These rescued serfs instantly became the group that most supported the Ming government.

They actively provided intelligence to the Ming officers and soldiers, captured the remnants of Tusi who tried to rebel, and built roads and bridges for the Ming army, so that the Ming army could patrol and maintain order in the Kham area without hindrance. Because the Ming army consolidated the security order in the Kham region, and allowed local commercial activities to regain prosperity.

A large number of commodities in Sichuan's mutual market are no longer limited by the original number of transactions.

As a result, salt, tea, cloth, medicinal herbs and other items from the Central Plains poured into the Wusi-Tibet region on an unprecedented scale.

Local farmers and herders in Usz and Tibet have benefited immensely.

In particular, the free distribution of good medicines by the Daming government has allowed the people who lack medical treatment and medicine to finally stop dying because of a minor illness.

The Ming Dynasty's drastic reforms in the Kham region killed a large number of bully Tusi who resisted the policies of the Ming Dynasty, which not only made the Kham area a paradise for the people, but also made the Wusi Tibetan Tusi in other regions afraid to death.

They clearly knew that the Uszang Tusi in the Kham region were already the most powerful existence among all the forces.

Let's try it soon, everyone. 】

If even the Tusi in the Kham region were not the opponents of the Ming army, then they would not dare to provoke the Ming court.

No matter how much resentment and anger they have in their hearts, they can only endure it silently.

The Ming stationed 15,000 officers and soldiers in the Wusizang region, all of whom were well-armed and had thousands of muskets and hundreds of artillery pieces.

Such a powerful force is an existence that all the Tusi huddles in the entire Usi-Tibet region cannot defeat. With the Kham area as an example, the Tusi reform in other regions is much simpler.

In accordance with the policy formulated by Zhu Han, the Ming government adopted the method of ransom or lease the local Tusi, and their land was returned to the imperial court, and then distributed to the freed serfs.

All the people in the snow area have already obtained the national status of the Ming Dynasty.

Since he is a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, it is naturally impossible to be regarded as a slave.

This act of rescuing the Usizang serfs not only freed thousands of serfs from the shackles of slavery and became free peasants, but also cut off the direct relationship between the Usizang Tusi and the land.

Since then, the Tusi of the Wusi-Tibetan region no longer have direct jurisdiction over their own land and population.

They either went to the holy city of Nikko to be devout pilgrims, or they went to Chengdu to be rich and free.

The reputation of the Daming government is still very secure, and the rent promised to them every year will definitely not be less.

The Tusi in various regions of Wusizang, after having this money, naturally have a lot less complaints about the Ming court.

What's more, if anyone complains too often, the brocade guards of the Ming Dynasty are not vegetarians, and they can definitely be arrested and tortured, so that they can taste what is called the iron-fisted education of the Ming court.

Zhang Dingbian, as the commander of the Daming Kangba Xingdu Division, his daily routine is to train the army, and then lead his own soldiers to inspect various places.

Although the Kham region has been completely taken over by the Ming Dynasty, there are still many Tusi in some places who take advantage of the residual power to continue to do evil, or bully those serfs who have just gained freedom.

Zhang Dingbian led the Ming soldiers to run more to let all the serfs who were freed know that the Ming government had always supported them strongly.

this day.

As another snowflake fell.

The winter solstice in the twenty-four solar terms has arrived.

According to the customs of the Han people, the winter solstice is a very important festival.

Although Zhang Dingbian was born poor, when he was young, his family would have a reunion and have a meal every winter solstice.

Now that he is thousands of miles away in Kham, and there are not many relatives in his hometown in Hubei, he can't help but feel a sense of melancholy.

At this time, Zhang Dingbian heard a lively sound of gongs and drums suddenly sounding outside the barracks.

He hurriedly put on his bearskin coat and went out the door to check.

I saw a group of Wusizang peasants wearing Tibetan robes beating gongs and drums walking towards the Ming military camp.

In front of them were several local respected old men of Uszang.

These old men all held white hatas in their hands, with happy smiles on their faces, and walked at the front of the line.

Behind them were many children and women, who were running around the crowd with chatter, and the women were shy to hide on the side of the street.

