On Qingxiu Mountain.
Meng Xiao, the chieftain of the Qingxiu tribe, is having a secret conversation with Ruan Xiufeng.
"Clan Chief Meng, have you ever heard of any changes in the outside world while you were in the Shiwan Mountains?"
Ruan Xiufeng asked leisurely:
"Today's outside world has undergone earth-shaking changes. Does Chief Meng know?"
Meng Xiao nodded slightly and replied:
"I've heard a lot about it."
"It is said that a particularly powerful prefect has arrived in Hepu County. This prefect is currently carrying out vigorous reforms in Hepu County."
"There were even people from the government who came to call us to come out, but I declined."
"But I heard that the prefect was not a bad person. Instead, he provided free relief to the natives and even distributed land."
"Clan Chief Ruan, is there something fishy about this?"
"This is very confusing. The prefect is not going to distribute food and land to us. He is clearly doing this to enslave us natives."
Ruan Xiufeng's face was filled with anger and he said angrily:
"I was also called by the government before. They wanted me to take my tribe to Hepu County, claiming that when we get there, they will give us land and food so that we can live a stable life."
"Work at sunrise and rest at sunset every day, enjoying the quiet and beautiful days."
"In order to find a good way out for my tribe, I disguised myself as a wandering native and secretly went to Hepu County."
"Clan Chief Meng, do you know what I experienced there?"
"What happened?"
Meng Xiao's eyes widened in disbelief.
Ruan Xiufeng gritted his teeth and said:
"They treated me like a cow or horse. I was either plowing in the fields or working on the construction site every day. I didn't have a day off."
"Not only that, the rice porridge they gave me was mixed with a lot of sand, and I was worse than an animal."
"In addition, there are also chieftains from various tribes. Once they go there, they will be immediately arrested by the prefect and then sent to Yingtian to wait for questioning."
"Our chieftains from various tribes in Guangxi were bewitched by that magistrate. More and more chieftains are going to Hepu. The reason I came here this time is to ask the Mongolian chief to come out and bring justice to our various chieftains."
Ruan Xiufeng did go to Hepu County, but he went incognito, even pretending to be a refugee.
In Hepu County, the refugees were indeed taken in as soon as possible, and then began to implement work-for-relief measures. Naturally, the rice porridge they drank was still the same as the old recipe, and the refugees' work was also the lightest.
Because Li Jin considered that the refugees were in poor health and could not do heavy work, he asked the refugees to do some light work and also paid these refugees.
However, Ruan Xiufeng is the clan leader and has not done any work in person for many years, so he feels that the work is onerous.
Even in order to encourage Meng Xiao, he also concealed the payment of rewards from Hepu County.
Meng Xiao is a straightforward Chinese character. When he heard that Hepu County treated the natives like this, he immediately became angry and said angrily:
"Asshole, I always thought that the Hepu County magistrate was still a figure."
"Able to do some practical things to benefit the people, I am more willing to appease the refugees, help us natives, and treat us all equally."
"But today, I realize that these are all illusions, and the Hepu County magistrate is clearly a villain."
"He tricked me into waiting just to exploit us natives. Damn it!!"
"Clan Chief Ruan, in order to expose this person's true identity, I am willing to join forces with you. If you need my help, Meng Xiao, just ask!"
Ruan Xiufeng's eyes suddenly flashed with joy when he saw Meng Xiao being so upright. It seemed that he was right in choosing Meng Xiao as a breakthrough point.
After sorting out his thoughts for a while, Ruan Xiufeng immediately raised his hands and said:
"Clan Meng is a great righteous man, you should be worshiped by me!"
"Clan Chief Ruan, please rise up. Meng Xiao is duty-bound for the survival of our clan."
Meng Xiao helped Ruan Xiufeng up and said sternly:
"Please tell me from Chief Ruan, as long as Meng Xiao can do it, I will never refuse."
Ruan Xiufeng was overjoyed and excited, and said to Meng Xiao:
"Clan Chief Meng, we should first gather all the chieftains we can come into contact with, and then expose the ugly face of the Ming Dynasty in front of everyone."
"Then we passed through Shiwan Mountain, quietly approached Hepu County, launched a sudden attack, completely destroyed Hepu County, and rescued the oppressed tribesmen."
"The Hepu County magistrate committed a heinous crime. We must arrest him and cut his heart out and remove his liver to comfort the souls of the chieftains who were murdered by him."
Meng Xiao was a little surprised when he heard Ruan Xiufeng's plan, and he couldn't help but ask:
"Siege the city and kill the officials?"
"Clan Chief Ruan, are you going to lead us to rebel?"
"Rebels will be beheaded."
In Meng Xiao's heart, he was thinking about the scene when the Ming army pacified Guangxi.
At that time, he was not a chieftain, but he chose to follow the Ming army to conquer the remaining forces of the Yuan Dynasty. Because of this, he received the title of chieftain.
While following the Ming army to fight, he also realized how powerful the Ming army was.
