149 Initial Determination (4)
Even if Yong Weiqiang and Li really showed great sincerity, disbanded their subordinates and welcomed the Yu army into the city, but other politicians and aristocrats who were unwilling to lose their power did not necessarily cooperate, if it were not for the fact that Annan had a certain popular base, Yu merchants took the lead in buying land at high prices and hiring farmers for rent free, and also supplied new farm tools that could be repaid in installments, maybe some ordinary people would have been instigated to riot.
As soon as the five edicts were surrendered and Tibet shrank, there were important nobles and nobles who united with the Shan people on the Shan plateau and the neighboring Siam, intending to establish their own kingdoms in the south and east. Qiao Qi, who had just taken office, immediately contacted the Han merchants, found a reason, led troops to inspect the 'forbidden objects', and 'visited' several areas that were about to move, temporarily subduing the Tusi of Shan State and forcing back the Siamese people who wanted to cross the Shan Plateau.
Originally, the changes of less than 1,000 people were not worthy of the attention of the imperial court, but the Privy Council still took it very seriously, and sent the public opinion department to cooperate with Qiao Qi to sort out the human geography of the entire Indochina Peninsula together, and reported in detail the local ethnicity, hydrology, mountain range, and religion.
The Indochina Peninsula is not much different from the Southwest Yi, the Shan State Plateau is the same as the previous Southwest Yi, in the state of the Tusi lords in their own affairs, and the south of the Sanjiang Plateau where the Xinming City is located and the Yunling Plateau where the Kuizhou City is located is actually a piece of land, the valley is vast, the jungle is all over, the scenery is magnificent, all of them are a large number of closed tribes cut out of the lofty mountains, the mountain roads are not passable to each other, the language is different, and even the customs are very different, and there are resentments against each other.
Relying on the help of local merchants, pro-Han natives and immigrants who had fled south, Qiao Qi roughly sorted out the clues, and in the chaos of tribes and ethnic groups, according to the differences in language families, the inhabitants of the peninsula were roughly divided into several major ethnic groups, the Burmese ethnic group dominated by the Pyu Kingdom, the Jing ethnic group in the northern part of Annam, the Tai ethnic group mainly distributed in the mountainous areas of Siam, Chenla and Shan State Plateau, and the Khmer ethnic group who once dominated the entire peninsula.
According to the current control of the Pyu state, the Burmese led by the royal family occupy the entire Dulong River (Irrawaddy) river basin, but the Tai people on the Shan State plateau in the east are obviously more independent and are collectively known as the Shan. In addition, there is a mountain range on the plateau that separates the Pyu kingdom from Siam in the southward section of the Ta Thanah mountain range, and the Tai people on the mountain are also classified as the Shan people, but the inhabitants of the coastal flats below the mountain and the narrow strip connecting the Malay Peninsula are mainly Khmer people, known as Mon. In addition, because the coastal area west of the Rakhine Mountains is close to Chittagong in Tianzhu, it once belonged to the same ancient dynasty, the Arakan Kingdom, and later came into contact with the Great Cannibals who came from afar, and the Burmese Thai half here converted to Tianfang, which is very different from other regions.
Although the Pingnan army held the Dongge Pass leading inland from the Rakhine Mountains, it was obvious that the terrain in the coastal area was limited and it was not worried about the attack of the land troops. Fortunately, the Andong Army of Daguang demonstrated and sank a 'pirate ship' that refused to accept the 'inspection of the contraband' while cruising to the harbor near the ancient city of Myaou, calming down the Rakhine area.
Just one country is so complicated, not to mention other Siam, Chenla, and Khmer that have never been in deep contact with it. Since the Central Plains regime, under the leadership of Qin Shi Huang, crossed the 100,000 mountains and came into contact with the Indochina Peninsula, this region, which was generally classified as the 'Baiyue', could only adopt the fetters system and let the Tusi pay tribute to the autonomy. The Ding Dynasty spent a lot of effort on the grandmother, but still could not set up a liuguan for a long time, and directly incorporated it into the territory to control, and other regions were all supported by one dozen and one, which Chinese was learned well, which one was pulled, and slowly penetrated to the south, and it took more than a hundred years to have the Nanzhao Kingdom that made up its mind to be a horse boy, and another semi-finished product, Annam.
Therefore, the Pingnan Army went deep into Kangzang, and the Andong Army was stationed in various ports, and the merchants cooperated with the northern and southern trade routes, so that the Dayu officials had a place to show. However, the mountainous area of the Shan State Plateau is still outside the control of Dayu as a whole, which in turn affects Siam and Chenla. Then there is Longmen City, relying only on the deterrence of the Andong army, even if it is autonomous under the siege of Johor and Srivijaya, in the eyes of the Chinese who are accustomed to the depth of the land, the projectile land on both sides of the strait is not enough to stand, so the Malay Peninsula must be taken. These are all tasks for Qiao Qi and Jia Peng in the future.
