Chapter 157 Taozhou Guard
Taozhou Guard is very special. It is difficult to find a place like this in the entire Ming Dynasty.
The basic framework of the Ming Dynasty's administrative management system is: provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties. But that's not always the case - in some places, military significance is more important, so "guards" are set up. There are two kinds of "wei" in the Ming Dynasty. One is like "Tianjin Wei" and "Weihai Wei", which can be understood as a city fortress (of course, the scale is much smaller than today's cities); the other is similar to "Tianjin Wei" and "Weihai Wei". "Fu" manages a very large area. For example, Songpanwei, located in Sichuan Province, has an area similar to that of Baoning Prefecture, and is larger than Longan Prefecture and Shunqing Prefecture.
Taozhou Guard belongs to the latter category.
In the Ming Dynasty, Taozhou Wei belonged to the border area - it cannot be understood by today's so-called "national boundary" concept, because until Guangxu of the Manchu Dynasty, almost all the great emperors did not recognize any "national boundary": we call it "China" , located in the center of the world, except for the various provinces in the imperial management system, the others are vassal states. All in all, the whole world belongs to us, the commander-in-chief of the earth is the Holy Emperor, and everyone else must be called "king", which is one level lower. The only difference between countries is that some are within reach and can beat you into submission and pay tribute, while some are too far out of reach and don't bother to pay attention to you. The Holy Emperor pretends not to see you. Under this logic, in the eyes of the imperial court, there was no essential difference between England, France, Germany, the Miao Yi in the southwest, the Tibetan chieftains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the vassal states of Annan and Ryukyu in Korea...*.
In order to expel the remnants of the Tartars in the Central Plains, Taizu sent people to appease the tribes in Tibetan areas in the second year of Hongwu. However, all the chiefs held a wait-and-see attitude. It was not until the third year of Hongwu that Xu Da led his army to march westward. After Deng Yu "entered Kehe Prefecture from Lintao", "the Tubo Xuanwei envoy He Suo Nanpu of Yuanxing Province and others used the gold and silver medals awarded by Yuan Dynasty to seal the decree of left deputy general Deng Yu. drop". It’s easy to understand: the leaders of this gang are either Da Yuan’s envoys or Daru Hua Chi (printing officials, military, civil, and judicial officials, but their jurisdiction is limited, only one city and one place). No one knows whether Da Yuan will make a comeback. To take refuge when you are unsure is to be irresponsible to the entire tribe.
Taking into account its important military significance of "controlling Panrong in the west, shielding Huanglong in the east, and bounding Hehuang in the north" and being located in the Central Plains leading to Qinghai, Sichuan and Tibet, Taizu set up the Taozhou Guard here. The checkpoint is divided into two parts: inner and outer. The inner route is mainly to prevent the rebellion of the Han people, and the outer route is to prevent the invasion, nuisance and robbery of all ethnic groups. The Taozhou Guard adopts the method of "liutu participates in governance": the so-called "liu" means floating officials, who are managed by officials sent by the central government, while "tu" means continuing to rely on the leaders of various tribes for assistance. This is called "flows govern the soil, and soil governs the land."
The same is true in other places. Why do we say that Taozhou Wei is so different from other places? Because there are two important differences. First, regardless of whether they are local officials or local officials, they are all military positions. There are no civil officials such as magistrates or local magistrates. Official positions are all about commanding envoys, commanding envoys, and commanding officials, and the military and civilians are in charge. Second, the so-called "Liu Guan" - most of the Ming Dynasty's military officers are hereditary, so they are called Liu Guan, but they are actually Liu Guan. Their ancestors have been the boss of Taozhou Guard for generations, and they are no different from those hereditary tribal leaders and native officials. .
During the initial period of guarding in Taozhou, various tribes were not very peaceful: in the past, during the Great Yuan Dynasty, the leader was autonomous, and the Great Khan did not pay much attention to it. Now, suddenly, there was a Han official above the leader who ordered him to do whatever he wanted. Everyone They didn't adapt, and both sides didn't trust or understand each other. Misunderstandings or misjudgments occurred from time to time, so they surrendered, rebelled, surrendered, and rebelled again two years later... But since the imperial court set up Songpan Guards in Sichuan, the situation has changed. It completely changed.