These Ming troops were as powerful as wolves and tigers. Those who opposed them, whether it was the Yuan army or the arrogant and domineering former chieftains, were completely defeated by the Ming army. All of them had their heads chopped off and hung on the east gate for the world to see.
Meng Xiao actually didn't want to rebel in his heart, because he knew how powerful the Ming army was. Once he angered the Ming army, I'm afraid the entire Qingxiu Mountain tribe would be wiped out.
"Chief Meng, you are wrong. We are not rebelling, we are rescuing our tribe."
Ruan Xiufeng had a righteous look on his face, but his tone was extremely bewitching, constantly encouraging Meng Xiao.
"There are nearly half a million tribesmen in Hepu County who are suffering. Is it possible that the Meng chief just watches them suffer?"
"I originally thought that Chief Meng was a great hero of our clan, so I came to see Chief Meng to discuss important matters. I didn't expect that Chief Meng would be so cowardly."
"In that case, then please ask Chief Meng to arrest me and take me to the government, so that I can achieve the fame of Chief Meng!"
After saying that, Ruan Xiufeng closed his eyes, raised his head, put his hands behind his back, and looked like he was dying heroically.
Meng Xiao's face flushed red after being told by Ruan Xiufeng, and he felt ashamed. He quickly stood up and bowed three times to Ruan Xiufeng, and said with shame:
"Meng Xiao said something wrong, please don't blame me, Chief Ruan."
When Ruan Xiufeng saw Meng Xiao looking like this, he got off the slope. Instead of pretending, he started to reason with Meng Xiao:
"Chief Meng, the current chaos among our natives is all caused by the Hepu County magistrate. If we don't get rid of this evil thief, we will never have peace."
"At that time, Chief Meng only needs to summon a hundred thousand warriors from the mountain. After capturing the magistrate, I am willing to personally kill this evil thief."
"When the time comes, I will shoulder all the blame and I will never implicate Brother Meng Xiao."
"For the millions of people in my clan, I am willing to sacrifice myself in exchange for a hundred years of peace."
Seeing Ruan Xiufeng being so righteous, Meng Xiao almost crawled into the ground in shame. He waved his hands and said:
"Brother Ruan, no, since this matter is for the sake of our clan's hundred-year peace, I share the responsibility with you for the crime committed."
"At worst, I will never come out of Shiwanda Mountain. I don't believe that the Ming army dares to break into Shiwanda Mountain. This is our territory. As long as the Ming army dares to come, I will definitely let them come back!"
"Don't worry, brother Ruan, I will take care of this matter."
"In that case, thank you very much, Brother Meng. Please take care of this matter, Brother Meng."
Ruan Xiufeng hugged Meng Xiao and then said:
"I will contact other tribes later. On the 15th of next month, we will gather on Qingxiu Mountain to discuss the major issue of conquering Hepu County."
"Okay, I will do my best on this matter."
Meng Xiao also clasped his fists. The two most powerful chieftain tribes decided to join forces at this moment to face such a powerful enemy of the Ming Dynasty.
...
Annam, Hanoi.
When Li Jin was appointed as the Chief Envoy of Annan, Fu Youde, Lan Yu and Zhu Di were very excited.
Although they had discussed plans on how to develop Annan before, they were not sure whether Zhu Yuanzhang would choose to annex Annan before the imperial edict was issued.
After all, Annan was still a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and even if Annan was really annexed, who would be allowed to manage Annan? Will this person affect their plans?
These are all unknown factors. Because of this, Fu Youde, Lan Yu and others are actually quite uneasy.
Now that the boots have finally landed, Li Jin has been promoted to the Annan Chief Envoy, leaping from the fifth rank to the third rank. It is really gratifying and a double happiness.
Immediately, Li Jin held a banquet in the most luxurious restaurant, entertaining military generals and officials who were sent to assist Li Jin in governing Annan. They partyed for three days and three nights before officially starting to develop Annan's plan. .
Li Jin naturally continued to do the same thing, transporting grain and grass, and then began to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction crazily in Annan, using work as relief, and mobilized the people of Annan to build roads and dig ditches for the Ming Dynasty.
In Li Jin's plan, Annan was different from Hepu County and Shanghu County.
This will become the most important agricultural base of the Ming Dynasty in the future, supplying food, wood, fruits and most raw materials.
Therefore, when Li Jin was planning, he paid most attention to two points, transportation and water conservancy.
The transportation is for convenient transportation, so that Li Jin can harvest the raw materials here in the future, and the water conservancy is to give Annan the most comfortable agricultural conditions, allowing Annan to surpass the Jiangnan region in the next five years.
Under Li Jin's arrangement, hundreds of thousands of Annan laborers began to work in various places in Annan in an orderly manner. For these Annan people, they could only obtain food that barely subsisted by working for Li Jin.
Because the food in Annan had been basically plundered by the king of Annan and the prime minister, these people still lost the food to survive. Unless they accepted Li Jin's conditions, they could only starve to death.
The Annan rebels who originally followed Zhu Di in rebellion were the first Annan people to be engaged in the slave trade by Li Jin.
