender now, cede the land and plead guilty, and Ming can still spare you from destroying the country. If you have to resist to the end, then please don't try to set fire to the treasury when you withdraw your troops.

General Li said beforehand that if the treasury is not burned and the city where the grain is stored is not destroyed, after I enter the city in the Ming Dynasty, I will do nothing to the people. I will never slaughter the city, only seal the treasury.

If you dare to set fire to clear the country.Then self-destroy the city of the treasury, all slaughtered, and no dog or dog will be left-our Da Ming Army is a division of benevolence and righteousness, and will never kill innocent people indiscriminately.

But the people also need the government to stockpile food to feed them. If the Burmese army burns the food and retreats, it is regarded as the Burmese army slaughtering the people themselves and driving the people to compete with our army for food!Anyone who sees the Burmese army burning food and does not stop them is regarded as willing to join the army and resist the war with the heavenly soldiers, and no longer enjoy the treatment of civilians! "

When Mangbai heard this, he was so angry that he wanted to kill the envoy, but he finally held back.

Because he heard that 20 years ago, when the Manchu Qing finally established itself in Hebei, they originally negotiated a truce with the Ming army for several years, and finally started a war again, and the Ming army seized the handle to share the same hatred with the enemy because the generals under Hauge killed the Ming army. So Zodiac Zhou completely gave up his righteousness and fame.

If the Ming envoy is killed now, I am afraid that in the future, the only thing that will be lost in the war is the subjugation of the country. What conditions are there to talk about?
In the end, Mangbai chose to lead the main force of the direct line of the Burmese royal family, broke through the siege and went south at Xingye, leaving behind those miscellaneous troops to carry Li Dingguo.

And as the heavy artillery of the Ming army gradually smashed the city wall of Ava, the final unilateral massacre was finally completely pulled away.There are still tens of thousands of defenders in Ava City, the number is still more than twice that of Li Dingguo's troops, but they have no combat effectiveness at all.Fighting street battles with the Ming Army Musketeers is almost free.

In this desperate situation, they had no place to run. They were in the capital of Burma. The demoralized Burmese army could only surrender in despair. The Ming army captured more than 4 prisoners of war.

At this point, the Battle of Ava finally came to an end. With only [-] Ming troops, Li Dingguo finally defeated enemies six to seven times his strength.

After breaking through the city, the Ming army immediately went into the city to receive various treasuries. After sorting out, they found that there were a few military grain warehouses and supply warehouses in Ava City, but they were still burned by the rebels.

Although some of those rebellious soldiers finally surrendered, they were completely surrounded by the Ming army and had to surrender.After screening by the Ming army, it was confirmed that some of them were still performing sabotage work until the moment before surrendering.

That being the case, the Ming army had nothing to discuss, and immediately pulled out the part of the troops that insisted on destroying until the last moment, and lined up to shoot them to show the public——

Of course, before the killing, all the crimes were clearly stated clearly, and the requirements of the Ming army envoy's previous negotiation with Mangbai were also shown to show that the Ming army did not punish without teaching, but "don't say that you don't say anything." Pre-also".

For other ordinary prisoners of war who did not engage in sabotage work before surrendering, the Ming army fully implemented the treatment of prisoners of war, at least giving them a bite to eat.

At most, the quality of the grain and rice is poorer, and the old rice with more impurities and about to deteriorate is given priority as food for prisoners of war.

Such a combination of kindness and strength, as promised, has temporarily stabilized the situation around Ava.

After that, Li Dingguo ran around to enclose the land again, and quickly attacked the city in the fertile valley plains on both sides of the Ayeyarwady River. Because Awadu fell, other small cities had almost no defense, and they were taken down one after another.

Civilizations in South Asia and Southeast Asia seldom built strong and tall city walls. Ava only had strict defense facilities as a companion capital and former capital.The defense of other surrounding small towns is not as good as some counties in the Central Plains.

After gaining a firm foothold in the grain-producing areas of the valley plains and driving the remnants of the Burmese army to the distant mountains on both sides, Li Dingguo's military grain problem was completely solved.During the whole process, he did not forget to further implement the Ming army's strategy of "keeping promises".

If you say that you will let it go if you surrender directly, then you must let it go, and don't kill an innocent person.I said that those who dare to burn the granary before breaking the city will kill all the defenders, and that must be done——

Moreover, the Ming army even directly released the words, saying that if the city where the food was stored was burned, the defenders would not have to surrender, and they would kill them all if they surrendered.If they insisted on burning the granary and then dying, the Ming army would not be able to stop them, so they would be fulfilled.

