Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Zhu Yunhuan was still planning to use military force abroad, but now, rebellion broke out again in the country.

This is also a familiar place, that is, Longzhou, Guangxi. It is the place where Zhu Yunhuan's uncle Chang Mao was exiled. This incident is even related to Chang Mao.

Even though Chang Mao was exiled to Longzhou, Longzhou Tusi Zhao Tiejian's wife Huang gave her daughter to Chang Mao as a concubine, and relied on Chang Mao's power to manage Longzhou's affairs. After Zhao Tiejian and Chang Mao died, Zhao Tiejian's nephew Zhao Zongshou and Huang fought for power.

Zhu Yunhuan's face turned pale as he went straight to the Five Military Commandery, "Gather the generals."

Zhang Fusheng really wanted to complain, because Zhu Yunhuan was the crown prince, not a general or a commander-in-chief, so it was not a gathering of generals at all; it was simply a summons of all the nobles.

But even if they complained in their hearts, they would not make any mistakes in execution. At most, the Crown Prince's gathering of generals was just a way to convey his orders, and the general's gathering of generals was just a way to beat the drums.

Although the nobles did not know what had happened, they did not dare to delay and quickly came to the Central Army Commander's Mansion.

Zhu Yunhuan said directly, "I just received an urgent report that the local officials in Longzhou, Fengyi, Nandan and other states in Guangxi are disobeying orders and rebelling. What do you think?"

Lan Yu said directly, "Your Highness, I request your permission to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion!"

Li Jinglong also spoke up quickly, "Your Highness, I request your permission to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion."

Xu Huizu did not hesitate, "Your Highness, I request your permission to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion."

Fu Youde thought about it and took a step forward. "Your Highness, I believe I am familiar with the affairs of Yunnan and Guizhou. I request your permission to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion."

Guo Xing, Geng Bingwen and others actually had no chance to compete for merit at this time, as several dukes were all there. Even if they wanted to send troops, these marquises were still not good enough.

The only one who did not take the initiative to ask for permission to lead the troops was Chang Sheng. Firstly, he was one of the guarantees for the Crown Prince to control the army, and secondly, he knew that he was not capable enough.

Lan Yu looked at Fu Youde unhappily and said, "Duke Ying, this trip is about the Tusi rebellion in Guangxi. What does it have to do with Yunnan and Guizhou? I previously suppressed the rebellion in Jianchangwei, which was in Guangxi."

Xu Huizu said directly, "Duke Liang, why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken? The Duke of Liang can just stay in the capital, and I will send the troops later."

Li Jinglong also quickly chimed in, "Duke Wei is right. Duke Liang is a pillar of the imperial court. If the chieftains of Guangxi rebel, it would be a waste of talent to order Duke Liang to lead the troops. It would be best for the younger generation to send the troops, and Duke Liang can just stay in the capital."

Lan Yu said unhappily, "Duke Wei, Duke Cao, although you are well-read in military books and strategies, you have never led an army to fight! This is not right, I have to do it!"

This brings us to the most worrying part for Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong. One is the head of the nobles, and the other is the head of the relatives of the emperor, both of whom have close ties with the royal family. However, although these two dukes have noble status, they only lead troops in training and inspection, and have never fought in a real war.

This is not so good. They know their own shortcomings and understand the concerns of some nobles and even the Crown Prince.

The scale of the Longzhou Tusi rebellion will not be particularly large, so this is a rare opportunity to train troops.

Li Jinglong immediately said, "Your Highness, I am in charge of the Right Army Commandery. I think we should go first in this expedition to suppress the rebellion."

The Right Military Governor's Office governed the Yunnan Military Governor's Office, Guizhou Military Governor's Office, Sichuan Military Governor's Office, Shaanxi Military Governor's Office, Guangxi Military Governor's Office and their garrisons. In other words, Guangxi was considered to be under the jurisdiction of the Right Military Governor's Office. The Five Military Governor's Offices were the "five major war zones".

Xu Huizu immediately said, "Your Highness, I think this is inappropriate."

Lan Yu also said quickly, "Your Highness, I second the motion. What Duke Cao said is inappropriate."

If in peacetime, the five military governor offices can manage their own jurisdictions, that would be a peaceful time. But if a war really breaks out and the head of the governor office leads the troops according to their jurisdiction, that would not be good.

For example, a war maniac like Lan Yu had previously sent troops everywhere, but he did not say that he would only send troops to a specific area. The same was true for Fu Youde and others. How could they send troops according to their areas of jurisdiction? They had to send capable generals with the seal of the general officer to send troops.

Li Jinglong understood this logic very well, but in order to obtain the power to lead troops, he had no choice but to do this. It was just an excuse.

