Ping An Biography

Wang Yu's aide, Liang Yan, was sent to the county government office to meet the new Miao envoy. In Zhang Ning's view, Liang Mubin, a well-informed and long-term adviser, should not do anything about the way of entertaining guests. trouble.

Just as Liang Yan entered the museum, a male "deputy envoy" among the Miao people came to speak.This Miao man is dark and thin, but his skin is obviously tanned, not inherently dark; his Chinese is not very fluent.Liang Yan greeted him a few words, and then said politely: "His Royal Highness asked the old man to apologize to the envoy. Due to the urgency of the matter, we cannot hold a banquet for entertainment. Please don't blame the envoy for negligence."

The deputy envoy replied jerky: "Your people...are very good at hospitality, and they are very considerate in terms of food and accommodation."

Liang Yan said again: "Emissary Miao is a noble envoy and cannot be so negligent. His Highness ordered the envoy to move to the side room of the county government house."

The deputy envoy thought for a while and said, "Sit down for a while, I'll go in and ask." After that, he walked inside, muttered a few words, and came out again after a while, saying, "Our lady Bai asked, the inner house is not Han people. Is it where the official lives? She is from a woman’s family, and I’m afraid it’s inconvenient to live there.” The newcomer is a woman from the old man’s family of King Miao. girl.

Liang Yan said with a smile: "Miss Bai misunderstood, the inner house of the county government office is very different from the inner house of ordinary people, because most of the county magistrates are from the place of origin five hundred miles away, and most of them do not bring their family members when they take office. Therefore, the function of the wing room in the county government house is to receive distinguished guests such as superiors or friends. Receiving noble envoys to the wing room is a sign of respect from His Highness, and at the same time, it can avoid crowded places."

At this time, the envoy inside spoke up: "Since it is His Highness's kind intention, it is better to obey orders than to be respectful."

That made my speech much more agile. Although I still have a strong local accent, I can speak Chinese fluently.

So the four Miao envoys walked through the "house gate" under Liang Yan's arrangement, and entered the west wing of the inner courtyard from the second hall to settle down.According to Liang Yan, the east side of the west chamber is the place for distinguished guests.His task is to make the envoy feel respected and at home from all kinds of small things. He has done a good job on the surface, and he is probably very successful.

In the next evening, just after dinner, Liang Yan went to the west chamber to ask Miao envoy to drink tea in the study.He spent a whole day with Miao Shi, but he also saw what Bai Ju looked like, because she was wearing a drapery hat that covered her face.

When Liang Yan led Bai Ju and others to the door of the study, he didn't go in. He only let the envoy in, saying that His Highness was waiting inside.

There are four Miao envoys, two men and two women. In addition to Bai Ju, the female envoy, there is also Bai Yu who came last time.Just as Bai Ju turned his head and saw from the veiled hat that Bai Yu slightly lowered his eyes, blushed, and his face was different, he also wondered what the person who claimed to be the rebel of the third prince of Jianwen Emperor looked like.

They entered the door and saw only two people in the study.There was a young girl in her teens making tea silently beside her, like a maid, and the man sitting in front of a desk was probably the third prince Zhang Ning, because there was a distance and the curtain hat blocked the white With Ju's gaze, he couldn't see his face clearly, only he could be seen tall and tall in a gray robe.

Zhang Ning turned around and saw people coming in, so he put the brush on the inkstone, stood up with a kind smile on his face, bowed his hands, and said: "Your envoy came here without hesitation, it is a pleasure to meet you. If the officials in the government are negligent Please forgive me a lot.”

Bai Ju said: "You are already very warm and considerate in hospitality, Mr. Chen did not treat us badly when he came to our place."

"Please sit down, sit down and talk. I found some good tea, and I can brew it after a while." Zhang Ning said with a smile.

"Your Highness is also sitting." Bai Ju said, seeing Zhang Ning sitting back on the chair, she and the others took their seats one by one.This Miao man seems to understand the rules of the Han people.She turned her head slightly to look at the little girl making tea, and saw that she was concentrating on doing trivial things. It seemed that the tea was more complicated to brew.

Zhang Ning looked at the envoy Miao up and down. He couldn't see what his face looked like, but he had a good figure. He was wearing a red and blue dress with lots of patterns, and there were several rings of silver bracelets on his wrists.At first glance, it does look a bit exotic. Han women generally don't wear clothes with many patterns, and don't wear so many bracelets.Because the other party is a woman, it is understandable not to show her face... I just don't know what she looks like. If she looks like Bai Xie, it would be superfluous to cover it up.However, according to Zhang Ning's experience, most women hide their good looks, or they have flaws on their faces like Peach Blossom Fairy.

"This Chen Maocai really doesn't understand etiquette..." Zhang Ning pretended to blame, "Since the envoy Miao wants to come, why didn't he lead him?"

Bai Ju said: "Your Highness, don't blame him, my master (Bai Fengjiao) left him behind."

After hearing this, Zhang Ning gave a "thud" in his heart: If this guy went to fool the Miao people into saying that his own people had killed Zhu Yong's youngest son, wouldn't he show any lies and be detained?But after thinking about it, he was relieved. If that was the case, the Miao people didn't need to detain him, let alone send envoys.However, Bai Ju's explanation made sense. Only when the Miao people detained Chen Maocai could he not come back with the Miao envoy.

