Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 392: Open up territory and add 2 provinces

Chapter 392: Opening up territory and adding two provinces
In February of the 15th year of Qianxi's reign, the Ministry of Civil Affairs requested Zhu Gaoxu to return the three Xuanfu divisions and more than ten Xuanwei divisions in the northern part of the Funan Peninsula that Zhang Fu and Zhu Neng had recaptured to counties.

In response to the report from the Ministry of Officials, Zhu Gaoxu ordered the ministers to discuss it.

In response, the ministers were divided into two groups.

One group believes that Luchuan, Mubang, Mengyang and other chieftains are border areas, where barbarians and Han people live together, and there are many conflicts. If they are placed in counties and counties, it will be difficult for the court to manage, and the cost of dispatching floating officials will be too high.

The other group believes that only by establishing counties in the Xuanwei Division and Xuanfu Division such as Luchuan can the southern Xinjiang border be stabilized. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that rebels like Si Renfa will not appear again in the future.

What's more, Ming Dynasty's railway construction technology has become more and more mature. In the future, it will not be difficult to connect Luchuan and other places with Yunnan and Jiaozhou by railway.

Finally, Zhu Gaoxu made the decision to divide those areas into two provinces and put them under the direct management of the imperial court.

He issued an edict to abolish the six Xuanwei Divisions of Mengyang, Luchuan, Mubang, Myanmar, Diwu La, and Daku La, and to establish six divisions of Mengyang, Luchuan, Mubang, Myanmar, Taungoo, and Bago. There are 31 counties under the six prefectures, which are managed by the Chief Envoy of Mengdian and other offices. The Burmese Prefecture is the capital of Mengdian Province.

The two Yuyi Prefectures of Mengding and Menggen and the five Xuanwei Divisions of Che, Babai Zhe Nai, Babai Dadian, Demasa, and Laos were abolished and replaced by Mengding, Menggen, Che, and There are six prefectures, including Tamao, Jingmai and Vientiane. There are 35 counties under the six prefectures, and the Mongolian Chief Envoy and other offices are set up for management. Vientiane Prefecture is the capital of Mongolian Province.

Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that victory in the military struggle was only the first step in governing the twelve prefectures of Mengdian and Menglao provinces.

As for the second step, the focus is on how to ensure peace and stability in the two places.

Therefore, he worked hard and made a series of arrangements for the governance of Mengdian and Meng Laos.

The first is to abolish the original chieftain administrative system and establish a new three-si county management system.

After setting up the two chief secretaries of Mengdian and Menglao, Zhu Gaoxu believed that those who were not well-known ministers could not control them, so he appointed Jianping Tingbo Gao Shiwen and Jingyuan Tingbo Wang Ji to serve as governor of Mengdian and Menglao respectively.

Gao Shiwen was a native of Xianyang. In the late Hongwu period, he served in the conquests of Yunnan and Jinshan with a small school, and was promoted to Yanshan Zuo Guard Baihu.

He was a hostage in the Congo and was good at riding horses. In the early years of Yongle, he followed Zhang Fu in his expedition to Jiaozhi. In the early years of Qianxi, he followed Zhu Gaoxu in his northern expedition. He was promoted to commander due to his merits.

With his official position as a staff officer, during the Second Battle of Luchuan, through detailed reconnaissance, he was well aware of the dangerous passes near and far, which provided a reliable basis for decision-making for the Ming army to defeat the enemy. He was awarded the title of third-class earl based on merit. .

Zhu Gaoxu appointed Gao Shiwen as the governor of Mengdian because he was familiar with the geography and humanities of Mengdian.

Wang Ji has been introduced in the previous article. Although he has not participated in many large-scale battles, he has served as an administrative official such as prefect and prefect for a long time and has very rich administrative experience in governing local areas.

During the Second Battle of Luchuan, he cooperated with Zhang Fu as a staff officer and made considerable military achievements, and was awarded the title of third-class earl in terms of merit.

After that, Zhu Gaoxu sent Gong Yongji, a doctor in the Ministry of War from the capital, to serve as the chief envoy to Mengdian, Siyou, and to serve as the chief envoy to Mengdian.