To the north is the Taozhou Guard, which is blocked by mountains, and to the south is the Songpan Guard, with most of the tribes caught in the middle. In addition to provoking trouble among the various tribes and making them fight each other, as long as they see which tribe has grown stronger recently, Songpan Wei will find an excuse to stab him in the back. When the blood is almost exhausted, he will stop immediately. I will never kill you completely. On the contrary, I will also provide you with some help, help the nephew of the rich man to take over, and let you continue to control other families for the imperial court - fighting against the Han officials, and the Tibetan compatriots will grow up. A hundred heads are not enough.
Each prefecture in the Ming Dynasty has its own specialties: some produce salt, some produce tea, some produce porcelain, some produce rice... Taozhou Wei is larger than many prefectures, so naturally it also has its own specialties: fierce people! Let's put it this way, in other places, if you have a few battalions in hand, you may be able to run rampant for a while, at least in a mansion, there will be no obstruction. But it doesn't work here. As long as you dare to play tricks, you won't be able to go far and you will be destroyed! And, quite literally, it can’t even make a splash!
Because there are many forts here - you can name them, such as Ruchang Banner Fort, Huanghu Fort, Prime Minister's Fort, Meng Zong Banner Village, Sun Baihu Village... a total of eighty-two. There are also many passes - Black Rock Pass, Songling Pass, Ganbuta Pass...more than thirty in total! Well, there are also three high side walls and deep trenches that stretch for hundreds of miles. Every fortress, pass, and city wall has a garrison. Although the number is not too large, they watch and help each other. If one place is attacked, dozens of families come to help! How far can you go with just a few battalions of soldiers, fighting head-on and chewing them all the way?
As we have said before, not to mention rogue bandits like Zhang Hu, even Lu Yuguang met with disgrace in the mud village when he entered Sichuan on the imperial court's order and drove back. After the gate of the village was closed, he climbed up the wall with weapons and put on a show. If you dare to rob me, I will let you die here. Who dares to do this?
But Zhang Hu still made it through without any danger.
The leaders of Axi Dongcu Division and Zhanzang Xianjie Cu Division not only sent Tibetan guides for Zhang Hu, but also greeted the leaders of other villages. They also repeatedly warned Zhang Hu Fangge: The salt in your hands is Hecha bricks are treasures, and you can exchange highland barley glutinous rice cakes and yak meat with other villages in a friendly manner along the way. We Tibetans are very hospitable. If you are a lonely traveler, we will feed you and drink you even if you have nothing. We will even fill your bag with food when you leave. But you must not steal, otherwise we will chase you to the end of the world, and you must not rob, otherwise all the tribes will put aside their grievances with each other and fight with you to the last person... Also, you can only ask us to point out to you. Those chieftains, Niyang Tusi, Zan Tusi, Xunyang Tusi...these tribes must go around. They are all real officials of the court. They have defeated us with the court many times. If they find out, it will be difficult to handle. !
Zhang Hu's goal was to go north, and he never wanted to lose his life here, so he followed the instructions of several leaders honestly until he crossed the Tao River at the old Taozhou Village (today's Lintan, Gannan) and approached Lintao Mansion. The commander of the state guard, Yan Minwang, got the news.
Yan Minwang's leader is Li Yao, who is the current commander of the Taozhou Guard. The position of capital commander was hereditary in the early Ming Dynasty, but was later banned, but Taozhou Wei was an exception. The ancestor of the Li family was named Li Teng. During the Hongwu period, he was awarded the command of Taozhou Weidu. The following generations of descendants all achieved great military exploits: his son Li Da was awarded the title of General Zhao Yong for his merits, and his grandson Li Xian followed Mu Ying to conquer the Eighteenth Rebellion in Taozhou, and killed Ji (a variant of "ji"), the chieftain of Shizhou, Achang Qipiao (pronounced "point"). ), was granted the title of Marquis of Xuande, and his great-grandson Li Long was also posthumously granted the title of General Zhaoyong... Li Yao, who had grown up listening to the glorious deeds of his ancestors here since he was a child, was furious when he learned that thousands of bandits had entered the country so deeply!
