"It's just that I don't know what the plan is to go through the southwest?"

When he asked these words, Mu Tianbo's eyes stared at Ding Yujie, and involuntarily, his breathing began to become a little short. Even hurriedly there was anticipation in his eyes, and his heartbeat was beating faster and faster.

Because, Ding Yujie's answer may even directly determine the fate of the Mu family.

Perhaps, he thought that the Ming Dynasty had gone and had reached the point of no return, so he would give all his sons to the local toast, wanting to leave incense for the family. and vowed to die for the country and live and die with the Ming Dynasty.

Without the Ming Emperor, the Mu Guogong, the Mu family and the Ming Dynasty share honor and disgrace.

At that time, he was determined to live and die with the Ming Dynasty. But now that he has seen the opportunity to revive the prestige of the Mu family, how could he miss such an opportunity?

After all, for the first time in many years, this is the first time to see the opportunity for the Mu family to return to Kunming. At least before that, he hadn't been so sure as he was now, and the Mu family had a chance to regain his prestige. Before Ding Yujie came to see him, he secretly thought to himself that maybe when the world of the Ming Dynasty recovered, he could re-give his wealth to the two sons of the Tusi family, that is, Mu Zhongxian and Mu Zhongliang, and then become a prince of the Taiping Kingdom.

If it is said that before Ding Yujie asked to see him, he was just thinking about being a Ming Dynasty with Nanjing, as for the glory of the Mu family, it was just the past.

Without soldiers, the Mu family would never have regained its past prestige.

So now, Ding Yujie's request to see him made Mu Tianbo see the possibility of rebuilding the Mu family and rebuilding the prestige of the Qianguo Kingdom, and it is precisely because of this that he is so excited. Before Ding Yujie's request to meet, his every move in Myanmar brought a signal - Zhu Mingzhong intends to go southwest, which means that the Mu family has value for Zhu Mingzhong.

Only when you have the value of being used, can you grow yourself with the help of being used at the same time!

"Guogong, when the next official came, he told him when he came, this Zhongxing Ming is not a person and an army, if you want to Zhongxing Ming, you have to work together all over the country, and the southwest is also the most important of them, and if you want to recover the southwest in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, you have to borrow the southwest soldiers, and if you want to borrow the southwest soldiers, you must subdue the southwest Tusi, and if you want to subdue the southwest Tusi, you have to Mu Guogong!"

The sentence "I have to have Mu Guogong" only made Mu Tianbo's mood stir, everything was just as he guessed, now, all that is needed is to seize the opportunity. Zhu Mingzhong has plans for him, and he also has plans for Zhu Mingzhong, what is needed now is for the two sides to reach an agreement on some interests. Then use this to restore the prestige of the Mu family.

"Therefore, Jing Luo said to the lower officials, if it is supported by Mu Guogong, then the reconstruction of the three Xuan and six comforts, and the use of the three Xuan and six comforts to recover the southwest, is naturally just around the corner!"

As for the bait thrown by Ding Yujie, Mu Tianbo did not eat it immediately, although the reconstruction of the three propaganda and six comforts made him quite excited, but it was also very clear that the reconstruction of the three propaganda and six comforts was not as easy as he said.

What's more, he, Zhu Mingzhong, can send people from thousands of miles to meet him here, naturally it is not just as simple as rebuilding the three propaganda and six comforts. Perhaps when Shadingzhou rebelled, he was young and ignorant of soldiers and politics, so that he missed Kunming, but now after more than ten years of displacement and some tempering, he naturally knows that Zhu Mingzhong's intervention in the southwest is probably not just to rebuild the three propaganda and six comforts.

What's more, the reason why he is willing to be used by Zhu Mingzhong is not just to be used by him and lose it, or that the reason why he is willing to use it is not only to restore the world of the Ming Dynasty, but also to restore the status of the Mu family in the southwest and the Mu family in Yunnan, which is the fundamental premise for him to choose to cooperate with Zhu Mingzhong.

"If you can get the help of Jingluo and Director Ding, wouldn't it be easy to rebuild the three Xuan and six comforts, but Ding, I just don't know, what are the plans for the three Xuan and six comforts?"

Mu Tianbo, who had calmed down, asked with a smile, he didn't care much about the "Three Xuan and Six Comforts", after all, this "Three Propaganda and Six Comforts" was only the outer area except for the three Xuan, which was barely considered to be the inside, and for the Mu family, the root of the Mu family was in Yunnan!