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In order to ensure that Dayu had long-term control over the Pi Kingdom and the Shan State Plateau, Qiao Qi asked for the construction of a road to connect the north and south of the Bi State and connect the Daguang port with the inland Southern Silk Road. The Southern Silk Road starts from Dali in Nanzhaocheng, enters the Shan Plateau at Longling in the southwest, passes through Wan Town, Ruili and Nankan, and joins the Dulong River at the water and land transportation hub of Bamo. Qiao Qi wants to add two routes, one from Longling north to Tengchong, from the Dali Plateau directly west to Mengyang (Myitkyina), and then turn to the northwest, straight line connection Leiduo; The other is from Wan Town to the south, passing through Lap and Kyaukmei to Ava City (Mandalay), passing through the Shan State Plateau. These two routes have to wind and circle in the rugged mountain road, the terrain along the way is complex, there are karst caves and deep streams from time to time, towering giant trees, although there are commercial horse roads that exist in ancient times as a reference, but to repair to the point of feasible carriages and horses, the project is very huge, digging mountains and filling slopes, building bridges and making holes, how easy it is to say.
Skilled jobs can be hired at a high price, but the people are not easy to get, and the people here generally have no concept of regular work, and it is not easy to manage, so they can only find a way from a few Tusi countries with great local potential.
The tribe he chose as the breakthrough was the 'Lan Na Kingdom', a long-standing alliance of small tribes on both sides of the Nu River in the Shan State Plateau, with primeval forests stretching south to northern Siam. The name of the country was chosen by him according to the pronunciation, because after being translated into Chinese, he was embarrassed to put it into words - 'Eight Hundred Daughters-in-law Country', which is claimed to have eight hundred wives and a woman leading a stockade in ancient times......
As a person with no language talent, Qiao Qi was able to talk to King Yunlai of Lanna all thanks to the Miaoxiang Kingdom that was dependent on Nanzhao as an intermediary, but Miaoxiang Country did not have a good heart, and he said that Yunlai 'refused to serve Dayu Zhengshuo, please help the ministers and levy it for the Holy Lord'. The entire Central and Southern Land has not yet officially launched a war, and the Pingnan Army is more to support the indigenous brothers to rush forward, or to protect the merchants to seize power and make profits, the effect is not obvious, and there is no military merit.
The attitude of the imperial court towards this matter is almost one-sided, and they all feel that although 'the shore of the land, it is not the king's land', but this kind of 'desolate Xiaoyi, taking it is not enough to benefit, not taking it is not enough to harm', as long as you are willing to pay tribute and trade, and do not harm the plain fields of high-quality and cheap grain under the mountain, LETI**O! also quoted scriptures - after Zhuge Liang lost Jingzhou, he also fought the idea here, crossed the Lushui South Expedition, captured Meng seven times, and returned in vain; At the end of the Ding Dynasty, Emperor Xi also sent Liu Shen, who was a great and talented man, to go to the southwest of Yi, 'Xuanwei Wude', fell to death without a fight, died of illness and seven or eight out of ten, borrowed money and borrowed troops from the local tribes, did it too ruthlessly, and was rebelled, and was invited by the barbarian coalition army all the way, and the poisonous arrows were trapped in the well, and the soldiers were wounded and abandoned for more than a thousand miles. It was in view of the above lessons that everyone knew that the cost of conquering this place was too high, so the Ji Dynasty listed the entire Indochina Peninsula, including Annam, as a non-conquest country.
Looking at the combat history of the Pingnan Army in the past dynasties, even if the accustomed climate is good at forest warfare, tens of thousands of guest troops in the Central Plains may not be able to defeat thousands of local mountain people, diseases, natural disasters, unfavorable terrain, and various factors, even if they win, they will be more disastrous. If it weren't for the overwhelming strength of the Dayu Navy, relying on the army alone, I am afraid that in another hundred years, it may not be able to gain a firm foothold in the meanness. Since it is not cost-effective to fight, the 'grace' of both grace and power must be heavier, and the 'might' is left to the navy to exert, which is far better than letting the army go to the mountains to die.
Chi Qiyu and Qiao Qi took the time to go around Miaoxiang Country and Lanna Country in person, and came back to study the historical materials. The Shan Plateau is no better than the Sixth Edict, 'the land of smoke and miasma is full of diseases, ants and insects are dense, and the grain and grass are heavy and must be loaded by the people, tossing and turning heavy mountains and mountains, steep streams and deep forests, and the marching road is mostly dangerous cliffs and towering walls, and its narrow passes only allow one person to ride, such as ascending high, and going down like entering a well, and it is very easy to lose footing'. If the Pingnan army rashly attacked, maybe like Liu Shen, he didn't even see a single black tooth of his eight hundred daughters-in-law, and he would lose his troops and lose face.
