prosperous age

In a dense forest west of Nanyaguan and Tiebiguan, on the southwestern border of the Ming Dynasty, Li Ruzhen, with a pair of panda eyes, sat boredly against a big tree, looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle. No one knew what in the sky attracted him, and he had been sitting there motionless for a long time.

Normally, he should have been enjoying the good life in Baoshan City at this time, but the day before yesterday, his elder brother was selecting people from the Royal Guards and asked them to go out for a mission, so he became curious and clamored to go out too.

Then, a team of dozens of people followed him here.

Well, he regretted it now.

The treatment was far worse than the previous marches and battles, and they had not eaten, drunk, or slept well for two days.

Not to mention, the Ming army marched dozens of miles a day and found a place to set up camp after they finished marching. It was really not as hard as they had in the past two days.

Moreover, the military camp was a place for soldiers to stay, and when he entered, there were tents prepared for him to rest, which was very comfortable.

This time, we just spread a straw mat, put two pieces of wood and a piece of leather on it to make a tent. It was very small and only big enough for us to lie down.

This can also be called a tent.

Li Ruzhen was very unhappy, but there was nothing he could do.

The food we eat is also much different from before, and we only have some dry food we carry with us.

"Third Master, Blind Lin and his men have killed a rabbit."

Just as Li Ruzhen was looking up at the sky with lifeless eyes, a rustling sound came from the woods next to him, and soon a man came out with a rabbit in his hand.

"Roast it for me, and I'll reward you when I get back to the city."

When he arrived at this place, Li Ruzhen realized that there was nothing good to reward him and he couldn't spend the money even if he gave it.

"Thank you, Master San. I'll go to the back and light the fire."

The guard carrying the rabbit laughed Le Hehe, then walked eastward with the rabbit in his hand.

"By the way, Hou San'er and the others went out to gather information. Have they come back yet?"

Li Ruzhen suddenly remembered the mission and hurriedly called the man and asked in a low voice.

“Not yet, I don’t know which way the person is going now.

Third Master, you just rest here, and they will come back to inform you as soon as there is news."

The man stopped and turned to Li Ruzhen and said.

"Damn it, I don't know how long I have to stay here. What if people don't leave?"

Li Ruzhen said with a look of despair.

When the man saw that he was fine, he hurried into the woods and went to roast the rabbit.

According to common sense, Mengyang leader Si Ge should go in this direction and enter Nanyaguan or Tiebiguan, but now they are being hunted by the Burmese army, and it is not ruled out that they will take a detour through Tianmaguan in the south or go north through Menggong to enter the Ming Dynasty.

However, the possibility of going through Menggong is the smallest, as there is a big river blocking the way there. They are leaving in a hurry and may not have time to find means of crossing the river.

Moreover, although the roads in the southwest are dangerous, there are actually narrow paths in the mountains, and you don't have to take the main road.

If only a small number of people are travelling, it is ok to take the small path and cross the mountains, but it is a bit tiring.

But if there are too many people and they carry a lot of things, then they can't take the mountain road and can only take the main road.

The guards had already explored several avenues and found Burmese troops lurking on both sides of the roads.

Obviously, although the Burmese army's attack on Mengyang suffered a setback at one point, they never worried about failure and being unable to defeat the small number of people in Mengyang.

Therefore, preparations have been made to intercept the escape routes of the chieftains of Mengyang to the Ming Dynasty.

Although the southwest is poor, it is still the people who are poor.

Not to mention the Ming Dynasty, it is the same all over the world, even from generation to generation.

The chieftains in the southwest might not have the finer things like the local rich lords in the south of the Yangtze River during the Ming Dynasty, and their quality of life might be a little lower, but it was actually still very luxurious.

In fact, the gap is more about different living habits.

As for gold, silver and treasures, there is no shortage of them in the southwest, especially in Myanmar.

Various gemstones and jades are produced here, and even the royal family of the Ming Dynasty would come here regularly to buy them.

Moreover, there are copper mines in Yunnan and Myanmar in the Ming Dynasty. As most people know, gold, silver and copper mines are often associated with each other, so not only copper materials are produced here, but also gold and silver. This is also the main place for purchasing copper materials for making copper coins in the Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Revenue was willing to support the Ming army's dispatch of troops to stabilize the situation in Myanmar. This might also be because the Ministry of Revenue wanted the copper, gold and silver mines there.

The Ming Dynasty was still short of copper, gold and silver. Even though maritime trade had been opened, most of the silver went into the hands of merchants, and the court could not receive much.

Of course, the tax increase has already begun, and it is inevitable that the amount of silver dollars entering the Ministry of Revenue’s warehouse will gradually increase.