Zhu Yunhuan was quite relieved. Although the Five Military Commandery was not as full of famous generals as in previous years, and a large number of founding heroes were old or dead, at least there were still generals in the court. On the other hand, even though it seemed relatively peaceful, there was no situation of civil and military idleness.

As long as the topic of war is mentioned, the people in the Five Military Commandery are the most active. Even a mediocre person like Chang Sheng, in fact, would be eager to go to war with the army if it were not for his current identity and position.

Zhu Yunhuan looked around carefully and then asked, "If we send troops this time, where should we mobilize them from?"

This statement may seem redundant. If the chieftains in Guangxi rebel, we can simply send troops directly from Guangxi, as there are garrisons there as well.

However, Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi are places where it is not easy to deploy troops.

Two years ago, Jianchang Guard in Guangxi rebelled, and Zhu Yunhuan is still busy building new guards. The same is true for Yunnan, and it was only this year that the Azi rebellion was completely quelled. Sichuan is slightly better, but it still needs a certain number of troops to garrison.

Therefore, these three places that seem to be the most suitable for sending troops are actually not easy to mobilize troops.

Lan Yu immediately said, "Your Highness, I think we can recruit troops from the garrisons in Huguang and Jiangxi."

Fu Youde immediately echoed, "Your Highness, I second the proposal. The Beijing army, 30,000 men, is sufficient. Ten garrisons in Huguang and Jiangxi, 60,000 men, will be sufficient, and the local garrisons in Guangxi will be assisted to quell the rebellion."

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Lan Yu and said, "You should immediately plan the route for the troops. Duke Ying has been coming to Wenhua Palace frequently these days. Duke Cao has also come to advise. Duke Wei should make preparations. His Majesty should issue an imperial decree to dispatch the troops."

Zhu Yunhuan continued, "The Duke of Wei is the General of the Southern Expedition and wears the seal of the General of the Southern Expedition."

This is normal, as the military system of the Ming Dynasty was like this. In wartime, the commander-in-chief was chosen. As for the seals of the generals, etc., they were all determined according to the direction and nature of the battle.

Just like Lan Yu previously wore the title of General Conquering the Enemy and Fu Youde wore the title of General Conquering the South.

Lan Yu immediately felt a little depressed because it was not his turn to lead the troops.

Fu Youde was not particularly disappointed, because even if he asked for a fight, he knew that the possibility of him sending troops was slim.

Li Jinglong was really disappointed. He felt that he and Xu Huizu were the most likely to lead the troops. But this time the good job fell on Xu Huizu, which disappointed him.

Zhu Yunhuan glanced at the nobles and said, "The sons of each family who are of appropriate age will follow the army to the war." Guo Ying and others did not have any objection. The nobles had long been aware of these matters.

When the world was at peace, these noble sons could be as carefree as they wanted, but when the army went out to fight, they had to accompany the army. Even if they died in battle, these noble sons would not complain.

The reason is that this is their identity. They enjoy when they should enjoy, and fight to the death when they should fight to the death.

Zhu Yunhuan then began to select his generals. "Huaiyuan Marquis Cao Xing and Huining Marquis Zhang Wen were appointed as left and right deputy generals, and Huang Lu, Tang Quan, Ma Jun, Wang Cheng, Nie Wei, Wang Ming and others were appointed as assistant generals."

Lan Yu suddenly became happy. Although the one who wore the seal of the general this time was Duke of Wei Xu Huizu, many of the generals he appointed were closely related to the lineage of Prince Kaiping.

Not just the two marquises, but these minor generals are basically high-ranking generals of the Governor's Office, and it seems that they are only one step away from being granted the title of marquis.

Zhu Yunhuan's series of actions were definitely a bit presumptuous, but these nobles all had no doubts. Apart from other things, the Five Military Commandery was so lively and such a big thing happened, but the emperor had not shown up until now, which was enough to explain a lot of things.

It is obvious that this matter is still handled by the Crown Prince, and it may be a test from the Emperor to the Crown Prince.

After saying this, Zhu Yunhuan said, "I will take care of the arrangements for the Ministry of War. You should also prepare. The Beijing army will set out in three days."

All the nobles immediately accepted the order, and Xu Huizu was undoubtedly quite excited and expectant, because he finally got the chance to become a general. This time, with 30,000 troops from Beijing, 60,000 troops from Huguang and Jiangxi, and some local garrisons in Guangxi, he would become a general commanding 100,000 troops.

Xu Huizu is not worried about this because he believes in his abilities.

Moreover, Cao Xing and Zhang Wen are both veterans who have fought in many battles. Tang Quan and others are all strong and have fought on the battlefield for many years. They are all senior generals with experience in commanding troops.

