The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Zhang Juzheng did not immediately agree to Wei Guangde's proposal to capture parts of Luzon first. Instead, he wanted to decide the feasibility of the proposal through a ministry meeting.

Wei Guangde is not angry either. This matter is really big. It can be said that opening the door is the first of its kind in history.

As the first assistant, there seems to be nothing wrong with being cautious.

After leaving Zhang Juzheng's room, Wei Guangde continued his work, reviewed the memorials sent to him, and put the matter aside for the time being.

As for drafting the charter, he planned to go back at night and think about it carefully.

In the lobby of Yunnan Chengxuan Political Envoy Department, Yunnan Governor Wang Ningzheng was staying here with a serious look on his face. He paced back and forth in the room from time to time, fully demonstrating his inner nervousness at this moment.

Wang Ning, courtesy name Daofu, was born in Yicheng County, Huguang, and a fellow villager of Zhang Juzheng.

At the same time, he was also a Jinshi in the 35th year of Jiajing, the same year as Wei Guangde. This is why Wei Guangde did not object when Zhang Juzheng proposed to transfer officials from Yunnan.

Well, it can only be said that he is really lucky, and he can build relationships with the first and second assistants of the current government.

As for Wang Ning, Wei Guangde also learned about his situation in Yunnan from Jin Yiwei. It seems that Wang Ning has a bad reputation in Yunnan.

In fact, it makes sense to think about it. If he was really close to Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, how could he be sent to Yunnan as an official? Although he was a governor, his rank was not low.

Such a position is often used to take care of some related households or send people on errands, so the rank is high, but the actual benefits may not be good.

Among them, the one with the worst relationship with Wang Ning was Li Zhi, the prefect of Yao'an.

Speaking of Li Zhi, we have to say that he is a strange person in the Ming Dynasty. He was born in Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province in October of the sixth year of Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty. His ancestors moved to Fujian after the Yuan Dynasty.

Li Zhi lost his mother when he was young and studied with his father. He made rapid academic progress. He was stubborn since childhood and was good at independent thinking. He did not believe in Islam and was not bound by traditional Confucian concepts. He had strong anti-traditional ideas.

In terms of social value orientation, he criticized the emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business, praised the achievements of merchants, and advocated utilitarian value, which was in line with the development requirements of the budding capitalism in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Li Zhi's first surname was Lin, his given name was Zaizhi, and later he changed his surname to Li, his given name was Zhi, his courtesy name was Hongfu, his nickname was Zhuowu, and his nicknames were Wenling Jushi and Baiquan Jushi.

Li Zhi's family was poor in his early years, so he became literate and studied with his father who was teaching to make a living. He became a scholar at the age of 22 and a civil servant at the age of 26. After that, he failed to take the public examination and entered the official career as a civil servant. He successively served as the imperial edict of Gongcheng and the doctor of the Imperial College. As the prefect of Yao'an.

Li Zhi put forward the "childlike innocence theory" in literature, emphasizing sincerity and "returning to authenticity" in creation, and opposed the "copying the ancient" style of writing that was popular at the time. This trend also had an important impact on the literature of the late Ming Dynasty. He wrote "Burning". "Books", "Continued Burning Books", "Collection of Books", "Continued Collection of Books", etc.

Li Zhi was deeply influenced by the "Taizhou School", a tributary of "Yangming Studies", and regarded himself as a "heretic".

In view of the situation that the official schools and intellectuals at that time only regarded Confucian Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as their authority, they denounced Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as pseudo-Taoism and proposed that "the right and wrong of Confucius should not be regarded as right and wrong."

Most of the poems and essays criticize the ideas of the first seven sons and the second seven sons to restore ancient times, and believe that "Romance of the West Chamber" and "Water Margin" are "the most ancient and modern classics", and the three Yuan brothers of the Gong'an School were deeply influenced by them.

In his later years, he was quite good at history. He compiled "Collection of Books" based on the official history of past dynasties, and extensively collected materials from the Ming Dynasty to write "Extended Collection of Books", which made a breakthrough in traditional historical views.

Li Zhi criticized the Confucian classics and the studies of Confucius and Mencius, which were regarded as golden rules by the feudal rulers. He expressed great contempt for the Confucian classics "Six Classics", "The Analects" and "Mencius", believing that these are not all the words of saints. It was formed through the adulation and exaltation of later generations and cannot be regarded as the unchangeable truth for thousands of years.

These writings were written by ignorant disciples and erudite disciples at that time. Most of them are not the words of saints. Even if they are the words of saints, they are just medicine for a moment and cannot become "the words of all things".

In "Book Burning Praise to Liu Xie" and "Small Introduction to Holy Religion" in "Book Burning Continued", "Inscribed Confucius' Statue in Zhifo Yuan" and other articles, he used a joking and sarcastic tone to belittle Confucius, which shows that he respected Confucius as the supreme saint. It was a bold move in the time of the first teacher.