Therefore, Qiao Qi's idea of conquering the unruly powers by force and obtaining a large number of captives to work as drudgers did not receive any official support, but the merchants who came to open the Dulong River channel with the royal post office privately learned some local information and gave him an idea. The northernmost part of the navigable river of the Dulong River is Mengyang, don't look at the straight line distance from Leiduo is very close, the Hukang River valley is the famous local 'Savage Mountain', in which the mountains overlap and the forest is like the sea, miasma malaria and jackals and beasts are rampant together, and there are many uncivilized savages, which can be caught as hard labor.
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GU CI DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE BRITISH HAD FOUGHT FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY TO COLONIZE BURMA, AND BARELY HELD THE PLAIN OF THE DULONG RIVER BASIN, AND IN THE NEXT CENTURY OR SO, HE HAD TO ENDURE THE TORTURE OF THE MOUNTAIN GUERRILLAS, BUT HE WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY THE FAMOUS 24 BENDS OF THE YUN-BURMA HIGHWAY IN THE WAR OF RESISTANCE AGAINST JAPAN, AND 200,000 WOMEN, CHILDREN, OLD AND WEAK, WITHIN A YEAR, OPENED UP A SUPPLY LIFELINE WITHOUT MACHINERY AND ARTIFICIALLY, CROSSING THE HARDEST PEAKS AND THE MOST TURBULENT RIVERS. Now Qiao Qi plans to complete this feat in the way of 'catching piglets', as long as the good state of affairs is controlled, the imperial court will not have objections, but she doesn't want Dayu's colonial image to be too bad, or she plans to 'move people with wealth', and begin to promote jadeite, pigeon's blood ruby, moonstone, peridot and other jadeite in the south through the treasure shop, and wear and reward all kinds of new gemstone jewelry, and half of the hardwood reserves of the Industrial Construction Bureau next year are purchased from Daguang, and all low-end products are made of teak and wenge wood that are abundant in the country.
For jewelry and timber, a large number of merchants poured into the Shan State Plateau to buy toast deep in the mountains, mine and dig stones, and even the Nu River, which is turbulent and inconvenient for boats, to carry timber down the river, saving labor.
Gu Jue is also very supportive of the plan of his good friend Qiao Qi, Nanzhao, who had occupied the country of Pi, bore the brunt of becoming the talent pool of the new grassroots officials of the country of Piu, and several sons of Duan Fukuan and Shu Mingnata were admitted to the extra graceful 'Tongjinshi', and they are currently the parents of the five edicts, and other people who have passed the official examination will be added to Wan Town, Tengchong, Dongge, Lawu, Leiduo and other places, and cooperate with the local Tusi to contribute to the cause of road construction. The original officials, nobles and royal families of the Bi Kingdom still stayed in the rich places of Daguang, Beiyi, Mengyang, Miaowu and other wealthy places as officials, and they did not have much resistance to the officials of Nanzhao, and through such appearances, they were willing to learn Chinese characters, and when the conditions were ripe in the future, they would participate in the official examinations and imperial examinations of Dayu.
In addition to a dozen people who were familiar with the local situation, the most useful information provided by Gu Jue was to make Qiao Qi understand that the Buddhism prevalent in Indochina was dominated by the Theravada sect with strict precepts, and only Annan was influenced by the Central Plains and accepted Mahayana Buddhism. Qiao Qi, who understood the situation, immediately circled the mountains outside the cities of Mengyang and Ava, raised funds, built a Zen Forest Ring Temple in the dense forest, and invited well-known monks and Bikuni from all over the peninsula and Nanyang to come to preach the Dharma and benefit life.
The soldiers of the Five Edicts were hired to serve as overseers, and the people were all paid to requisition, regardless of gender, and the multi-pronged approach was carried out by profit-seeking merchants and dervishes monks, so that the construction of the road could be started smoothly. For Qiao Qi, except for some numbers in the "Mountain Road Construction Standards" approved by the Industrial Construction Bureau, everything is very beautiful, a year or two later, the number of Chinese characters will exceed 10,000, and he will be able to apply for the imperial examination and official examination in the Pi region, which also means that he himself is qualified to be promoted to the political envoy, and the entire Pyu and Shan Plateau, even including northern Siam, may be included in the jurisdiction.
And with this political achievement in the first year, compared with the eldest brother Qiao Zhen, who is currently just starting out in Kangzang, and the second brother Qiao Zhen, who is unknown in the Ministry of Rites, it is obvious that he can go further.