Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

From Xiangxi to Qiandong, the proportion of Han people in those places with slightly convenient transportation has actually far exceeded that of the Northern Song Dynasty.

This is not only because the Ming Dynasty continued to exile prisoners, but also because Zhong Xiang's rebellion in Hunan had a great impact.

Those Hunan families that ran fast flocked to Xiangxi and Qiandong with their families. The rapid expansion of the Tian family in Sizhou was mainly due to the recruitment of refugees from Hunan.

Similarly, the Bozhou Yang family was able to grow in history because they took the opportunity to recruit refugees from Sichuan - they ate a wave of dividends at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty and also ate a wave at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. Even the jurisdiction of the Bozhou Yang family also got a quota for Juren in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Bozhou, Zunyi and other places successively passed several Jinshi exams.

If it were another time and space, the Zhenyuan County where Zhao Ji was located at this time, Gong Suran, the first female painter of the Southern Song Dynasty, should probably live here.

Fleeing all the way from Hebei with your family!

There are no Han refugees in places farther away, and you will not escape to a place full of barbarians.

To the west of Zhenyuan County is Jiangzhou (Kaili), where the chieftain of the Wu clan was quite cooperative and took the initiative to provide the Ming army with a place to serve as a military station and a grain station.

Therefore, the pioneer Ye Tie did not take him as a target, but chose to kill the disobedient chieftain of the Jiang clan, and sent troops to directly occupy Jianzhou (Majiang County) to resettle the soldiers and civilians.

Further west is Houzhou (Guiding).

The chieftain of Houzhou also had the surname Luo, and was annexed by the Shuidong Song clan during the Southern Song Dynasty, but now he still lives a relatively comfortable life.

When Ye Tie led his army to Houzhou, no matter what task was assigned, the chieftain of the Luo clan handled it seriously, because he still had to rely on the court to resist the Song clan.

"If 1,500 soldiers and civilians are resettled here, will Chief Luo be willing to accept them?" Ye Tie asked directly.

"Yes, of course," Chief Luo bowed and asked, "I wonder how the court will arrange it?"

Ye Tie said according to the policy:

"The name of Houzhou will not be changed, only the tributary state will be changed to semi-tributary state. The court will arrange a commander to come here to manage the Han soldiers and civilians. You will serve as the governor of Houzhou, managing the local natives. You are not allowed to use troops without authorization. If there is a war, you must be ordered to recruit local soldiers and obey the dispatch of the Han commander."

"Also, give up the land near the state capital for the Han soldiers and civilians who migrated here to cultivate."

"Your land is not for nothing. The court will give you oxen, farm tools and seeds, and will also teach you how to use farm tools and how to cultivate corn and sweet potatoes."

The chief Luo immediately agreed: "I will listen to the court!"

Although he lost some rights, as long as the Han soldiers and civilians moved here, the Shuidong Song family would not dare to expand here.

In comparison, the method Ye Tie just mentioned is much more civilized than the Song family's grabbing of land.

Moreover, the so-called commander mentioned by Ye Tie was not a formal position. Most of the immigrants under his jurisdiction were ordinary people, who usually worked as militiamen.

It was similar to the military farms in Guizhou during the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di settled Guizhou by setting up military farms in key strongholds and setting up large and small military farms and hundred-households.

In the next few hundred years, the military farms were expanded outward. While the Han people continued to multiply and increase, the barbarians nearby gradually became Chinese.

Even the governor of Guizhou during the Zhu Houzhao period was still pitifully bullied by the chieftains.

At that time, the two major chieftains, An and Song, were located in the west and east of Guiyang, respectively. Not far from the city, there were barbarians everywhere.

The current An family has a larger territory than during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, and calls itself the "Luo family ghost country".

Its territory extends to Bijie in the west, Zunyi in the east, Xuyong in the north, and Liupanshui in the south.

More than ten years ago, it was beaten by the Ming army, and Sichuan continued to expand its immigration to the south. Today, the core areas of Xuyong and Gulin have been occupied by Han immigrants.

The remaining Bozhou Yang clan also took the opportunity to expand their territory westward, and took the Zunyi city and its western suburbs from the Luo clan ghost country.