Of course, due to the special circumstances of Mengdian and Mongolia, in addition to the bureaucrats at the Chief Secretary level, all local governments and county-level officials under the direct control of the imperial court were appointed by senior military ministers.

After the governor and chief envoy are selected, senior officials of the Metropolitan Commander's Department are appointed.

Zhu Gaoxu ordered Zhao An, the Bo of Huichuan County, to be the commander of the Mengdian capital, and Jiang Gui, the Bo of Dingxi County, to be the commander of the Menglao capital.

At the same time, Zhao An was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of Mengdian, assisting Zhang Fu, the commander-in-chief of Mengdian, to guard Mengdian.

Jiang Gui was also appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Meng Lao army, assisting Zhu Neng, the chief military officer of the Meng Lao army, to guard Meng Lao.

Then, 14 guard commanders including Mengdian left, right, front, rear, Mengyang and Mubang were appointed, and Menglao left, right, front, rear, Mengding and Mengen were appointed 16 guard commanders. The Governor's Office selects military attachés to guard the cities of Mengdian and Menglao.

At this point, the Ming Dynasty basically achieved full coverage of the military garrison in Mengdian and Meng Laos.

After that, Zhu Gaoxu ordered Zhao An and Jiang Gui to supervise the troops to repair the city, set up forts, build postal mails, and organize the people.

Moreover, facing the complicated and numerous indigenous forces in Mengdian and Bangladesh, Zhu Gaoxu wisely adopted the strategy of first cooperating and then gradually sinicizing.

However, Zhu Gaoxu did not give up the forced Sinicization policy of "taking Chinese names, speaking Chinese, changing Chinese customs" and "forced intermarriage".

Generally speaking, it is similar to the decree promulgated by Zhu Yuanzhang in the fifth year of Hongwu to force Mongolian and Semu sinicization. Aboriginal women in Mengdian and Mongolia can only marry Han men, and Aboriginal men can only marry Han women. Otherwise, both men and women will have their property confiscated. , made into official slaves.

Although the implementation of such policies varies greatly. It is easy for a native woman to marry a Chinese man, but it is more difficult for a native man to marry a Chinese woman.

Therefore, in order to facilitate the implementation of this policy, it is also mandatory that the indigenous people must use Chinese characters, speak Chinese, change Chinese customs, and abolish bad habits such as "step marriage" and "consanguineous marriage".

At the same time, "local men" are encouraged to join the army, starting from recruits and auxiliary soldiers, to demonstrate their "competitive advantages" through meritorious service, and to reduce the difficulty of marrying Han women.

With this persistence for one or two generations, the indigenous people will be completely integrated into China.

Zhu Gaoxu specifically took advantage of the opportunity of newly establishing prefecture and county officials to make the implementation of compulsory Chineseization one of the assessment criteria for all prefecture and county officials in Mengdian and Meng Laos, and Tuxian County was no exception.

The so-called "Tu County" refers to the county where the magistrate is served by the local chieftain or leader. Such local officials are called "Tu County Magistrates".Zhu Gaoxu allowed half of the newly established counties under the jurisdiction of Mengdian and Menglao to be native counties.

For the indigenous leaders who were willing to cooperate with the imperial court, they were given crowns, ribbons, imperial edicts, and appointed as magistrates of their counties and other officials.

However, Zhu Gaoxu specifically set an upper limit on the number of native officials, that is, no more than half of the total.

The purpose of letting the local chiefs and leaders of the two provinces serve as magistrates of the counties was to appease the people of the two places and reduce the resistance of the indigenous people under the original jurisdiction of the more than ten Xuanwei Divisions to the Ming court's establishment of counties and forced sinicization.

After all, with the benefits and power at their fingertips after becoming an official, using Chinese surnames and Chinese customs, speaking in Chinese, etc., is not a problem at all for local powerful chiefs and leaders.

Zhu Gaoxu considered that the local magistrate might deceive the superiors and deceive the subordinates, becoming a "local emperor" who was as high as the sky and as far away as the emperor.

Therefore, he clearly stipulated in the edict that the county magistrate was a civil official who was responsible for the civil affairs of the county. Because of his old customs, he compiled the local people, paid tribute and paid taxes. The court issued a bronze seal, an edict, and a crown. Generally quasi-hereditary.