He believed that Confucius was not a saint. There was nothing remarkable about Confucius. Everyone was a saint and there was no need to learn from Confucius. This pulled Confucius down from his position as a supreme saint.

If one must regard Confucius as an idol and imitate Confucius in words and deeds, that would be an ugly attitude.

Li Zhi denies the orthodox status of Confucianism and denies that the teachings of Confucius and Mencius are "the ultimate theory of all ages" and "the most important doctrine in ancient and modern times". He believes that it cannot be used as a dogma and applied casually.

The Six Classics, The Analects of Confucius, and Mencius "are the truth of Taoism and the source of fake people." Li Zhi's criticism of Confucius and the Tao of Confucius and Mencius has indeed reached the point where "it is impossible for non-sages to do so."

This made him a famous thinker and writer in the late Ming Dynasty, as well as a master of the Taizhou School. Perhaps it was precisely because of his deviance that the road to the imperial examination was cut off at the imperial examination.

Although Li Zhi had outstanding political achievements in Yao'an, because of his unreasonable thoughts, he was attacked and excluded by his superiors, and was not tolerated by the social elite at that time.

They racked up various accusations, hoping to put him to death quickly. At that time, he was tit-for-tat with Patrolman Dao Luo Wenli and Governor Wang Ning, who falsely accused Li Zhi of being "too bad" and claimed that "he should be governed by law."

It can be seen that at that time, Yunnan's officialdom was still relatively chaotic under Wang Ning's governance.

But at this time, what Wang Ning was worried about was not the conflict between him and Li Zhi, but the news from the capital, which made him frightened.

If at first he was disapproving of Beijing's concern about Myanmar, but after he received the news from Beijing, it was a different story.

The Xuanwei Division outside Yunnan had actually been outside the jurisdiction of the Yunnan government for a long time. This responsibility was not on his shoulders. The Jiajing Dynasty had already begun to lose control at that time.

Think about it, thousands of families from the imperial court died there, and there was no investigation afterwards. They just asked them to kill a few so-called "bandit leaders" to close the case. The situation can be known.

After Wang Ning came here, she knew about the situation outside the territory and was unwilling to meddle in other people's affairs, so she pretended to be deaf and dumb and planned to fool them.

But now it seems that it is no longer possible, and the court already knows.

In a war, although he, the governor, would not go to the battlefield in person to kill people with a knife, there was still fear in his heart.

There are many ethnic groups in Yunnan, and they are not willing to accept the king's rule. It is difficult to govern. If there is another war with Myanmar, I am afraid that if it is not those chieftains, there will be chaos.

Well, in fact, what he was worried about was not necessarily the Toungoo dynasty in Myanmar, but the unruly chieftains here in Yunnan.

No matter how chaotic Myanmar becomes, it will not affect his official title, but if Yunnan is lost, the loss of troops and territory will cost his life.

In fact, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty also knew the virtues of local guards, and they did not dare to count on them.

Therefore, despite Beijing's early warning, Wang Ning still chose to act in both ways, that is, Burma would find a way to fool things around, while paying close attention to the chieftains in Yunnan, and always be on guard against any dissent among them.

As for Li Chengliang, the left commander of the capital's right army governor's office, patrolling the border, he didn't pay much attention.

The health center is in such a state of ruin, what else can we expect?

Not long after, a master finally walked in quickly from outside the lobby. After first saluting Wang Ning respectfully, he said slowly: "Dong Weng, the situation is not good."

"How's it going?"

After hearing what Master said, Wang Ning was shocked and asked.

"Whether it's Meng Yang, Mubang, Lao, etc., they all have their own excuses and are unwilling to come."

Having said this, the master took out a few documents from his sleeves and handed them over.

Wang Ning took the document and looked through it quickly, then threw it to the ground.

Originally, Wang Ning was still thinking of letting the leaders come over and go through the motions. Even if they were not available, they would still send a representative in charge.

But now it seems that the dignity of the imperial court is really worthless in the eyes of these barbarians.

"There's nothing we can do about this."

Wang Ning let out a long sigh and then sat down on the Grand Master's chair next to him.

"Dong Weng, why don't you call Xi Hou over there and ask him to prepare this morning?"

The master reminded him loudly.

"Why do you need me to inform you? Isn't the right army governor's office a long time ago?"

Wang Ning lowered her head and said something.

Indeed, many official documents have been sent from the capital in the past six months, one of which is the sealing of Yunnan grain and wages.

Now that I think about it carefully, the imperial court had actually begun to prepare for the war at that time, stockpiling war supplies in border towns.

"Then inform all prefectures and counties, especially those on the border, so that they can prepare in advance?"

The master spoke up again.

"That's all we can do for now, do our best to obey fate."

Wang Ning opened her mouth to answer, but she seemed to think of something for a moment. She looked up at the master and said, "Tell me, is it feasible for me to summon all the chieftains to Kunming at this time?"

Until now, Wang Ning's consideration was still not to prepare the Ming army and the chieftains on the border, but to transfer all the chieftains to Kunming for better control.