It is precisely because of this that he is willing to take out the "Three Propaganda and Six Consolation" to make a transaction, in exchange for Zhu Mingzhong's support, he knows very well that if he wants to recover Yunnan, he not only needs the "Three Propaganda and Six Consolation" people, taxes, but also needs Zhu Mingzhong's support, needs him to provide food and salary, and needs the loyal army under his command. In the end, it may even become another Shading island.

Therefore, he needs Zhu Mingzhong's money and army! But, what does Zhu Mingzhong need? Only by knowing the needs of the other side can the two sides negotiate and ultimately agree on the interests of both sides.

"Jingluo means to learn from the old Tusi system, the basic core is to retain the original Tusi system of the "three Xuan and six comfort" ethnic groups, maintain the original privileges and status of its upper class in its tribes, and implement indirect control and rule through them in the "three Xuan Six Comfort", but as for other ideas, Jingluo wants to listen to Guogong's opinion, after all, Guogong is more aware of the southwest Zhuyi, as for Jingluo and below, it is just hearsay. ”

Although he knew that Mu Tianbo had a request for a little bit of scripture and a plan, so he asked for a scripture strategy, but Ding Yujie still seemed extremely polite, and there was no contempt for honors and nobles from the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty in his tone, let alone the kind of nobility of the civil officials, perhaps, this is the difference between Jiangbei officialdom and other places.

"Director Ding just speaks bluntly."

Mu Tianbo, who was quite polite to him, nodded slightly and asked him to continue.

"Guogong, I think that this local Tusi must first recognize my Ming Dynasty's right to rule here, so as to maintain the local ruling order,"

This is the core of the Tusi system, and its core lies precisely in the fact that those local officials agree with the Ming Dynasty's right to rule over them.

"It should be so, the local officials accept the golden red cards, surveys and letters issued by my Ming Dynasty, which is to recognize my Ming Dynasty's rule here."

Mu Tianbo nodded slightly, at least until now, he didn't hear anything special, it was nothing more than the ordinary toast system.

"As for the tribute, it is possible to pay the tribute to the authorities by referring to the amount set during the reign of the Burmese king. Conflicts between the chiefs of the states were arbitrated by the Ming Dynasty, and the local forest and mineral resources were vested in the authorities; Of course, I recognize the "rights and customs" of the local toast tradition. Well, in the meaning of the scripture, the toast is only responsible for the task of paying tribute, which is basically to maintain the original toast system. It is possible to formulate the laws of the imperial court to ensure that the status of the Tusi, Musha (eater) and tax collector is fully guaranteed, and they become the official administrative officials in the Six Consolations system of our dynasty. ”

"Become an official administrative official in the Six Consolations system?"

Mu Tianbo asked in surprise, which made him feel a little surprised, in the past, the local officials may have been "officials", but no one regarded them as "officials", at least no one regarded him as an "official" of the Ming Dynasty.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, let's put it this way, this system is a system that I ruled in the Ming Dynasty in the "Three Xuan Six Comforts", and now Ava City has been under me, then the future Ava will be the Dingnan Tongzhi, and the Dingnan Tongzhi is dedicated to Fuyi, under the Dingnan Tongzhi, that is, the old "Three Xuan Six Comforts" Tusi of the states, although it is said that the restoration of the three Xuan Six Comforts, but it will never be limited to the restrictions of the old "Three Xuan Six Comforts", the meaning of the strategy is to divide and conquer, confirm the number of each Tusi, and then assign the local officials, no need to be limited to the limitations of "Three Xuan Six Comforts", If there are many local officials, it will be convenient for me to rule the Ming Dynasty,......"

Explain how to rule these toasts one by one, and then how Ding Yujie strengthened his control over the toasts in the form of golden red cards, surveys, and letters.

As for the golden red card, the survey and the letter symbol, it is not just a symbol, but a detailed definition of the duties and powers of the toast, the most important of which is that the toast should be guided by the deputy commissioner. Of course, we need to unify the form and content of the golden red card, the survey and the letter symbol, and issue a letter of appointment, and declare that only the Tusi who abide by the relevant duties and regulations in the letter of appointment will be recognized by the Ming government, and can get the golden red card, the survey and the letter of the imperial court, and enjoy some privileges such as civil and criminal trials and taxation in the region. ”

Mu Tianbo is no stranger to this, in the past hundreds of years, the Mu family has taken the Tusi arbitrarily, and it is by virtue of the Mu family that they decide whether to inherit the identity of the Tusi Tuguan, but in the past, the Mu family was more casual to it, so those Tuguan often paid tribute every year in order to preserve their identity, and they were like this year after year, lest they be robbed of their identity by the slightest disrespect, and even suffered from the catastrophe of annihilation.