So confidently, Qiu pardoned more than [-] small cities without committing crimes, and slaughtered six of them. The credibility of the Ming army was completely established.

……

At the same time, on the Bago battlefield, nearly a thousand miles away, the Burmese army also failed to please.

Because the main force was wiped out by the Ming army, the Bagu troops could only barely defend the city, and had no spare energy to attack and push Zheng Chenggong into the sea, allowing Zheng Chenggong to successfully establish a camp in Dagon Port outside Bagu City.

Dagon Port is the Yangon of later generations, located at the mouth of the Ayeyarwady River.Only in ancient times, because the terrain was low-lying and easy to attack and difficult to defend, even though the economy was developed and it was the most important river-sea transshipment port in Myanmar, it was still impossible to build a city as the capital of the country.

The capital, Bago, was built on the hillside opposite Dagon Port, relying on the terrain to build a fortress.Now encountering Zheng Chenggong's attack is equivalent to the fall of the economic zone and port area outside the capital city.

Although Zheng Chenggong came here because of the floating sea, his troops were not many, and his troops, including the crew, had a total number of more than 2, which was less than half the number of troops used by Li Dingguo, so Zheng Chenggong could not launch a general attack on Bagu.

However, after occupying Hekou Seaport, taking advantage of the fact that the Burmese were unprepared before and did not have time to destroy the waterway, Zheng Chenggong directly let the small and medium-sized ships in the navy go deep into the inland river and go upstream against the current, racing all the way.

Although sailing against the current is relatively slow and only a few tens of miles a day, after half a month of fighting and advancing, he successfully got in touch with Li Dingguo and completely opened up the Irrawaddy River channel from Bagu to Ava.

The many counterattacks organized by the Burmese army on both sides of the river were defeated by Zheng Chenggong's strong ships and artillery.Facing each of the river-sea warships equipped with more than a dozen red barbarian cannons, the Burmese's military force was simply given for nothing, and the right to control the river was tightly held by the Ming army.

The Burmese army was only near Pyinmana, the third largest city in Burma, at the midpoint between Awa and Bago, posing a slight threat to Zheng Chenggong.But after Li Dingguo heard the news, he rushed down the river with his main force, and also quickly pulled out the nail.

It can also be seen from this that most of the places in Myanmar are rotten land. Only a small section of delta plain at the mouth of the Nu River and the alluvial plain of the middle and lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River can support hundreds of millions of people.

As a result, the top three cities in Myanmar, Bago, Awa, and Pinmana, are evenly distributed along the middle and lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River. It is very standard for a big city with an average of [-] miles, and there are only remote small counties in the middle.

After Zheng Chenggong and Li Dingguo joined forces, the Burma campaign completely entered garbage time.

Li Dingguo obtained a sufficient number of shipping ships on the Irrawaddy River, so that he could completely complete the logistics supply route from the Yunnan section of the Nu River to Lashio, Myanmar, from Lashio to Awa, and finally down the river from Awa to the Indian Ocean. get through.

In the previous battles, nearly two-thirds of the more than [-] combat troops of the Burmese army have been lost, and the remaining shattered troops can't even talk about organized resistance.If you want to harass the Ming army's logistics route, you will be counterattacked and wiped out again and again.

The war lasted until the spring of the sixth year of Xiaokang. In the late spring of March, as Bago City was breached and King Mangbai of Burma was killed in the rebellion, Burma's resistance finally collapsed completely.

Only a few reckless sons were left to fight on their own, and begged the Ming army for peace talks. They were willing to cede the land and agree to other conditions, just asking not to destroy the country.

……

Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong can decide on military matters, but the final decision on how to end the war negotiations must be decided directly by the court.

Therefore, after Mangbai's death, Li Dingguo could only send back the intentions of his sons to seek peace and contact as soon as possible.

Even the plains that can be expedited for [-] miles are all expedited, but considering those areas that go over mountains and mountains, the courier can only travel one or two hundred miles a day at most.In the end, it took a lot of time to send the summation documents.

Fortunately, the Nanjing court also predicted this situation in advance, so as early as the first month of the new year, the regent Zhu Shuren suggested that the emperor should tour the south during the war to boost morale.

Of course, the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats strongly opposed the emperor's request for a southern tour.Since Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty, there was only one Baozong imperial driver who personally conquered.

