Nanning Mansion, Baishan Chieftain.
This place is located in the central area of Guangxi, surrounded by the Yongjiang River, blocked by mountains, and surrounded by many mountains. It is an excellent terrain.
Here lives the largest chieftain in Guangxi, the Baishan Chieftain Department.
Unlike the Tusi near Hepu County, Baishan Tusi is very large, even numbering 200,000.
These people have been married to the surrounding chieftains for generations, and are respected by the surrounding chieftains. Every chieftain in Guangxi must pay a large amount of materials to the Baishan tribe every year in exchange for the protection of the Baishan tribe.
It can be said that the Baishan tribe is the uncrowned king of Guangxi chieftains.
Ruan Xiufeng, the chieftain of the Baishan tribe, was the Tongpan of Nanning Prefecture recognized by the Ming Dynasty.
It's just that the name Ruan Xiufeng is just a distant leader. He has never been on duty in Nanning Mansion, and Nanning Mansion has never had a real prefect.
There is no need for the government office without Ruan Xiufeng, because if something happens to Nanning Mansion, they will all go to the Baishan Department and let Ruan Xiufeng administer justice.
Ruan Xiufeng's words are more effective than those of the Ming Dynasty officials.
But all this changed after Li Jin arrived in Hepu County.
Before Li Jin's arrival, both the chieftains in Hepu County and Qinzhou Prefecture were under the jurisdiction of the Baishan tribe.
However, after a flood, Li Jin first worked for relief, and distributed a large amount of free food, causing all the chieftains in Hepu County to gather around Jipu County.
Even some toasts from Nanning Prefecture were tempted by Li Jin and ran to Hepu County in order to eat more free food.
Ruan Xiufeng didn't care at first. After all, although these chieftains have gone to Hepu County, they will come back sooner or later after the food in Hepu County is eaten up and return to his own men.
But what he didn't expect was that Li Jin immediately arrested the leaders of many chieftain tribes and sent them to the capital.
This move left almost all the hundreds of thousands of natives around Hepu County.
The chieftains without their heads were nothing more than a pile of loose sand. These natives were favored by Li Jin, and Li Jin's policy of providing work for relief and distributing land for free firmly attracted these natives to Hepu County.
Ruan Xiufeng did not expect that Li Jin would be so clever and directly sent several spies to Hepu County to spread the news about the murder of the leader and encourage the natives to rebel.
But Ruan Xiufeng's method was to let Li Jin see through it, arrest his spies directly, and even reveal himself.
Originally thinking that Li Jin would become angry and come to cause trouble for him, Ruan Xiufeng even planned to mobilize an army to fight Li Jin and reestablish his position as chieftain of Guangxi.
What he didn't expect was that Li Jin was indifferent and turned a blind eye to him.
After observing for several months, he found that Li Jin really had no intention of causing trouble for him, so Ruan Xiufeng forgot about the matter and continued to live his life as a local emperor.
On this day, Ruan Xiufeng was taking several chieftains to inspect his territory, but his second brother Ruan Xiulin in Nanning Mansion ran back in a panic.
"Second brother, you are not in Nanning Mansion, why are you coming back in such a hurry?"
Ruan Xiufeng's face was full of doubts, with a hint of anger in his eyes. As his second brother, he was proficient in eating, drinking, prostitution and gambling. If he hadn't been his biological brother, he would have been thrown into the Yong River to feed the fishes.
Now he was just asked to act as an informant for him in the city, and now he actually dared to come back without authorization. It was simply not doing his job properly.
But Ruan Xiulin still looked frightened at this moment, and the fear in his eyes seemed to overflow.
"Brother...brother, it's not me who wants to come back, but the Ming Dynasty is sending an army, and it will arrive in Guangxi soon!"
"What?"
Ruan Xiufeng still looked like he hated iron for not becoming steel just now, but after hearing these words, he felt as if five thunders were striking his head.
"How many people came from the Ming Dynasty army?"
"No... don't know."
"What are they here for? Are they targeting our Baishan tribe?"
"have no idea..."
"waste!!"
Ruan Xiufeng kicked Ruan Xiulin, a loser, all the way out and asked him to act as an informant for him in Nanning and find out information.
As a result, now I don’t know anything about everything, and I am simply a waste of rice! !
"Chief Ruan, the top priority now is to send someone to find out the news immediately."
A leader quickly grabbed the furious Ruan Xiufeng and tried to persuade him:
"If the army comes to invade the territory by then, I'm afraid it will be a disaster for us and others. We still need to find out the situation quickly to avoid being caught off guard."
Ruan Xiufeng withdrew his gaze fiercely, then cupped his hands at the person who spoke and said:
"Thank you, Chief Xia, for reminding me. I almost delayed something important because of this piece of trash."
"I originally wanted to entertain Chief Xia today, but now it seems that I'm afraid it will have to happen next time. I hope Chief Xia won't blame me."
"Where, where."