In fact, those Tusi are local officials, the Mu family is not a local official, and even the biggest "local official", in the past two hundred years, the Mu family through marriage, tribute, bribery and other ways to make friends with the powerful, curry favor with the royal family, and use the power in their hands to turn the clouds and rain, play the enemy to raise the enemy to force the royal family to make concessions. In this way, the Mu family was kept standing for a long time.

On the other hand, the reason why the Mu family was able to dominate one side in Yunnan was, in the final analysis, that the Ming royal family used the Mu family as a pawn to rule the southwest. Even compared with the southwestern local officials under the rule of the Mu family, the Mu family is far more controlled by the royal family than the local officials, and the Mu family's control of the local officials is nothing more than its power position, but the Mu family's power status, personal freedom, family wife and children, and even the burial after their death are all in the hands of the emperor.

Even in Yunnan, the military and political power of the Mu clan was shared and contested by the eunuchs, governors, governors, officials, and counselors appointed by the emperor. It is precisely because of this check and balance relationship that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, who are known for their suspicion, trust and rest assured that the Mu family is so reassured. The reason why the Mu family was able to dominate Yunnan for a long time also depended on the checks and balances and restrictions of the royal family.

Mu Tianbo, who thought of the Mu family from those local officials, regarded the Mu family as a "local official" for the first time, suddenly realized a problem that he had ignored in the past - it was precisely because of the royal checks and balances and restrictions on the Mu family that the Mu family never dared to have the slightest dissent.

But the Mu family's interference in the toast is too little!

In addition to holding its official position, it seems that there are never checks and balances and restrictions!

If the Mu family had the same checks and balances and restrictions on the local officials as the royal family did on the Mu family, how could there be Shadingzhou. How could he flee in a hurry. Thinking of this, Mu Tianbo's mind sank slightly, and while thinking about the solution to the problem, he listened to Ding Yujie's words again.

"As for the main content of this letter of appointment, the amount of tribute to be paid by the region to the Tongzhi of Dingnan shall remain unchanged for five years, and the number of tributes to be paid can be reconsidered after five years; The toast rules according to traditional customs, but is subject to the guidance of the deputy commissioner; The toast must be responsible for the local security and traffic, and if a merchant is robbed in the local area, the toast must pay compensation; If there is a dispute between the toasts, it shall be submitted to the deputy commissioner for adjudication; If the government wants to mine minerals locally, then it should not pay anything other than a certain amount of compensation to the local population; Tusi should cooperate with the government in apprehending criminals; Tusi had no jurisdiction over the people of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, in addition to this, letters of appointment were also issued to Musa (eaters) and tax collectors, but they were obviously not as comprehensive and detailed as those of the Tusi, and focused mainly on taxation and compliance with the law. ”

When Ding Yujie's words fell, Mu Tianbo, who was originally just listening quietly, expressed his doubts at this time.

"Na Ding is in charge, set up Dingnan City in Ava City, set up a South Commissioner, and specialize in razing things, it is really necessary, but what is the matter with setting up a deputy commissioner?"

Then Mu Tianbo said what he was worried about. He had vaguely guessed the purpose of this deputy commissioner, I am afraid that it was just like the eunuchs appointed by the emperor back then, the governors and inspectors, the officials of the three divisions, the counselors and other military affairs, but it was just to share and compete for the power of the toast, so as to maintain some kind of checks and balances and restrictions, but Mu Tianbo also knew that those toasts were not as stupid as people imagined, how could they tolerate someone fighting for their power?

"In my lord's opinion, those local officials are already extremely sensitive to their privileges within the ministry, and it is extremely unwise to interfere too much in the internal affairs of the Tusi. "Will it interfere too much in its internal affairs? What if they regard the deputy commissioner as a "drifting official" and are afraid of "changing the land and returning to the stream"? ”

Because the Mu family has managed the southwest toast for generations, Mu Tianbo naturally knows that directly ruling the toast is not only extremely costly, but also doomed to failure, and the Mu family's experience in this regard is very simple, that is, with the help of the local officials, let them manage themselves naturally. And "changing the land" will always lead to civil strife, after all, no one wants to sit back and watch power be taken away or shared by others.