Such a lively scene is really rare in the small population of Kham area.

Zhang Dingbei hurriedly walked out and asked a few old men in front of him.

"Fathers, I don't know what happened to me today?"

A Kham Tibetan led by him is a well-known local businessman, although he is a Tibetan from Usi, but because he has been doing business all year round, he has already mastered very fluent Chinese.

I saw this old Tibetan man named Zha Wang say to Zhang Dingbian, "General Zhang, these are the cattle and sheep that our Kham people spontaneously bought with money, and we know that today is the winter solstice, an important festival for your Han people!" In order to express my blessings and thank you for your love for the people of my Khamba, I specially came to congratulate the generals and Ming soldiers on the winter solstice festival. ”

When Zhang Dingbian heard that this was the reason, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Since coming to Kham, the most common news I have heard is that there is another rebellion somewhere, and another crowd is gathering to make trouble.

Now that he has finally settled down for less than a month, his nerves are still on the strings.

"Fathers and elders, this is really a waste of money, I have been ordered by His Majesty and His Royal Highness to come here to do some of my duties! Sheltering the people is what we should do, you don't have to be polite, please go back, you can also bring back these cattle and sheep, we are resolutely not wanted. ”

After the Ming officers and soldiers were stationed in the Kham area, everyone's military salary was doubled, and the food treatment was also very good, and the beef and mutton continued every day.

These cattle and sheep are nothing to the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, but for these ordinary Wusizang farmers, they are rare and valuable.

Zhang Dingbian naturally refused to accept these cattle and sheep.

In the end, under the repeated concessions of the two sides, Zhang Dingbian only accepted the Hada sent by the Tibetans on behalf of the blessings, and returned all the cattle, sheep and wine.

Not only that, Zhang Dingbian also ordered the garrison to have a meal today!

He left all the Tibetans who came to congratulate the festival and let them have a winter solstice festival with the Ming officers and soldiers.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were so kind and loving to the people, the Tibetans represented by Zha Wang couldn't help but send Hada to the necks of Zhang Dingbian and other Ming army soldiers.

"Tashi Delek!"

"Daming Tashi Delek!"

Constantinople.

As the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, it is a famous thousand-year-old city.

Since the Romans built the fortress of Constantinople here, it has become the central city of Asia Minor and Thrace. Numerous caravans converged here, and goods from north to south filled the streets of Constantinople.

When Eastern and Western Rome was just divided, Constantinople had already surpassed Rome and became the richest and most prosperous city in the empire at that time.

However, today's Constantinople can be said to be in decline, because the Eastern Roman Empire was gradually forced to lose its territory by the surrounding countries.

Many Romans were aware of the crisis and fled to other parts of Europe, where they were safer.

The current city of Constantinople is no longer prosperous, with a permanent population of about 200,000 at most.

And almost all commerce was monopolized by the Venetians and Genoese.

This result was unacceptable not only to the Eastern Roman Emperor John V, but also to the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios and the Roman citizens of Constantinople.

In his attitude towards the Orthodox Church, the Patriarch Alexios and the citizens of Rome were very religious.

Far more than their emperor John V.

Faced with an increasingly embarrassed empire, John V even had the idea of changing his Orthodox faith to join Roman Catholicism and fight for his own rescue.

In order to save the Eastern Roman Empire, which was on the verge of collapse, John V was willing to give up even his faith.

One can imagine how excited he was when he knew that the Great Yuan Dynasty was coming to Europe.

Therefore, when the Genoese intercepted the envoys of the Eastern Roman Empire and prevented the Eastern Roman Empire from forming an alliance with the Great Yuan Dynasty, John V would be furious and order the Eastern Roman Empire navy to retaliate against the Genoese despite everyone's opposition.

Dozens of skirmishes between the two sides on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

The Eastern Roman Empire, with its own housekeeping skills, had a few victories at the beginning.

The Roman Empire had a very powerful secret weapon in naval battles, and that was Greek fire.

In fact, Greek fire is a specially processed original petroleum extract, so it can not be extinguished on the surface of the sea, and can easily burn the enemy's wooden warships.