If a local magistrate behaves recklessly and violates the laws of the Ming Dynasty during his term of office, the imperial court will remove him from office and re-appoint a new magistrate.

Each prefecture and county has a guard station, which is managed by the capital's commander-in-chief. Small local leaders are selected to serve as military attachés at the level of [-] households or below in the guard station, which are generally hereditary.

Of course, those who violate military laws and Ming Dynasty laws will still be punished in accordance with the law, and the court will not be lenient to them because of their native origin.

As for the guardsmen of indigenous origin who have made military exploits, the imperial court will treat them equally and reward them based on their merits. They will be promoted and given titles and titles when they are deserving, and no distinction will be made.

After all, after surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, there were not a few Mongolian soldiers who were promoted to the rank of commander or knighted.

In addition, in order to ensure the logistics supply of Mengdian and Menglaos, Zhu Gaoxu ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to order merchants to "pay grain and give sugar" to the two places.

At that time, the Ministry of Household Affairs decided that merchants should give sugar to Naomi as follows: "Anyone who goes to Mengdian or Menglao to receive [-] kilograms of nano can be given [-] kilograms of rock sugar in Jiaozhou."

The quality of Jiaozhou rock sugar is high, second only to the royal tribute Nanyang rock sugar, and its market price is several times higher than that of rice.

Such a generous rate of return greatly stimulates the enthusiasm of businessmen.

At that time, merchants recruited people to cultivate land in Mengdian and Menglaos, plant rice, pay the grain to the government, and then receive sugar and sell it.

The development of Shangtun has accelerated the development of land in Mengdian and Menglaos, and has effectively promoted the social and economic development of the two places.

Of course, in addition to this, Zhu Gaoxu also did not forget to search for foreign countries.

While setting up two provinces and three divisions, Zhu Gaoxu also ordered envoys to go south to Siam, Chenla, and Champa to collect grain and pay to support the troops in Mengla and Mengdian.

At that time, the King of Siam, King Chenla, and King of Champa did not dare to refute Zhu Gaoxu's face. After receiving the order, they all ordered three thousand or five thousand stones of grain to be transported to help.

At the same time, Zhu Gaoxu also actively promoted Chinese education in Mengdian and Meng Laos, and successively opened regular academies in Vientiane Prefecture, Luchuan Prefecture, Myanmar Prefecture, and Mubang Prefecture.

Under the influence of this trend, many local magistrates even sent their sons and nephews to study in the capital.

As for later generations, there are rumors that Zhang Fu and Zhu Neng burned all the official and opposition records of the Luchuan Kingdom to ashes after they conquered Luchuan.

This statement is not found in the annals of history and is worthy of discussion.

After all, after the pacification of Luchuan and Laos, Zhu Gaoxu once asked Zhang Fu and Zhu Neng to "examine the number of soldiers left in the Yuan Dynasty, calculate the annual expenses, taxes, grains, and corvee methods, and learn how to make everything easier."

Zhang Fu and Zhu Neng gave roughly the same reply, saying that it was because there had been repeated military turmoil, the maps and books did not exist, and the number of soldiers could not be verified.

It can be seen from this that Qianxi's monarchs and ministers had no intention of burning the historical records of Luchuan and Laos.

As for the truth of history, future generations will not know.

After all, a few years later, Si Renfa and his son, as well as chieftain chieftains such as Luchuan and Lao who had repeatedly caused rebellion, were all wiped out, leaving no descendants.

In addition, Zhu Gaoxu also continued to mobilize troops from all over the country to Mengdian and Meng Laos to establish military camps.

In June of the 15th year of Qianxi's reign, the governors of the two Huaihe Rivers were ordered to select 5000 auxiliary troops and their families, who were given weapons and farm tools, and were transferred to Mengdian for farming.

In August of the 15th year of Qianxi's reign, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi was ordered to select 4000 auxiliary troops, provide them with weapons and farm tools, and transfer them to Mengdian for farming.

In the winter and tenth month of the 15th year of Qianxi's reign, the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor's Office was ordered to mobilize 3000 Shaanxi-Gansu native troops to go to Meng Lao for farming purposes.

(End of this chapter)

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