The place Emperor Chongzhen visited was the Hanlong Pass built by Chen Yongbin, the governor of Yunnan in the 22nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. It was one of the eight passes for the Teng Yue. The purpose of the original construction was to prevent Donggo's invasion. Therefore, the place where it was built was naturally an important thoroughfare for traffic.
Hanlong Pass is located at Mangbang Pass, which is an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place. After Emperor Chongzhen arrived here, he was not in a hurry to leave the customs and enter Mubang. Instead, the army rested here and waited for grain and grass supplies to be imported from the rear.
Of course, he didn't just wait. During the rest of the army, Emperor Chongzhen inspected the original Xuanwei Division in Longchuan. Now there is no Xuanwei Division, but it has been converted into a state and county.
Emperor Chongzhen paid appropriate attention to the people here, whether they had been allocated fields, what difficulties they had in life, etc. For a time, the people here were happy because they no longer had to be slaves to the chieftains and became homesteaders. Now that the emperor is caring personally, he is naturally even more grateful to the court and the emperor.
"Although Longchuan is far away, it is still the land of the Ming Dynasty. You are my people." Emperor Chongzhen said to them with a smile, "Since I am here, I will solve your practical problems and make your life better and better." The better. The road leading to Kunming from here is inconvenient, but don’t worry, I have sent a decree to the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. In the days to come, we will focus on building roads and building a good road to facilitate your travels to various places."
Good news, of course, everyone likes to hear it. The emperor's golden words are even more convincing when spoken. For a moment, even if the people here did not understand the emperor's words, they were filled with gratitude after being conveyed by others.
"I have also made a request that every prefecture and county in Yunnan must have at least one private school. All children of old age can go to school without paying tuition. In the future, when I become literate, I will see more things. I believe that one day, , you can also travel far, to the interior, to the Central Plains, and to the capital."
On the Yunnan side, due to strategic needs, it is necessary to first provide free private schools to teach them Mandarin and accelerate their Chineseization. For the court, there is indeed a certain cost. However, just building schools and hiring teachers are left to the states and counties themselves and do not require much capital. The purpose is not so that they can pass the exam, but to be knowledgeable and sensible and have a sense of identity with the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, Emperor Chongzhen also emphasized another aspect: "In the past, your area suffered from military disasters and was invaded by Dongwu. Today, Mubang and Mengyang are both Ming Dynasty territories, but the people are still living in dire straits. Among them. The purpose of my coming here this time is to destroy Dong Wu, and forever put an end to the sufferings of military disasters like yours, so that the world will be at peace from now on!"
This matter is now obvious. Of course, if Emperor Chongzhen hadn't said anything, some people might have thought that this was the emperor's business. It was the emperor who wanted to expand territory and perform civil and military affairs, which had little to do with them.
But now that Emperor Chongzhen said this, it was completely different. The reason why the current emperor came so far to come to them was so that they would no longer suffer from military disasters in the future. It was because of them that he decided to destroy Dongwu.
In this way, while they were grateful to Emperor Chongzhen, they were also very concerned about the imperial army's destruction of Dongwu.
At this time, they heard about the difficulties of the imperial court in conquering Dongwu. For example, they are not familiar with the terrain in Dongwu, the people's livelihood, etc., and there are also difficulties in transporting money and grain to the rear, etc. There is also news that the imperial army is recruiting guides who are familiar with Donggo.
Suddenly, the people in this borderland stood up spontaneously.
Is it difficult to transport money and food from the rear? Come, come, come, the little food hidden at home will be contributed to the needs of the imperial army.
Are you not familiar with the terrain on the Togo side? The common people who had been there rushed to the gate of the military camp and asked to be the guides of the army. They even simply said that they wanted to join the army and fight with the imperial army!
During the period when Emperor Chongzhen was stationed at Hanlong Pass, the local or surrounding people became very enthusiastic and were willing to contribute their own efforts to the imperial court's conquest of Dongwu.
Even the people from Mubang and Mengyang rushed over after hearing about it.
For them, on the one hand, they received a military order from Dongwu Pingdali, asking them to withdraw into the mountains, destroy all their farmland and houses, and to fortify the walls and clear the fields to deal with the Ming army; on the other hand, wherever the imperial army went, the people It's like celebrating a festival, with unlimited expectations for the future.
In this way, even if they choose with their toes, of course they will choose to support the imperial army.
Therefore, the imperial army led by Emperor Chongzhen has not moved yet, and Mu Bang and Meng Yang are all hoping that the imperial army will fight over quickly. They either came to Hanlong Pass to ask for participation, or they simply spontaneously opposed the officials of the Toungoo Dynasty in their hometown and rebelled first.
