Qin Lin and Xu Xinyi sent Zhu Yaoying back to the palace, and on the way back, the two discussed, I don't know if this white elephant murder case is a personal vendetta between elephant slaves, is it to see through Zhu Yaoying's identity, intentions are unfavorable to her, or there is another plan?

Seeing Xu Wenchang, Qin Lin asked him for advice and asked him all about the Burmese tribute to the white elephant.

The Ming Dynasty set up the Jinyi Guard Elephant Taming Institute, which was responsible for training the elephants used in the ceremonial staff of the court, but the Jingshi was located in the north and was not suitable for elephants to live and breed, so the elephants had birth, old age, sickness and death, and they needed to pay tribute from Yunnan Tusi and Zhao Luo (Thailand), Burma, Annam (Vietnam) and other vassal states.

Wasn't Mang Yinglong, the king of the Taungoo Dynasty in Burma, at war with the Ming Dynasty, how could he pay tribute to the white elephants?

After unifying Burma, he conquered Siam and Laos, and had the potential to dominate the Indochina Peninsula.

He saw the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty in the north, and had the heart of Longwang Shu, four times in more than ten years to invade China, loyal to the Ming Dynasty's Longchuan (now Ruili Longchuan, Yunnan) Xuanfu made Duo Shining was murdered by the Han traitor Yue Feng, Meng Yang Xuanfu made Si a bloody battle captured after the heroic righteousness, Ganya (southwest of Tengchong, Yunnan) Xuanfu made Dao Pawen soldiers flee north to Yunchang Mansion "......, Mang Yinglong was very uproar for a while, and a large territory in southwest Yunnan was annexed by Burma.

It is a pity that the local officials in Yunnan of the Ming Dynasty did not realize the seriousness of the problem, but instead equated Mang Yinglong's aggression and expansion with common local tribal conflicts, and responded with the tolerant mentality of the Celestial Empire.

As everyone knows, in the eyes of the rampant reckless Yinglong, China's tolerance and generosity have turned into cowardice and incompetence, becoming more and more unscrupulous, and not taking the Ming Dynasty in their eyes.

However, the attitude of the Burmese side towards the matter of tribute is different.

The Central Celestial Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, the mouth is talking about the king does not govern Yidi, those who come do not refuse, and those who go do not chase, but in essence, they most hope that the Holy Heavenly Hand will reign in the four Yi to come to the court", Ming Chengzu Zhu Di also sent Zheng He to the West to get the kings of thousands of islands and countries along the way to pay tribute.

For the kings of these small countries, they can exchange for gold, silver, silk and porcelain given back by the emperor of the Celestial Empire by touching a few heads and paying tribute to some local products.

In addition, the tribute also had obvious political significance: it was recognized as a vassal of the Central Celestial Empire. Japan, Chao Xian, Siam, Burma, Luzon, Malay, and Sri Lanka, and even the Timurid Empire, which included as far as Turkey, were nominally subject to the rule of the Ming Dynasty and to the arbitration of the Ming court.

Once the tributary is stopped, that is, the "no tribute", it means that the country will break away from the Eastern tributary system established by the Ming Dynasty and become a foreign country, in addition to losing the economic benefits of the tributary trade and politically losing the protection of the Celestial Empire, other vassal states can attack it at will, and the Ming Dynasty will no longer provide arbitration and protection, and the country will become an orphan who is abandoned from the Eastern tributary system.

The punishment of the extermination of tribute was quite severe, roughly the same as the excommunication of the Western Holy See in the same era, and if countries such as Chao Yuxian and Ryukyu were to be declared to pay no tribute, the king might have to hang himself that night, or he would be killed by the ministers of the domestic opposition.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty itself is also very reluctant to pay tribute, because the reduction of the tributary state is a damage to the majesty of the Celestial Empire, and there are many tributary countries, which shows that the Celestial Dynasty is the reign of the holy monarch and virtuous minister, and the tributary country is less than the faint monarch and the traitorous minister, and even the "Romance of the Gods" says that the princes of the world are going to perish if they are not to the merchants.