"Mr. Chen said that your people secretly plotted to assassinate Cheng Guogong Zhu Yong's youngest son in the capital, Cheng Guogong was angry and sent troops to attack. Did His Highness order him to say this?" Bai Ju asked again.She speaks Chinese with an accent like the dialect of the southwest region. Zhang Ning sounds very similar to the accent in the area of ​​Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Anyway, it sounds like Sichuan dialect to him. It seems to have a spicy taste.

Zhang Ning immediately argued without hesitation: "I didn't tell him to say it, but it happened."

He spoke Nanjing Mandarin, the common language of Ming Dynasty at this time, with a slow and fast speech speed.He gave the impression of being calm and composed, but it was hard to detect the gloomy look on his face.Still, whoever faces his current pressure will probably be depressed.

"I see." Bai Ju replied coldly.

Zhang Ning tasted her tone, and then said: "Huguang traveled more than [-] miles to the capital, this matter was not arranged deliberately by us. Most of the people inside Jianwen Yuchen were beyond my control, and the assassination of Zhu Yong's youngest son was not arranged deliberately by us. That person happened to be killed at this time, and the timing was a complete coincidence, so that Zhu Yong blamed me."

Bai Ju nodded slightly, such a statement can make people half-believing.After all, there was no need for Zhang Ningjun to deliberately attract the main force of the official army to help the Miao people.She said: "No matter what, Zhu Yong's army went north, and it really helped us a lot. The Miao people are by no means ambiguous. We, King Miao, are willing to repay His Highness and do what we can. But Mr. Chen is in front of King Miao. I am afraid that many leaders will not agree to the request that we enter Longtou Temple, and we may be cut off by the officers and soldiers again if we continue to advance eastward."

Zhang Ning asked: "May I ask a question, what are the Miao tribes planning to follow the Miao King to raise troops, and what do you want the outcome of this war to be? Are you waiting for the imperial court to send troops to quell it? What's the benefit of raising troops?" ?”

"This..." Bai Ju paused for a moment, and then said, "This is Miao people's business, so I don't want to disclose it to you."

"Looking at history as a guide, we can know the rise and fall. In fact, in the past and present, Miaojiang raised troops not only once or twice, but they were defeated and pacified within a few months, and the only result was that they never succeeded." Zhang Ning said sharply, "Why? Because the population and strength of the Miao people are very different from those of the Central Plains Dynasty, and the southwestern Miao border does not have the mighty force of the northern nomads, so the ending is almost doomed. You don’t even have a chance to be recruited. Because there are too many people in the imperial court who want to use this opportunity to make meritorious service and confer titles, offering chieftains to the capital is a merit and even an honor for the generals of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, many of you will die."

Bai Ju was angered by the words, and retorted: "You want to say that, no matter how you are exploited and oppressed, you can only submit to it? In this case, you have fewer people than us, why don't you submit to it, but want to raise troops to seek rebellion?"

Zhang Ning said: "We are not conspiracy, the reason is very simple. Suppose there is a relative outside your Bai family who suddenly brings a group of people back and beats up your family members, and then robs the house and land; In [-], the rest of your family brought some people back to fight back in order to take back the property. Is this treason?" He paused and said, "The second difference is that, for example, there are many people in the Bai family. Although the number of people is small for the time being, it is possible to attract other members of the Bai family to seize the property together; if some people from other clans are far inferior to the Bai family in number and strength, how can they do it if they want to seize all the property of the Bai family? ?”

Bai Ju calmed down slightly, and said, "I understand what you said. It means that you can recruit other Han people to rebel? And we can only rely on Miao people?"

"That's right." Zhang Ning said, "A few months ago, I had only 140 or eight people under my command. I raised an army to capture Shimen County. A few months later, there are now one or two thousand people. Our purpose of raising troops is very clear, which is to take back the territory of the Ming Dynasty. regime."

Bai Ju said: "The imperial court of the Central Plains controls millions of strings. Even if you have 2000 troops, can you really succeed?"

"It's up to people to plan things, and it's up to God to make things happen. We'll do our best, but for us, there is always an end to the road of raising troops." Zhang Ning said lightly, "Why didn't King Miao make a plan early and set a strategic goal?"

"Miao Wang has his own plan, but we don't know it." Bai Ju said, she paused and probed, "Based on His Highness's knowledge, what should we Miao people do to have a way out?"

Zhang Ning said: "It is common sense to make a small matter big. A small tribe should rely on serving a big country to protect itself. This is the rule. Besides, the Miao people have been in the Chinese lineage since ancient times. It is not a shame to be a minister; just like an ordinary person , It is normal to submit to the magistrate of the county magistrate, is it possible that a white dress must compete with the powerful and powerful?"

"However, if a person who claims to be a parent official oppresses the common people, how can he submit to serve him?"

Zhang Ning said: "You can choose a better 'parent officer'. If you have a good relationship with him, or even a relative, you will naturally not be bullied, and you can follow the riches."

"A relative?" Bai Ju blurted out and asked softly.

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