The leader named Xia hurriedly waved his hand, saying it was okay, and then took the initiative to say goodbye:
"Sir Ruan will take care of the family affairs first. There will be more opportunities to get together in the future, so I will take my leave now."
Ruan Xiufeng sent the leaders away with a smile. After all these people left, the smile on Ruan Xiufeng's face immediately disappeared.
"A bunch of wallflowers who just follow the wind, huh!!"
The chieftains are just fragile alliances, and they marry each other just to protect themselves.
But when an invincible enemy appears, these people are also the fastest ones.
After all, the alliance is too fragile, and only the interests are eternal.
Now that the Ming Dynasty has sent a large army, it must be for this Baishan tribe.
Although the Baishan tribe is also extremely powerful, in front of the huge Ming Dynasty, it is like a mayfly looking at the blue sky, not worth mentioning at all.
Many leaders naturally know what happened in Hepu County before?
Li Jin has clearly established his roots in Hepu County, and they don't dare to provoke Li Jin, but they have also heard about the obstacles that the Baishan tribe has put in Li Jin's way.
The Ming Dynasty sent a large army in all likelihood to frighten the Baishan tribe. If there was any trouble in the Baishan tribe, I am afraid that what they would receive would be a thunderous blow.
These chieftains are not fools. Compared with the war machine of the Ming Dynasty, no matter how powerful the Baishan tribe is, it will be a dead end.
I and others are too close to the Baishan tribe, and I am afraid they will be implicated when the time comes.
Therefore, after these people heard the news that the Ming army was coming, they hurriedly said goodbye and left.
Husband and wife are like birds in the same forest, and they fly separately when disaster strikes. This is human nature.
...
Guilin.
After nearly two months of traveling, Fu Youde finally arrived in Guilin, Guangxi.
Starting from Yingtian, we head west and along the Yangtze River.
The fatigue of traveling and traveling along the way can be said to be very torture. Even if Fu Youde is a veteran on the battlefield, he still feels that it is a bit too much.
Especially entering Hunan and Guangxi, which is located in the southwest region with countless hills and mountains. Without water transportation, the march of a hundred thousand troops was as slow as a snail, moving forward at a turtle's pace.
It stands to reason that the current hot summer weather is not suitable for sending troops to the southwestern chieftains, but Zhu Yuanzhang still ordered Fu Youde to lead the elite Beijing camp south.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster, and Fu Youde feels that something big may happen in the southwest.
Therefore, even though Fu Youde knew that the march was difficult, he still did not complain at all and led an army of 100,000 people across the Yangtze River and into the 100,000 mountains of Hunan and Guangxi.
After a lot of hardships, we finally reached Guilin.
"This damn weather is really too hot. If we could march in the south in winter, it wouldn't be like this!"
Fu Youde was riding on a war horse and wearing armor. Even in the scorching sun, Fu Youde was fully armed.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang governed the army very strictly, and there were many famous generals under his command. Fu Youde was also a first-class general, so he naturally governed the army strictly.
As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, Fu Youde always wears a helmet and wears armor. Naturally, other generals or soldiers did not dare to complain at all.
However, after Fu Youde felt the sticky Han water all over his body, he couldn't help complaining softly and cursing the damn weather.
Geng Bingwen, the deputy general of the army, accompanied Fu Youde on the expedition. After hearing Fu Youde's words, he persuaded:
"Commander, Guilin City is ahead of us. Once we enter the city, it will be a little cooler."
Unexpectedly, Fu Youde waved his hand and refused:
"There is no need to enter the city. Our army has 100,000 troops. How can the small city of Guilin accommodate them?"
"I will order the army to be stationed in a shady place outside the city later. Without my order, no one is allowed to enter the city, including me!"
Fu Youde was granted the title of Marquis of Yingchuan in his early days. Later, he shone brightly in the Northern Expedition to Mobei and was promoted to Duke of Ying.
Fu Youde's ability can be seen from Fu Youde's official promotion. It can be said that after the Ming Dynasty created many princes, during the Hongwu period, only three people were promoted from marquis to duke due to military merit.
Tang He, Fu Youde, and Lan Yu.
Needless to say, Tang He was Zhu Yuanzhang's fellow countryman and guide. It can be said that his relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang was irreversible. It was not surprising that he was promoted to Duke.
Lan Yu, who sealed the wolf as his Xu, went deep into the desert for hundreds of miles. In the first battle, the vitality of Beiyuan was almost completely severely damaged, and even indirectly led to the demise of Beiyuan, which was a great contribution.
And Fu Youde's juxtaposition with these two people already illustrates this person's ability.
Apart from anything else, Fu Youde has basically never lost a battle in his life. This is the most terrifying thing.
Even the Duke of Wei, Xu Da, suffered a setback in Mobei, while Fu Youde had never lost a single battle. Such a terrifying record only showed that this man was extremely capable.
In the early Ming Dynasty when the stars were shining brightly, Fu Youde still firmly occupied his place.