Burma's aggression and expansion were interpreted by the arrogant and pedantic Yunnan governors Wang Ning, Rao Renkan and other officials as ordinary tribal conflicts, and they had to go to appease and comfort them repeatedly, how could the Ming Dynasty take the initiative to abandon it?

The Burmese side was also treacherous and cunning, paralyzing the Ming Dynasty by fulfilling his tributary obligations, covering up his aggressive and expansionist behavior of annexing small countries in the Indochina Peninsula and encroaching on Chinese land in the north.

After saying this, Xu Wenchang stroked his gray beard and sneered: "The treacherous trick of reckless Ying Longxing is really hateful!" With a mere white elephant, in exchange for the jurisdiction of the three Xuanfu envoys in Yunnan of the Ming Dynasty, it is good to calculate, good thief! ”

Qin Lin is in charge of the internal inspection of Jinyiwei, and the external intelligence is in charge of the Beizhen Fusi, so he doesn't know much about the situation in Yunnan and Myanmar. This white elephant kills people, maybe they instigated it! ”,

Ahem, Xu Wenchang coughed dryly, the white elephant was paid tribute by Myanmar last year, judging from the behavior of the Burmese side, the motive of using the tribute to paralyze the imperial court should account for most of them, and they don't seem to need to let the white elephant go crazy and hurt people?

Early the next morning, Qin Lin asked Hong Yangshan to sit in the south of the town of Fusi, and he took his own military captain to find the Burmese tribute envoy, and Xu Xinyi also followed behind like a little tail.

"Hey, what are you doing with your husband? Eldest sister! Qin Lin touched his nose with a helpless expression.

"Che, who's following you?" Xu Xinyi's apricot eyes rolled slightly, and she pouted with a plump lip: "Miss He is going to Wuman City to go shopping and go with you." ”

Bear two faces under one hood! Qin Lin pursed his lips.

The Ming Dynasty allowed the tributary envoys of the vassal states and the Tusi to carry a part of the duty-free goods in addition to the tribute, and set up a "Wuman City" in front of the Jingshi Huiguan, allowing the tribute envoys to sell these local products, so that the officials and people of the Jingshi could buy imported goods, and the tribute envoys also made some extra money, which was equivalent to the "Canton Fair" and "World Expo" in later generations.

Xu Xinyi said that if you go to Wuman City, then you should go to the Huitong Pavilion!

There are two halls in the north and south of the Beijing Division, the one in the north is not far from the Donghua Gate Foreign Minister's Mansion, roughly in the area of Wangfujing in the later generations, and the Burmese tribute envoy lives in the south of the Huitong Pavilion at the west end of Jiangmi Lane, which is not far from the Jinyi Wei Yamen and Qin Lin's mansion.

Wuman City is crowded, a lot of strangely dressed Fanbang visitors and Tusi from all over the country are selling goods in the store, among which Mongolia and Wusizang (Xibizang) people are the most, Mongolians wear robes, Wusi Tibetan people are "hiding one hand, revealing one hand", stretching out a slippery arm outside, selling safflower, snow lotus, Tibetan antelope skin and other local specialties.

There are also many Tusi tribute envoys of a small number of people in the southwest, who wear a variety of clothes, red and willow green, which make people look dazzled, and all kinds of elephant clothes, which they can't recognize clearly

Only Qin Lin, a young man from the court, recognized it, and several guys with big cake faces and clothes similar to those of Ming Dynasty officials were shouting and selling Korean ginseng, Dongzhu and mink, talking to each other and talking to each other.

The wealthy envoys rented from the shops, and those who did not come often, those with poor families, and the low-ranking servants in the mission, set up stalls on the ground, shouting and buying and selling in strange tones like Chinese.

The customers are all officials and ordinary people in Beijing, and they have long been accustomed to these customers, calmly bargaining, and buying the goods they want.

Xu Xinyi looked at the east and looked at the west and felt very interesting, Qin Lin was also very interested, and couldn't help but slow down his pace a little

Suddenly, there was a commotion in front of them, and a group of guys wearing round helmets, black dresses, and Buddhist beads around their necks were roaring and arguing with someone, looking very arrogant and domineering.