In the nearly 200 years after Bao Zong was arrested, the Confucian scholar-officials went crazy and found excuses not to let the emperor go out. Every time they mentioned it, they used Bao Zong's negative teaching materials as an example.

Historically, after the Qing Dynasty, the grandparents of Kangxi and Qianlong, relying on the tradition of the Manchus winning the world with bows and horses, were able to suppress the rebellious civil servants.

Those civil servants are also typical of bullying and fearing toughness. When they met the Han emperors who reasoned with them, they shouted louder than anyone else.

However, Zhu Shuren was also reasonable. He also knew in his heart that civil servants had good considerations in not letting the emperor go out of Beijing. The main reason was to reduce the financial burden.

In the parallel time and space, Kangxi and Qianlong’s tours cost a lot of money. The Lianghuai salt merchants and the Jiangnan Sifu weaving have spent a lot of money to get it done. It is all because the Qing Dynasty has one more internal affairs system than the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, during the political game, Zhu Shuren also set out multiple conditions, one positive and the other negative, in order to persuade the public opinion of the civil official group.

First of all, he emphasized that if he goes on tour this time, the purpose is only to deal with border troubles as soon as possible. Once the enemy countries in southern Xinjiang have the intention of making peace, the court can respond as soon as possible. If the battle can be saved by two months, the military expenses saved will definitely be worth the emperor It's time to go on tour.

Secondly, he also said that if he goes on tour, he can spend the money from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which will be borne by the Shen family and Zhu family's royal business state-owned enterprise balance, instead of spending money from state treasury taxes.

As soon as these two points are clarified, the obstruction of the civil service group on the pretext of saving money is completely blocked.Even Shi Kefa, who was already aging and recovering from illness, rarely stood up and said that this matter is justifiable and an exception can be made.

After being approved in principle, Zhu Shuren added another plan to benefit the common people, which was to discuss with his son Zhu Ciyu the composition of the tour personnel, and try to reduce the number as much as possible.

On the day the dragon raised its head on the second day of February, Zhu Shuren had a showdown with his son in the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

"For nearly 200 years before the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was not allowed to go out of Beijing to tour the four directions because Yingzong was captured by Oala. Now that the father and king have obtained this opportunity, it is a kindness that has not been seen in a century, breaking through the law of the ancestors.

But since going on tour, it is still necessary to save money and rest with the people, so when going on tour, you can’t bring all the officials of the court, so that the number of entourage can be reduced by at least [-]%, and the guards can also be reduced by [-]%, which will greatly save expenses. "

After Zhu Ciyu heard it, he also took it for granted, and felt that his father's concerns were right: "Since this is the case, I don't know what to do with the child?"

Zhu Shuren didn't make any detours with his son: "Now there are two ways, that is, either you lead a few important officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, plus [-] guards, and patrol Guangzhou in the south. Personally end the peace talks with the Burmese, and follow-up. Engagement of the emerging conflict with Vietnam.

And since the other civil servants of the imperial court are not taken away, the daily government affairs will still be handled in Nanjing. For my father, I will help you supervise the country for another year or a half according to the story of the regency in the previous four years.

The other way is that you stay in the capital in person and handle the daily government affairs of other ministries with full power, help your father to "hunt on behalf of the sky", and go to Guangzhou to deal with the aftermath of Burmese and Vietnam border affairs nearby. "

Zhu Shuren made it very clear: Daming’s Son of Heaven tour can save costs because Daming still has a potential dual power center in essence, so the regent and the emperor’s father and son can handle internal affairs and foreign affairs, temporarily dividing power and division of labor.In this way, the cost of the tour and the size of the personnel are saved by the vast majority compared with other periods in other dynasties.

As for whether he wanted to go out of Beijing to handle diplomacy, or stay in the capital to handle internal affairs, he gave his son the right to choose.

"My child is willing to go out of Beijing in person to go to Guangzhou to go on a tour to handle diplomacy! Leave all the internal affairs to the father and continue to supervise the country!" Zhu Ciyu didn't even think about it, of course, he chose to go out of Beijing to handle diplomacy without any hesitation.

Isn't this nonsense?He was the grandson of the emperor when he was born, and he was raised in the Spring Harmony Palace. He lived to be 21 years old and never left Nanjing City.