The current situation is that the remaining Luo clan ghost country territory is too wild, and the Ming court, Song clan, and Yang clan are unable to capture it. And the Luo clan ghost country barbarians can't fight out, so the territory of each party tends to be stable, and those barbarians are forced to accept the court's canonization.

Zhu Ming adopted the method of Lizhou at the beginning, and conferred three "great ghost lords" in one breath, and conferred more than a dozen "great ghost lords" and dozens of "ghost lords".

Such an obvious strategy of alienation and division, although it did not cause the barbarians to fight among themselves, it actually split the Luo clan ghost country.

This expedition to Dali, the ghost lords of all sizes in Jinsha, Qianxi, and Zhijin responded to the court's call and brought their troops.

"Knock to see the general!"

The ghost lords, big and small, prostrated themselves in front of Lin Chong and knelt respectfully.

They were so obedient because they were beaten!

Lin Chong pointed to the civil servant next to him and introduced: "This is Zhong Yu, the left governor of Guizhou. The court is going to set up a province in Guizhou, and you are all under the jurisdiction of Guizhou. The title of ghost lord will remain, and you will still govern your territory, but you will also formally set up vassal states and counties. In the future, when you go to Luoyang to pay tribute to the emperor, or meet Han officials, your identity will be prefects or county magistrates."

After the guide translated, the ghost lords didn't understand, and they were all confused.

Seeing this, the guide explained again: "Everything remains unchanged, but you must use the title of Han officials to the outside world, and don't mention the ghost lord all the time."

The ghost lords finally figured it out and expressed their acceptance.

It's just a change of title anyway.

Zhong Yu, the Left Governor of Guizhou, said: "Juzhou was renamed Guizhou, which was decided long ago. Now Guizhou has become a province, and this place is renamed Guiyang. Where is Song Wanming?"

Song Wanming, the head of the Song family in Shuidong, hurried forward and said: "I am here."

During the Southern Song Dynasty, this man was appointed by Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty as the general manager of the economic and strategic pacification envoy because of his merits in quelling barbarian rebellions and his growing strength. The jurisdiction (nominally) not only covers the entire province of Guizhou, but also governs parts of southern Sichuan and western Hunan.

Zhong Yu took out the imperial edict and appointment documents: "The imperial court appointed you as the Right Chief Envoy of Guizhou, in charge of the indigenous people under your own rule, and also in charge of all the tribes in Guizhou Province. However, you are not allowed to gather troops without authorization. In terms of recruiting troops for war, , I listen to the commander of the capital in peacetime and the commander-in-chief of Guizhou in wartime.”

Song Wanming was overjoyed and knelt down in front of the imperial edict: "I thank your Majesty for your grace!"

The Song family has a high degree of Chineseization.

Although most of the barbarians under their rule could not even speak Chinese, the children of the Song family had been studying since childhood and considered themselves Han ancestors.

The other chiefs present showed envy and jealous expressions.

Jealousy is jealousy, no one dares to fight because the Song family is too powerful.

In comparison, the Yang family in Bozhou was nothing.

Zhong Yu then said to the other chiefs: "If the Song family handles disputes between various ethnic groups unfairly, you can come to the Chief Minister Zuo...that is, me. Come to me to complain, and I will deal with it impartially."

The chiefs breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhong Yu continued: "Song Wanming, since you have become the right chief envoy, shouldn't some of the land in your hands be used to resettle immigrants?"

This is a political deal.

The imperial court was unable to digest Guizhou, which was full of barbarians, so it chose to cooperate with the Song family.

Not only did the Song family have to hand over part of their territory, but they also had some military power restricted. When the proportion of Han people in the future increases, many barbarians will also become naturalized, and the court will have various reasons to change their native lands and return to their hometowns.

This is how the Shuidong Song family in another time and space declined.

In the early Ming Dynasty, they actually controlled one-sixth of Guizhou's land. By the mid-Ming Dynasty, the territory under actual control had shrunk by more than half. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the Song family was still called Tusi, they were actually almost the same as Han gentry.

Next, Zhong Yu announced the official positions of other chiefs, including the Yang family of Bozhou who lost Bozhou.

When Zhu Ming was preparing to establish Guizhou as a province, he assigned Bozhou (Tongzi) to Sichuan and Zunyi to Guizhou.