After Zhu Yunhuan finished his work at the Five Military Commandery, he immediately summoned the Minister of War. The dispatch of troops still required the official documents of the Ministry of War. Of course, he also needed to immediately order the local guards, arsenals, as well as the Censorate, the Ministry of Revenue and other government offices to cooperate.

Military inspectors and censors are also indispensable. These people do not have any much power, but their existence is to supervise the army and, most importantly, to assess military merit.

Weapons, supplies, and so on, all of these must be prepared. The march of an army of 100,000 is no small matter.

He was busy until dark, and then Old Zhu came to Wuying Palace with his hands behind his back.

Daoyan and the others immediately knelt down, and Lao Zhu waved his hand and said, "You can leave now."

Without waiting for Daoyan and the others to leave, Lao Zhu said, "It's OK. Although there are some major events, we are not in a rush and the arrangements are somewhat decent."

Zhu Yunxun immediately complained, "Grandfather, I have been very busy today, and I am afraid that I will miss something."

Old Zhu smiled and said, "If you really let me explain, there are indeed omissions. Remember, the next time you use troops, the first thing you should do is to explain some things to the general. Is this just to suppress the rebellion? Even if it is to suppress the rebellion, at what point will you stop fighting?"

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned, as if he really had not explained the strategic direction of this military operation to Xu Huizu and others.

It seems that all it needs to do is quell the rebellion, but it's obviously not just that.

Old Zhu continued, "If we were to give the order, we would have to tell Xu Huizu. This time we are going to suppress the rebellion and see what those chieftains are like. The chieftains of Longzhou were quite well behaved in the past few years and did not commit any serious mistakes. This time we will kill a few of those who have committed serious crimes, and then we will turn the chieftains into commoners."

Military is a continuation of politics, which is most profoundly demonstrated in these words of Zhu De.

It is somewhat difficult to fully incorporate some places in Guangxi into the Ming Dynasty's political system now, because the influence of the chieftains is too great.

Therefore, while carrying out military strikes, some policy follow-up is naturally needed.

It was necessary to change the Tusi system because the Tusi system was established in the southwest during the Yuan Dynasty. Even further back, during the Tang Dynasty, some large tribes in the southwest had already occupied the area.

These people had everything they wanted and demanded from the local people and held the power of life and death. Except for not being able to ascend the throne, they were treated like emperors in all other aspects, and they only had to pay a symbolic small amount of taxes to the court.

The policy of changing the natives to officials was not only in the Qing Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, officials were appointed to directly govern the country and the local administrative system was the same as that in the interior. However, in these cases, the officials were basically given to the chieftains.

Just like Zhao Tiejian and Zhao Zongshou of Longzhou, they were the prefects of Longzhou.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, this system of itinerant officials and chieftains also became a hidden danger. In addition to the resistance caused by the imperial court's conscription, the chieftains, who were protected by the imperial court and gradually mastered the methods of dealing with the government, enriched themselves by collecting more taxes in normal times, and gradually became more powerful when conditions were right, and even split and established their own regimes with the help of the local troops they controlled.

The Battle of Bozhou, one of the three major expeditions of the Wanli Emperor, was, to a certain extent, caused by the loss of control over the chieftain system in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

But now it is different. The Ming Dynasty has used both kindness and force in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and other places. It is not ambiguous when using troops. If there is a rebellion, it will be suppressed. After the rebellion is suppressed, it will be included in the jurisdiction, officials will be appointed, and guards will be established.

Looking at Zhu Yunhuan, Old Zhu said earnestly, "Think about things comprehensively. Don't treat the symptoms without addressing the cause. If you are like this, you will be a quack like your fifth uncle."

Zhu Yunhuan was embarrassed and said, "I was a little one-sided and didn't think it through thoroughly enough."

After beating up his grandson, Old Zhu encouraged him, "It's already good. You made all the decisions on your own, and there is nothing wrong with that. I was still a novice monk when I was your age. Even when I conquered Yingtian Prefecture, I didn't have the same idea as you. I only cared about the present."

Zhu Yunhuan didn't believe what Old Zhu said. He was not as far-sighted as Old Zhu.

Old Zhu said no more, "Eat first. Only when you are full will you have the energy to think. Speaking of quack doctors, your fifth uncle has to come back."

Zhu Yunhuan asked, "Let Fifth Uncle come back? He just came back to Beijing, and now he is asked to come back. If the other uncles knew about this, they would be jealous."

Old Zhu said nonchalantly, "I have always been open about my partiality. I only favor your father and your fifth uncle. I like your second uncle and third uncle. All your uncles know it."

Zhu Yunhuan also laughed in silence. He was so biased and yet he was so self-righteous that he was speechless.

"Then I'll let Uncle Five come back, so that the other uncles won't blame you." Zhu Yunhuan also said, "Anyway, Uncle Five and I have a close relationship, and the other uncles know it." (End of this chapter)