This kind of thing also existed in ancient China.

The navy of the Song Dynasty had a Menghuo oil tank, and also moved it to warships, and then burned hundreds of warships of the Jurchen Jin Kingdom in one fell swoop in naval battles.

Such a powerful secret weapon allows the Eastern Roman Empire Navy to have a considerable say at sea.

The two sides fought in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Eventually, the Genoese, relying on their strong navy and subsequent replenishment capabilities, drove the Eastern Roman Empire navy back into the harbor of Constantinople.

The Eastern Roman Emperor, John V, once again suffered a tragic defeat.

Immediately after gaining naval superiority, the Genoese threatened the Eastern Roman Empire.

They demanded that John V pay them a large amount of compensation for military expenses and war expenses, otherwise the Genoa navy would attack all the ports of the Eastern Roman Empire on the Mediterranean coast, and destroy the last financial resources of the Eastern Roman Empire!

When John V received this threat, he immediately panicked and did not know what to do.

The Eastern Roman Empire was now facing a serious financial crisis, and the lands of various local military districts had become the private property of the lords of the military districts.

The central government of the Eastern Roman Empire was not only unable to collect sufficient local taxes, but also in order to maintain the loyalty of the local military districts, the Eastern Roman Empire had to give these military district commanders a large reward in order to obtain their continued allegiance.

The current situation of the Eastern Roman Empire is like the division of feudal towns in the last years of the Tang Dynasty.

The separatist forces everywhere supported the central government on the surface, but in fact they were engaged in the business of protecting their own territory, and the governors of the military districts everywhere did not pay enough taxes to the Eastern Roman emperor, nor did they provide all kinds of supplies.

The only remaining sources of finance for the Roman Empire were a few ports on the Mediterranean coast.

The loss of these places, which could collect taxes from passing ships, would have completely collapsed the fragile finances of the Eastern Roman Empire, and even the mercenaries guarding Constantinople, John V, could no longer sustain themselves.

Faced with the threat of the Genoese, John V immediately changed from his usual tough attitude to almost groveling.

But.

Seeing this, the greedy Genoese were even more reluctant to give up.

On the basis of the principle of squeezing out the last copper, they made a large number of unreasonable demands for compensation to John V.

John V was powerless to oppose and resolve these demands for land reparations.

At this time, John V began to gather his cronies again to begin discussions, and wanted to go to Rome in person to ask for the support of the Pope to mediate.

The Genoese professed Roman Catholicism, that is, Catholicism, and they were sure to give face to the pope.

It must be said that John V was a botched politician.

Or that he is not even a politician, he can only be said to be a naïve monarch.

In fact, the Pope did not have much will to restrain the Genoese at all.

Even if the entire population of the Eastern Roman Empire converted to Catholicism, the Pope could not send a single soldier to rescue the Eastern Roman Empire.

When John V's idea was proposed, it immediately aroused the opposition of many people around him.

However, John V insisted on going to Rome in person to meet the Pope and ask for the Pope to save the Eastern Roman Empire, which was about to collapse.

In the face of the stubborn John V, his officials and cronies all looked disappointed.

Many people already think that John V is almost going crazy to be able to do such an outrageous thing.

Before he saw any real help, he turned his back on the Orthodox Church.

It was definitely a stupid decision.

Immediately that evening, the news was told to the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios.

Alexios, as the supreme leader of the Orthodox Church, was immediately furious when he heard the news.

Alexios entered the palace overnight and begged to see John V, trying to persuade the Eastern Roman Emperor to abandon this foolish idea and continue to maintain his faith in line with the citizens of Rome.

However, John V, who had already suffered a nervous breakdown from the imperial finances, was not at all willing to accept the advice of the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios.

He was stubborn, shouting that whoever could save the Roman Empire would become the new state religion, whether Orthodox or Catholic.

The Eastern Roman Emperor John V's deviant remarks immediately made Patriarch Alexius angry, and he scolded John V in the palace as a shameful traitor and hypocrite, who would inevitably be punished by God!

After leaving the palace in a rage, Alexios summoned several of his archbishops overnight.

After some deliberation, they agreed that John V might have gone mad.