Zunyi was called Zunyi Army in the Northern Song Dynasty, but later it was renamed Zunyi Prefecture, and the Yang family inherited the Tuzhi Prefecture there.

This so-called "hereditary" has no real name.

The same is true for other native chiefs. From the Northern Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, they did not recognize the hereditary system, but they did pass down official titles from father to son.

One day the conditions are ripe for reforming the native land and returning home, and the crimes of those native chiefs are caught... Humph!

In the next half month, Lin Chong led his troops to station in Guiyang and cooperated with Zhong Yu to resettle soldiers and civilians in Guizhou.

A regular army will be stationed in Guiyang.

Veteran soldiers and militiamen, along with immigrants, were stationed in various strongholds to cultivate and multiply.

The chiefs and their local soldiers did not leave either. They stayed in Guiyang to wait for Bai Qi. They wanted to follow him to attack Dali!

Ye Tie, the pioneer of the Eastern Route Army, soon arrived in Guiyang.

Lin Chong asked Ye Tie to stay and rest while he sent a force south to open up the Anshun, Zhenning, and Guanling areas.

That place used to be the territory of the Luo Dian Kingdom, which had long been deprived of its title by the Ming army, and the chiefs accepted the canonization of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the imperial court had zero actual control over the area. This time, through the conquest of Dali, soldiers and civilians had to be resettled in Guanling and other places.

In the expedition to Dali, the result is very important, and the process is also important.

Wherever the army passed, the military power was used to place soldiers and civilians, constantly increasing the area actually controlled by the imperial court.

Even the criminal officials who were exiled were all issued a set of armor, regardless of whether they had practiced or not!

When Bai Qi led the east-route army to Guiyang, the generals sent by Lin Chong to open the road sent back good news: the barbarians on the Zhenning side were disobedient, the Ming army had pulled out the strongholds in all directions, and the remaining barbarians fled into the mountains where they could not be hunted down.

"Meet the king!"

"Meet the Marshal!"

"Greetings to Your Highness!"

"..."

The chiefs of various tribes knelt in front of Bai Qi, shouting various titles.

Bai Qi carefully asked everyone's names and identities, and seemed to be affable.

However, some barbarians in western Hunan and southern Hunan knew that this prince must not be provoked, so they destroyed the village at every turn and arrested people for mining.

During the dinner party, both civil and military officials were present.

The next day Bai Qi called a meeting of the generals.

Lin Chong pointed to the map and said: "The remnants of Luo Dianguo were disobedient, and several villages along the way were pulled out by our vanguard. But that route is still very dangerous. Troops capable of fighting must be left to guard the food road, otherwise the remnants who fled into the mountains may come out at any time. ”

Song Wanming volunteered: "The general's family has been fighting with the Luodian barbarians for generations, and even Guiyang was taken from them. If the general is allowed to lead troops to guard the grain road, from Guiyang to the border of Dali Guaranteed no problems!”

"Excellent," Bai Qi praised, "The Guizhou grain road will be handed over to General Song...well, it will be handed over to Bu Zheng Song."

Song Wanming knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists and accepted the order: "There is a loss of food and fodder, and there is no need for the commander to deal with it. I will cut my own throat to apologize!"

Bai Qi pointed to Shicheng County of Dali Kingdom on the map: "This city is located at a strategic location and is the key point for our army to attack Shanchan (Kunming). The surrounding barbarians have repeatedly rebelled against Dali, and now they are establishing their own country. I am afraid they will not be obedient. , we must deal with several tribes severely.”

Song Wanming was very positive: "The barbarians there are the same as the remnants of the Luo Dian Kingdom. Their ancestors came from the same tribe."

Lin Chong's general Fan Ruwei said: "I heard that Shicheng County has become the capital of the barbarians. We can lead the main force and light troops to advance quickly. Don't worry about the tribes in the mountains. Go straight to Shicheng County to capture the barbarian chieftain and the fake king. The barbarians of each tribe usually farm and hunt in their own tribes. As long as we march quickly, we can prevent the barbarians from gathering a large army. The barbarians are not good at defending the city, and Shicheng County can be captured quickly."

Bai Qi's general Zheng Tong volunteered: "I will lead the elite troops to take Shicheng directly!"