In the view of this duke, the simplest and most effective way is to use the Tusi Tuguan to manage the locality, rather than directly dispatching officials to rule directly, at least until the time is ripe for "changing the land and returning it to the stream". ”

"What Guogong said is extremely true, Jinglu also believes that indirect management is the lowest cost and most effective management method, but Jinglu also thinks that I can no longer be like in the past, only take the righteousness of the vassals, and not benefit the heart of the land; There is the martial arts of conquest, but there is no politics of construction. As for this deputy commissioner, he took advantage of his land for construction. ”

Seeing that Mu Tianbo seemed to be puzzled about the usefulness of the deputy commissioner, Ding Yujie explained.

"These deputy commissioners are not so much officials as teachers, and the reason why I have been recognized by the Zhuyi in China is precisely because of the education of the articles of the Zhuyi, so the deputy commissioners only promote the education in their Tusi office, and at the same time, investigate the forest minerals in the Tusi office for development, and the development of forest minerals can make the local officials profit from it, and those people have become rich in the process. They are also happy to serve us and accept the rule of our Great Ming. Of course, in the process, they established closer vassal relations with them, and fostered them as agents of rule here. And they will accept the way of life of the Ming Dynasty, not only will send their sons to Dingnan or Pingnan for education, in the future they will even send their sons to Nanjing for education, so that in the future they will continue to identify with the Ming Dynasty, in a hundred years later, or even two hundred years later, I will be able to implement the "land and return to the stream" with this place, set up counties, and make them the provinces of my Ming headquarters. ”

This is the ultimate goal of the "three Xuan and six comforts" of the strategy, at this time Ding Yujie did not say, when he met with the strategy, the strategy had talked about the failure of the Ming Dynasty's strategy of "three propaganda and six comforts", and also talked about the failure of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, although the Ming court took the lead in abolishing the Sizhou and Sinan two Xuanwei Divisions in Tongren and other places, and established Guizhou Province, creating a large-scale "reform of the land and returning to the stream" in China, that is, changing the rule of the Tusi to the precedent of the imperial court to send officials to govern, but then the imperial court with Hunan, Guizhou, The contradictions between the ethnic minorities in the border areas of the three provinces of Sichuan have become increasingly acute. Since then, during the years of Xuande, Zhengx, Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing, and Wanli, the resistance struggle of the border ethnic minorities in the three provinces has never stopped. The Tusi soldiers and people attacked the city and captured the government many times, and captured the officials and seals, which made the ruler anxious.

"Returning to the Stream?"

Mu Tianbo, who knew what kind of situation the southwest had fallen into by "changing the land and returning to the stream", frowned slightly, the Mu family in Yunnan, since he was a supporter of "changing the land and returning to the stream", he was also an opponent, and the supporter was that he needed to use the "change of land and return to the stream" to deter the local officials, and the reasons for the opposition were more complicated, one was because compared with the liuguan who was ordered by the imperial court, the Tusi Tuguan was more in awe of the Mu family, and the other was because every time the "land was changed and returned to the stream", there would always be turmoil, resulting in the Tusi soldiers and civilians attacking the city and trapping the government, and the abduction of officials and seals from time to time.

That's right, "changing the land and returning to the stream" is necessary to pass through the southwest! ”

Nodding vigorously, Ding Yujie said the "magic weapon" that he had given him to dominate Zhuyi before leaving.

This Tusi system was developed on the basis of the county system in the Tang and Song dynasties, and its essence was to "govern the people with local officials", recognizing the hereditary leadership status of various ethnic minorities and giving them official titles for indirect rule. In this process, some local officials wantonly killed the people on the grounds of hereditary pretenses, and in order to plague the border, "the Han people were destroyed by it, and the Yi people were poisoned by it." Although the people of the country benefited from the "change of the land and return to the stream", the people were always confused by the local officials, and the resistance of the local officials to the land officials kept repeatedly. Therefore, in many places, it is "the flow of officials and the rebellion of the Tuyi, and the killing and seizure of land is worse than in the past", the reason for this is that the people do not follow the education, and they are confused by the local officials, but why do the people not follow the education? Because there is no education at all, since there is no education, then the people of Yi will naturally not be educated! ”

Ding Yujie's words made Mu Tianbo nod approvingly, the implementation of toast in the past dynasties really did not consider how to educate the people. Only when it comes to "changing the land and returning to the stream" will it be temporary.