The Li family, which has been hereditary for more than ten generations, has regarded Taozhou Guard as its own territory. Not to mention a large number of thieves passing by in front of their eyes, even the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, as long as they dare to act recklessly, Li Yao will arrange people Teach them a lesson! That's good. Thousands of you troops just passed by in such a big way, clearly intending to attack Lintao Mansion. If the news spreads, not to mention that the court may misunderstand that I have no control over the Tuban rebellion here. Even if it is finally known that it is a bandit infiltrating, once the news is spread, Is it just a few hundred miles to dive? What does the Li family in Taozhou, Shizhen, eat? Maybe the inheritance that our ancestors paid for with their lives will be destroyed in their own hands!
So Li Yao gave Yan Minwang a death order: chase me and kill them all!
Yan Minwang also breathed a sigh of relief: Mr. Li trusts him very much and usually doesn't take care of things. He has the final say on all matters big and small. It's good that most of the Taozhou guards were kept in the dark when the thief entered the country. It wasn't until he was discovered by people from the mud village after crossing the Taoshui River that he realized that the thief had already touched him right under his nose! Li Yao greeted Yan Minwang's eighteenth generation ancestor, so General Yan decided to vent his anger on Zhang Hu. He summoned several of his subordinates to command: Song Bangning from the Song Zhong family, Wang Xian from the Wang Xing Jiba family, Yang Guolong, the chieftain of Niyang (the surname was given to Yang in the Zhengde year, and Wangxiu, the chieftain at that time, changed his name to Yang Hong, and his descendants all took the Han name). name)... He ordered everyone to mobilize troops to chase Zhang Hu with him - whether he can completely annihilate Zhang Hu aside, if he can't hand over hundreds of heads to the court, Mr. Li, well, especially himself, will have such a good life. It's over.
After crossing the Taoshui River, Zhang Hu knew that Xingzang had been exposed, so he accelerated his march northward, thinking of leaving this land of right and wrong as soon as possible, except for being a ruthless man who risked his life. My Longguan is located at the junction of Lintao Prefecture and Taozhou Wei. It has been in peace for a long time, and the Li family is in town in the south. Like other places in the Ming Dynasty, can the civilian officials let go of the opportunity to deduct military pay? The defenders only had twenty or thirty men, old and young, so they were rushed down by Zhang Hu. After leaving Taozhou Guard, no one knew the way. Zhang Hu could only move all the way north with a blind eye, and captured Dingqiang (today's Guanghe County, Gansu Province) by mistake.
Ding Qichen, the prefect of Lintao, was shocked when he heard from the police: The Central Guard of Ganzhou was under the rule of Lintao Prefecture. Not long ago, he had just asked the commander Lu Guangyu to perform a beheading demonstration for the imperial censor Jiang Yuanbiao. Then Lu Guangyu aggressively led his troops to quell the thieves. I heard that instead of defeating the thief, he was so frightened that he peed his pants. Why, he was actually beaten back by the thief. Could it be that... Thief Zhang heard that he went to beat him and wanted to come to settle the score and take revenge. Of? The futile Lu Guangyu took away more than half of Lintao Mansion's capable soldiers in one breath. Now what should he do if Zhang Thief comes back to fight?
Magistrate Ding is thinking about finding someone to tell Zhang Hu that he is just organizing a sideshow for Mr. Jiang to entertain him, and that he does not mean to get in trouble with you. Don't worry about your humble position. It is better to just find a rope to hang yourself, and get The good news came that Commander Wei Yan of Taozhou led two thousand mixed Han troops to chase and kill Zhang Hu, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately instruct: Local states and counties will fully cooperate. Whether you have it or not, money, people, and food will be prepared for Commander Yan! Give Commander Yan whatever he wants. If Commander Yan doesn't ask for anything, you have to prepare it and send it over. Don't talk nonsense!
*Why did the imperial court send Guo Yonghou Yang Fang to meet the enemy in Yiwushi? Because he has rich experience in fighting and winning against "barbarians" - he defeated Zhang Geer, and not long ago he put down the rebellion of "barbarians in Sichuan"! Miao Yi are Yi, Ying Yi are also Yi, aren't they the same... Don't laugh, this is Daoguang's understanding.
*The so-called ethnicity of the Ming Dynasty is not the standard today. Simply put, a tribe is a clan. Therefore, there were many more "ethnicities" in the Ming Dynasty than we have today - today there are fifty-six ethnic groups and fifty-six flowers. In the Ming Dynasty, there were 520 flowers blooming under a small Niyang Tusi. !