As long as people are in Kunming, they are not afraid of any changes after the war.

The master naturally understood Wang Ning's plan, lowered his head and thought before saying: "But what about the chieftains at the border?

If they were summoned to Kunming, they would be leaderless.

If Myanmar comes to call at this time, the consequences will be..."

"That's why I hesitated. Either call all the chieftains here, and they will be obedient. But if I only call some of the chieftains, I'm afraid they will think too much and refuse to come, which will be even more troublesome.

At this moment, Yunnan cannot be in chaos. "

After being reminded by Master, Wang Ning had no choice but to say.

"Dong Weng, I think it's better to send an official document to all prefectures and counties first so that they can make preparations in advance.

As for summoning the chieftain, let's think about it again and come up with a solution that gets the best of both worlds before executing it. "

The master suggested.

He is still very clear that the stability of Yunnan must not be affected. This is a top priority.

Wang Ning nodded solemnly and sighed: "That's all we can do. You go and write the official document, and then bring it to me for sealing."

Although the Ming Dynasty did not arrange too many deputies for officials to help with official duties, the officials themselves were still very smart and came up with solutions to reduce their burdens without merely paying some money.

Although it is said that Shiye originated from the official position of "Guren" during the Zhou Dynasty, in fact, judging from literary works, at least in the literary works of the Ming Dynasty, there is no such character as Shiye.

Therefore, it can only be explained that the staff before the dynasty were more of the auxiliary officials around the officials. They should be completely different from the masters who were popular during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and even during the Republic of China.

The germ of Shiye probably evolved from the Shaoxing subordinate staff in the mid-Ming Dynasty. They used their familiar professional knowledge to help their bosses get paid.

After sitting for a while, I suddenly thought of a person. I had to deal with him first to get through this matter.

Of course, the person he thought of was not Pingxi Hou, but Luo Rufang, the current deputy inspector of Yunnan Province, who was stationed in Yongchang, which was the nearest prefecture to Mengyang.

It can be said that the place where war with Myanmar is most likely to break out is Yongchang Prefecture.

Moreover, the west of Yongchang Prefecture is mostly ruled by chieftains. If the chieftains of Yongchang Prefecture are won over by Mang Yinglong and the gate is opened, the Burmese army can march straight in from Yongchang Prefecture, attack Lijiang Prefecture in the north, and directly attack Kunming in the east.

As for other border areas, due to the terrain constraints, it is inconvenient to mobilize a large army, so it has always been through here to enter Myanmar.

"No, this matter has to fall on Luo Rufang's head."

Wang Ning murmured.

Yes, just being a fellow countryman and a classmate is not enough. Wang Ning wants to bring more people together.

He didn't know that some of his friends had already gone through Zhang Juzheng's way, and because of their fellow countrymen, they spared him from punishment.

Luo Rufang, whom Wang Ning wanted to get, had more seniority than him. He was a third-class Jinshi in the 32nd year of Jiajing, but he was from Nancheng, Jiangxi, and was considered a fellow villager of Wei Guangde.

At this time, the responsibility of a deputy inspector was not big, but it was still somewhat implicated.

Only by tying officials from Huguang and Jiangxi together, I think the two people in charge in the cabinet still have to be more concerned.

So in the next few days, Kunming did nothing except send a warning to the prefectures and counties of Yunnan to be on high alert.

And Wang Ning's mind was all on Yunnan, Huguang and Jiangxi officials, and letters and documents were constantly exchanged.

When the Yunnan officials were highly nervous, Mang Yinglong was also a little anxious in the palace of Toungoo, the capital of the Toungoo Dynasty of Myanmar.

The Ming Dynasty sent a letter to several Xuanweisi to let them, the Xuanwei envoys, go over, which revealed something strange.

The Ming Dynasty had not issued such an order for many years.

In previous years, each department sent a document to complete the reporting procedure, and the envoy had to go to Kunming in person.

Although he had just conquered Laos, Mang Yinglong still saw the fatigue of his soldiers.

Originally, he planned to rest for a year, then attack the remaining strength of Mengyang, and then directly border the Ming Dynasty, looking for an opportunity to test the depth of the Ming Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, at this juncture, the Ming Dynasty seemed to have changed.

Although Mubang and Mengyang were concerned about their own strength and did not dare to report the truth about Myanmar to the Ming Dynasty court, Mang Yinglong was not a fool.

If the Ming Dynasty really had time to target Myanmar, the people of Mengyang and Mubang would probably turn against him immediately and sell him out.

In any case, Mang Yinglong was still a little afraid of the Ming Dynasty, after all, it was really a big country.

In the past, he just thought that the Ming Dynasty would not pay attention to the southwest border affairs, so he dared to fight Jiaozhi, Siam, Laos, etc., but if the Ming Dynasty really blamed him and wanted to use the sword, it would be impossible to say that there was no pressure.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."

At this time, someone came in from outside the palace.

The man was his subordinate, and after saluting, he reported: "The border prefectures and counties of Yunnan seem to be fine as usual."