Although he is an emperor now, his knowledge is limited to the things in front of him. At most, when he was a child, he could go to the museum in Jiangning Town to see rare birds, animals, flowers and plants from all over the world. I have never seen it, only Zijin Mountain and the Yangtze River.

In contrast, his father, Zhu Shuren, conquered the world by himself from all over the world. He has been in Huguang for many years, and he has also entered Sichuan, taken over Guangdong and Guangxi, and conquered the north.Wouldn't it be unfilial and wasteful to let the father and king be exhausted?

Zhu Shuren was not at all surprised by his son's choice.But he still has to teach his son the conditions of the third chapter of the covenant:

"If you choose to go to Beijing for the southern tour in person, my father will not stop you. But you have never dealt with diplomacy before, so you should not blindly pursue militarism. You must know how to accept it when you see it. If you can agree, my father will naturally let you go on the southern tour. Otherwise, you can argue with the North Korean officials on your own."

Zhu Ciyu also knew that his father was doing it for his own good, as long as he could go out, he should accept it as soon as he saw it, so he hurriedly asked for details.

Zhu Shuren pointed out a few key points: "For Myanmar, we cannot pursue the destruction of the Toungoo Kingdom. The final goal is to make Mangbai or Mangbai's sons surrender and surrender. At the same time, we must completely return all the land that we have declared. To Daming.

Because Myanmar's territory is too vast, with too many mountains and dense forests, it is far more complicated than Vietnam.If the banner of Mangbai is pulled down, we don't know who to deal with. When the time comes, all the chieftain tribes in the mountainous area will make chaos, and it will be difficult to judge who will be beaten.

Keeping the sign of the Mang family, as long as they admit to being cowardly, they have to be responsible for restraining their subordinates, and the chieftains below cannot rebel on their own.

In contrast, it will not be so complicated to deal with Vietnam in the future. Vietnam now has two dynasties and four surnames governing independently. We can pull one faction to fight the other. It is not like Myanmar, which was a unified and powerful country before. Any faction in Vietnam can be completely wiped out by us. Yes, as long as you reach a contract with the other faction and let the other party surrender.

Specifically, the father will explain to the accompanying ministers of the Ministry of Rites, and then you must listen to it and understand it, accept a lot of advice, and don't act arbitrarily. "

Zhu Ciyu finally has some self-knowledge, knowing that he has zero experience in dealing with diplomacy, so this time he should take it as a study and not mess around.

He sincerely agreed to all his father's demands, and when Zhu Shuren came to see him, he made a final confession: "Also, during this southern tour, you are not allowed to touch women outside the palace! Don't lose the dignity of the royal family and the court.

Guangzhou has traded with Hongyi many times, and it is located in a hot and miasmatous place. There may be people with internal diseases from Hongyi among the people. You are the emperor, what kind of woman can't you get in the palace?Don't try anything new, otherwise...you won't be able to leave the palace in the future. "

Zhu Ciyu had no choice but to accept all of his father's request in exchange for a smooth tour.

In the end, under the court's repeated games and full preparations, Zhu Ciyu chose to set off from Nanjing to the south on February [-]th.

Because the emperor is on a tour this time with a mission, so there is no need to make too much delay on the way. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War finally helped the emperor choose the sea route to go south, and sailed along the coast of the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

There is absolutely no risk of navigation on this route. After all, the navigation of the Ming Dynasty is very developed now. Zheng Chenggong allocated some sea ships for trial voyages in the South China Sea, and Zhang Mingzhen personally led the naval personnel to escort them.

Zhu Ciyu only stayed in Changzhou, Suzhou, and Songjiang for a few days, but the journey from Nanjing to Songjiang to the sea took a total of half a month. Especially when he was in Suzhou, Zhu Ciyu had a good time visiting various places. It is a well-known Suzhou garden, and I spent three days playing on Taihu Lake.

After going to Shanghai on the first day of March, there was nothing to talk about for the next two weeks, since they were all at sea anyway.

And Zhu Ciyu lived to be 21 years old, and it was the first time he saw the sea, so he was very excited. He didn't feel that seeing the sea and sky line every day would be boring, but his mind was magnificent.

In particular, the high-speed sailing ship that Zhu Ciyu himself was on was the only five-masted sailing warship in Daming today. It was more than forty feet long, and it sailed very stably.

The sea-going ship sailed for half a month, and finally docked at Guangzhou Port. With the arrival of the fleet, the Mang family's letter of credentials submitted by Li Dingguo was about to be sent to Guangzhou.

(End of this chapter)