The fact that the Ming Dynasty court can now maintain its operations and even have a slight surplus is mostly due to the minting of silver coins.

In the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Tong Bao has been accepted in the market.

No doubt about it, copper-silver alloy, the weight and quality are guaranteed.

After receiving the silver coins, the merchants melted them down and knew that they contained a certain proportion of silver and other metals. Although it was a bit disadvantageous, it was indeed very convenient for them to make them into silver coins for circulation.

Moreover, minting silver coins costs money, so merchants are happy to accept this loss.

Anyway, this shrunken silver is used to pay taxes to the court based on its value in Tongbao, not its actual silver content. This is very fair.

The biggest headache for the Ministry of Revenue right now is the lack of silver.

Although there was a lot of silver in the national treasury, not to mention the emperor's private treasury and the Taifu Temple's Changying Treasury, the demand for circulating silver for transactions among the people of the Ming Dynasty was very great, and the mint could not cope with it even if it worked overnight.

Just think about it, if all the silver spent was converted into silver coins and issued without the use of silver taels, the court would have to spend several million taels of silver every year.

Now only a small amount of money flows to Jiangnan, where there are more wealthy people and bigger businesses.

Outside Nanya Pass and Tiebi Pass, two groups of people were lurking near the passages, one in front and one behind.

It has to be said that the so-called Burmese army ambushes they discovered were actually their own people, and they all came with the same purpose.

However, they dare not communicate with each other, and even hide the truth from each other.

Outside Manmo City, a team of Burmese soldiers were patrolling along the main road outside the city, when they suddenly spotted a team of soldiers in Mengyang uniforms coming in front of them.

"Attention, enemy attack, go back and report to the leader."

The leading Burmese captain gave a loud order.

Under his command, the Burmese soldiers behind him quickly gathered together, holding rattan shields and holding spears horizontally. Two of them with quick legs were already running back quickly. They were going to inform the city of Manmo and request reinforcements.

The original leader of Manmo City surrendered when the Burmese army was approaching the city. Afterwards, the Burmese army changed into the clothes of Mengyang Army and pretended to be Mengyang's soldiers to continue defending the city.

However, after they took control of Manmo, they closed the traffic and did not allow people to travel in or out.

As for the reason for closing the border, it was naturally because they were fighting with the Burmese army and were worried that some Burmese troops would enter Manmo City.

The same reason was used to refuse merchants coming from the Ming Dynasty from entering Mengyang.

This actually makes no sense, but they do it anyway.

Normally, if there is a war, the demand for supplies will increase, and the arrival of Ming merchants should be more welcomed, and they should rush to buy up the available supplies from them.

However, perhaps they have become accustomed to it. As long as the flag is not raised publicly, the Ming Dynasty will not care even if they know about it.

Every year, all they had to do was stamp a congratulatory letter with the envoy’s seal and send it to Kunming, and everyone maintained a superficial relationship.

Well, this was just a pretense before. Now that Mengyang has been breached by the Burmese army, they are too lazy to continue pretending and have already changed to the Burmese army's own equipment.

However, it was very strange that after seeing them, the team of Mengyang soldiers coming from the opposite side did not form a formation to prepare for battle, nor did they turn around and flee, but continued to move towards them.

The Burmese army formed a semicircular line. They were also on guard against ambushes by the Mengyang troops on both sides of the road, ready to surround them.

However, when Meng Yang's soldiers' loose formation approached and was only about twenty feet away, they all stopped as if they had just noticed them.

Afterwards, a few people walked out from the crowd of Meng Yangbing, who were obviously leaders such as captains, and continued to walk towards them.

Although they were carrying weapons, they showed no intention of drawing them.

The Burmese army captain breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this situation. This was Meng Yangbing's surrender.

During this period, quite a few Meng Yang soldiers surrendered in large numbers.

After realizing that he could no longer hold off the enemy and seeing no signs of Ming reinforcements abandoning their troops and running away, Meng Yangbing had already chosen to surrender without restraint.

At first it was just a few individuals, but later it developed into small teams and large groups that began to surrender.

As soon as the Burmese army arrived at the mountain passes and forts that were difficult to conquer in the past, the defenders there quickly opened the gates and surrendered.

They didn't want to die, nor did they want to continue fighting. Their chieftains had all run away, so what was there to fight for?

It can be said that in these places in the southwest, the chieftain is really the king of these people.

Although they were oppressed and exploited by the chieftains, they could not adapt to such a life without the chieftains' supervision.

In fact, the situation in the inland areas of the Ming Dynasty was similar, except that it was not the chieftains who ruled the country, but the landlords, gentry, village heads, and village elders.