"Therefore, this deputy commissioner in the Tusi, is to carry out education, ten years of trees, a hundred years of people, after a hundred years, the people of the Yi will naturally obey the education of my Ming Dynasty, in addition, the deputy commissioner can also prevent the local officials from poisoning the people and wrong behavior, supervise it, so as to convince the poison, well, as for the other rights of the management of the people, the deputy commissioner will never interfere or interfere, we will respect the power of the Tusi, but also limit their power, of course, this restriction is to limit the Tusi poisoning the people internally, Protecting the people's interests is done so slowly, and the prestige of the deputy commissioner, who has been appointed to protect the people, is naturally getting higher and higher. ”

Mu Tianbo had never thought of planning a few generations from now, and looking at Ding Yujie, who was full of confidence, after listening to his words, out of his understanding of the toast, he knew that this deputy commissioner was going to sing "red face", as for those who were used to poisoning the people, the toast was naturally white-faced, and after a few decades, the people naturally believed in the deputy commissioner, instead of blindly squeezing their toast. Even those Tusi know that what these deputy commissioners do in their territory is just to buy people's hearts, but they are powerless to stop it, because the deputy commissioners themselves do not need to consider many issues such as governing the local government and taxation, they just need to let the people experience "Daming benevolence and righteousness", but the Tusi who are in charge of the local area are different. Those Tusi need to think about how to govern the place, they need to think about how to preserve their power, they need to ...... All this often means that they need to "poison the people" in order to maintain their personal power.

If all this is carried out smoothly, it will only take 100 years at most to smoothly "change the land and return to the stream", and it will not take 200 years at all. Because when the time comes, the people's hearts will be clear! The people's hearts have been collected by the Ming Dynasty!

And this also means that at least a hundred years later, the Ming Dynasty will not need the Mu family to dominate the outer Zhuyi as the "general of Zhengnan", and at that time, how can the imperial court need the Mu family to maintain the situation in the southwest?

Thinking of this, Mu Tianbo's whole person fell into contemplation. He even doubted whether it was a wise choice to cooperate with Zhu Mingzhong, after all, Zhu Mingzhong wanted to completely and fundamentally solve the problem of Southwest Tusi, and he wanted to use a hundred years to completely solve the Southwest Zhuyi and make it a province of China.

When the Southwest Zhuyi "changed the land and returned to the stream", it was naturally the time when the Mu family was no longer valued by the imperial court, and at that time, what should the Mu family do?

Can...... If you don't cooperate with Zhu Mingzhong, where is the Mu family?

Without Zhu Mingzhong's support, after the Ming Dynasty, the Mu family was just a Taiping prince in Nanjing or Jingshi City, nothing more. And cooperating with it, at least there is a chance to revive the prestige of the Mu family.

As for what will happen in a hundred years, a hundred years later, who knows what the situation will be, not to mention, a hundred years, there are too many variables in a hundred years, who can guarantee that in these hundred years, those deputy commissioners will not collude with the toast to scrape the people's fat and people's ointment.

Thinking of this, Mu Tianbo suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, he realized that he was thinking too much, thinking too far, and the most important thing now was that he had to get Zhu Mingzhong's help. It is they who take what they need from each other and redefine the southwest! That's all that matters!

Just when this thought popped up in Mu Tianbo's heart, Ding Yujie asked again.

"Of course, this is really far away, and it needs to be slowly figured out, I don't know what the national government thinks, now, if you want to implement this law in this way, how should this first step be played?"

Yes, whether it is "changing the land and returning to the stream" or "deputy commissioner", it is all in the future, and at the moment, there are more important things to be solved.

"Right now, the most important thing is to gain a foothold in Myanmar first!"

Looking at Ding Yujie, Mu Tianbo said directly.

"Although now my Ming Dynasty has defeated the Burmese, captured their kings, and burned their capitals, for the people here, we are still outsiders after all, we are Han people, they are Burmese people, Meng people, and Tu people! And many toasts are also watching, they are watching us, watching our every move, the natives have always been snakes and rats, it is not easy to get the loyalty of the natives, but if you want to get their loyalty, you must make them fearful! ”

"Awe?"

His brows moved slightly, and Ding Yujie looked at Mu Tianbo and asked rhetorically.

"Isn't it possible for us to capture its king and burn its capital now, and not make it fear my great Ming?"

Awe, it must be awe of Daming, in Ding Yujie's opinion, he should have done almost everything by now, and even when he met with the local officials, he had already seen the awe on the faces of those toasts.

"Ding Tongzhi thinks that the awe on the faces of those natives is from the heart?"

Without waiting for Ding Yujie to speak, Mu Tianbo nodded and said.

"It's really from the heart, but how many of them have Ava City for me to burn? This awe is nothing more than reverence that we have defeated the Burmese, nothing more! What we need is for these local officials, from now on, to fear the Ming from the bottom of their hearts, only in this way can it be possible to win their loyalty! ”