Among the people who came out to serve the imperial court in this border area, many were veterans who had participated in Liu Wei and Deng Zilong's attack on Ava City. They were familiar with the roads leading to Ava City and other conditions, which were of great help to this army operation. Although they are already older, with the youngest in their seventies, the enthusiasm does not faze the young men.
Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three sides, was dumbfounded by this situation.
Originally, he thought that there would be many difficulties in the army's expedition into the wild lands. For example, the terrain is unfamiliar, the food and grass supply is insufficient, the folk customs are tough and unyielding, and so on.
However, as soon as the emperor came, these things disappeared at all. This was the first time in his life that Zheng Chongjian saw such support for the imperial army.
Originally, he was very worried when he heard that Ye Bushou said that Dong Wu adopted the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the wilderness. Looking at the results now, he didn't dare to say anything else. As far as Mu Bang and Meng Yang were concerned, he dared to use their official heads to guarantee that as soon as the imperial army arrived, it would definitely be Ming Dynasty's territory again.
Of course he now understands why such a situation occurred. But before Emperor Chongzhen did these things, how many people could have thought that such things could be done and would have such effects?
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Ava City is also preparing intensely for war, because the heads hanging on the city walls serve as a demonstration. Although the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country has harmed the interests of many people, in the end no one dared to oppose it openly. However, Pingdali can feel the slightest resentment.
Although he didn't care about this on the surface, he still felt regretful in his heart. After all, he will be the king of Dongwu in the future, so it would be best if he could be supported by all the people.
Later, the scouts continued to report back, indicating that the emperor really had to personally lead the army to Dongwu. Pingdali became even more nervous and accelerated the speed of strengthening the walls and clearing the country. He wanted the emperor of the Ming Dynasty to be tortured by food and supplies as soon as he entered Dongwu with his army. The deeper he went into Dongwu, the more he felt the tension of food and grass supplies.
However, then he was a little dumbfounded.
The scouts' reports kept telling the emperor of the Ming Dynasty that the army led by him had reached a certain place, and arrived at a certain place... But later on, it was always Hanlong Pass, Hanlong Pass, and Hanlong Pass...
"What's going on?" Pingdali got angry and scolded the scout who reported back, "Why is the army led by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty always at Hanlong Pass? How long has it been? Are you still here to fight?"
How could the scout answer this question?
So, he turned to look at Sha Dingzhou standing next to him and shouted: "Didn't the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty come to dig a hole in me? Why did he stay at Hanlong Pass? Could it be that if the Ming Dynasty army stayed at Hanlong Pass, it would not be consumed? Got money and food?”
The army is assembled, and although the money and food consumed every day is less than during the war, it is still more than before the assembly.
Sha Dingzhou was also puzzled, and said with doubts: "The road from Kunming to Hanlong Pass is equally difficult, and most of them have to be carried on the backs of horses, camels, and people. And if the villain comes from that way, I can be sure that there is absolutely nothing in the area. There is enough food and grass for the army. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty stayed there and remained motionless. Perhaps he knew that His Highness's side was strong and clear, so he did not dare to send troops unless he collected enough food?"
Not to mention Dongwu, here in Yunnan, even in later generations, before the infrastructure madman went crazy, many places relied on horse gangs to travel around. The number of horses means the transportation capacity, which is a symbol of the wealth and status of the local people. From this we can see that this fellowship is really not good.
It was also because of this that when Emperor Chongzhen led an army to attack Dongwu, he only brought 30,000 troops. It’s not that I don’t want to bring more, but because of logistical constraints, I really can’t take more.
After Pingdali made some guesses, he gave the order to the scouts to sneak into Hanlong Pass to inquire about the news. If possible, I wouldn't mind using some means to force the Ming Emperor to send troops. For example, setting fire to food, burning houses if food cannot be burned, spreading rumors, creating panic, etc.
On the other hand, he also strictly ordered all places, especially Mubang, Mengyang and other areas near Hanlong Pass, to be more vigilant and not to be careless to avoid being caught off guard by the Ming army.
What Pingdali never expected was that in the past, when Dongwu scouts entered the realm of the Ming Dynasty, no one could recognize him. He spoke the local dialect and was more Ming people than the Ming people.
But this time, Scout Dongwu finally managed to sneak into Hanlong Pass over the mountains and ridges. Before he could cause damage, he was drowned by the sea of people.
That's right, people in the imperial army and government could not recognize the difference between these Dongwu scouts and the local people. However, the locals are different, and outsiders can tell at a glance. If you pay a little attention, you can immediately tell how sneaky these cavemen are.
Unsaid, they were worried about how to repay the emperor, and they were all grabbing the credit for bringing them to their door. Often a dozen local people would drag a Dongwu scout to the Yamen. As for whether there was a misunderstanding in the end, the government would investigate clearly.
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