Whenever the villagers have problems at home and cannot make a decision, they will go to them.

As for the government, the poor people dare not even think about it.

Even if something big happened, it was usually these people who came forward to deal with the government, and the common people consciously avoided them.

This is the normal life of the people of Ming Dynasty and the way to solve problems.

Soon, the people on the other side walked to the front of the Burmese army. The leader took off his sword and threw it on the ground. Then he shouted to the people on the other side: "We are Si Ge's guards. Si Ge wants to abandon his people and flee to the Ming Dynasty. We don't want to follow him, so we will capture him and present him to the Burmese king."

"You caught Sige?"

When the Burmese captain heard the other side say that Si Ge was in their hands, he was immediately overjoyed.

They also received the news, so they were patrolling everywhere, just to catch Si Ge.

The king hated him so much that he dared to kill the envoy of the Toungoo Dynasty.

If you think about it, you must die.

After the Burmese army confirmed the identities of Si Ge and his family, they looked at the dejected Si Ge and immediately escorted him to Manmo City with great fanfare.

If Si Ge is still resisting, the local people in Mengyang may still have some thoughts in their hearts and may not surrender sincerely.

But now that Si Ge has been captured, the Burmese king can naturally arrange for other people to serve as chieftains here and become the new masters of this area.

In order to make the people of Mengyang surrender, the Burmese army had no scruples and directly dragged Si Ge through the streets for public display.

Mengyang is not a very big place, and Si Ge often visits various places.

Therefore, quite a few people here have seen him.

After all, he is a chieftain. When he comes here, he usually rides an elephant or a horse, and is surrounded by personal guards on both sides. He doesn't care about anything at all.

Soon, the news that Si Ge was captured by the Burmese army spread throughout the city like wings, and the Burmese army commander here hurriedly reported the matter to the Burmese king.

Of course, you have to accept the credit that falls from the sky.

Life or death has nothing to do with him. He just needs to wait for the king's reward. Who knows, he may even get a piece of land and become a chieftain himself.

Tusi is actually a local lord and local emperor. He can do whatever he wants in his own territory and is envied by everyone.

Of course, the toast in wealthy places is even more enviable.

Three days later, Li Ruzhen, who had been feeding mosquitoes in the woods for several days, finally received the news that Si Ge had been captured by the Burmese army. None of his family members escaped. They were captured by his personal guards and presented to the Burmese King Mang Yinglong.

"Let's go, gather the people we sent out, and let's go back."

Li Ruzhen cursed under his breath and was about to go back after giving the order.

The forests in the southwest are really not the place for people to stay. There are many snakes, insects, rats and ants. These days, it is really not a place where people should stay. It is completely different from the forests in Liaodong.

Well, after only guarding here for a few days, Li Ruzhen already missed the forests of Liaodong.

In fact, the people brought out this time are in similar situations.

They were born and raised in Liaodong, and had traveled thousands of miles away from home. It was impossible for them not to miss home.

"Third Master, it seems we need to call some local people when we go back, otherwise we will be in trouble in the next few days."

A close guard whispered a reminder in Li Ruzhen's ear.

"Well, that makes sense."

Li Ruzhen nodded.

The life of surviving in the wilderness of the southwestern forests these days has made these Northeastern men miserable.

If I hadn't asked two local people for help, I might not have survived.

"Send someone to deliver a message home."

Li Ruzhen gave another order.

Their target was used by the Burmese Army, so even if the mission was not completed, they naturally had to inform their old father.

As for the group of people sent by Mu Changzuo, they had already received the news long before the Li family knew about it.

There were spies from the Mu family in Manmo City. When the parade was taking place, someone took a shortcut out of the city and came back to report the news.

At this time in Mengyang City, Mang Yinglong was already sitting in the position that originally belonged to Si Ge. Under him were the chieftains of various local tribes who had brought their troops to help in the battle.

At this time, outside the city of Mengyang, the Burmese army had assembled nearly 200,000 people and 300 war elephants. Even when his father unified Myanmar, he did not have such a force. It can be said that this was the most glorious moment of the Toungoo Dynasty.

With many soldiers and generals under his command, Mang Yinglong naturally had great expectations.

After the troops had rested, they took advantage of the victory and continued their march towards the Ming Dynasty.

Mang Yinglong had already made up his mind. He would fight all the way to Kunming and then negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty. This time, he would bite off a piece of meat from the Ming Dynasty no matter what.

At this time, Mang Yinglong was very proud and could not help but raise his glass and drink with the chieftains.

The chieftains from all over Myanmar, who had never seen so many troops, naturally flattered him. They were all so overwhelmed by the victory that they were all feeling proud. (End of this chapter)