The seat of Yunnan Provincial Administration was Yunnan Prefecture.

Yunnan has a total of 22 prefectures under its jurisdiction, which include 38 scattered states and 24 counties under the jurisdiction of the prefectures, as well as five direct-controlled states that do not have counties under their jurisdiction.

Just looking at the number of prefectures, there are not many.

but...

There were only 163 prefectures in the Ming Dynasty.

The number of prefectures in Yunnan province alone accounts for 13% of the total!

The reason for setting up so many prefectures was that there were too many local officials.

During the Ming Dynasty, more than 330 local officials were set up in Yunnan.

Native officials are also called Tusi and Tuqiu.

It was a position granted by the imperial court to the local ethnic minority leader.

Local officials are mainly concentrated in minority areas such as the northwest and southwest, and are divided into civil and military positions.

The military positions included the envoy of peace, the envoy of appeasement, the envoy of appeasement and the envoy of recruitment; the civil positions included the local prefect, the local governor and the local county magistrate.

Whether they were civil or military chieftains, they were all under the management of the Ministry of Personnel.

The imperial court would give them seals to prove their official status, and the chieftains would pay taxes to the imperial court and undertake levies (mainly conscription).

In addition, the local officials also have absolute ruling power within their jurisdiction.

Simply put, these local officials are the local emperors.

Smart, capable and loyal local officials can indeed help the imperial court govern the local areas well.

For example, Ma Qiancheng and Qin Liangyu.

However, if the local officials rebel, it will bring great trouble to the imperial court.

Such as Yang Yinglong in the Battle of Bozhou, She Chongming and An Bangyan in the She'an Rebellion.

Their rebellion not only displaced local people, but also plunged the Ming Dynasty's finances into crisis and dragged the Ming Dynasty into a quagmire.

Faced with the threat of native officials, the Ming Dynasty court began to reform the native officials since the Yongle period.

(The meaning of reforming the native officials into officials is to abolish the local chieftain system and replace it with officials appointed by the imperial court to govern, just like in the interior of China. It is also called reforming native officials into officials.)

In the 11th year of Yongle, after suppressing the rebellions in Sinan and Sizhou in Guizhou, Zhu Di abolished the chieftain system in the two places and replaced them with governance by itinerant officials.

The process of suppressing this rebellion is somewhat legendary.

Zhu Di prepared an army of 50,000 to quell the rebellion.

In the end it was of no use at all.

At the same time as the main army set out, hundreds of Jinyiwei also set out from the capital and sneaked into Sinan and Sizhou ahead of the main army.

The Jinyiwei, who had penetrated deep into the enemy's territory alone, captured Tian Chen, the envoy of Sizhou, in Sizhou City and escorted him to Beijing.

The other group of Jinyiwei was even more powerful.

They crossed mountains and rivers to the Sinan area, sneaked into the Sinan Xuanwei Office compound, and captured Sinan Xuanwei Envoy Tian Zongding who was sleeping.

Because they were discovered by the enemy during the evacuation, the Jinyiwei could only stab him to death and then leave.

The subsequent Chenghua, Zhengde, Jiajing, Wanli and Tianqi all carried out the policy of converting the natives into officials to varying degrees.

During the Chongzhen period.

Under the pressure of internal and external troubles, the Ming Dynasty temporarily stopped the policy of converting the natives into officials, trying to gain peace in these places in this way.

Faced with the problem of chieftains in the southwest, Chongzhen tried to take the initiative.

But it only remains in the conceptual stage.

The situation in Yunnan is more complicated than that in Guizhou and Guangxi.

Because there are not only complex minority tribes here, but also borders Annan (Vietnam), Laos, Siam (Thailand), and Myanmar.

If the Ming Dynasty only had the problem of chieftains, Chongzhen would have ordered the transformation of chieftains into officials without hesitation.

pity...

Internally, there were two big bandits, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, causing chaos; externally, there were the Jiannu and Mongols, eyeing the country covetously.

It would not be wise to initiate a war at this time.

However.

The tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop!

The Ming Dynasty government's previous policy of changing the chieftains into officials made these chieftains feel cold.

They knew that the Ming court stopped the policy of converting natives into officials not out of its own will but because it was forced by the situation.

After the Ming Dynasty recovers, the policy of converting the natives into officials will continue.

So they decided to strike first.

The evening of October 8th (two months ago).

In Yuanmou County, Wuding Prefecture, Yunnan, Yuanmou chieftain Wu Bikui felt that he was probably sick.

Unable to fall asleep lying on the bed in the chieftain's yamen, he sat up, looked at the moon outside, listened to the barking of dogs outside, and felt sad.

Since Sichuan has a lack of military forces, the bandits may invade Sichuan from Hanzhong.

In order to provide timely support to Sichuan, the Yunnan general was appointed General Zhennan, and Duke of Qian Mu Tianbo ordered Lieutenant General Li Dazhi (zhi fourth tone) to lead 3,000 troops to garrison the Jinsha River.

Li Dazhi was brave but not wise, and his military discipline was average.

Not only did he disturb the neighbors, but he also had several conflicts with him.

He wanted to start a rebellion, but was afraid that he was not strong enough and would be destroyed by the Ming army.

Just as Wu Bikui tossed and turned, the voice of a servant was heard outside the door.

"Master, someone wants to see you!"

Wu Bikui sat up suddenly and asked loudly, "Who?"

"The other party claimed to be from Wangnong Tusi Sha Dingzhou."

"Sha Dingzhou...?" Wu Bikui frowned.

He was thinking...Why did Sha Dingzhou send people here?

Sha Dingzhou and he were both local chieftains, and each of them occupied a part of their territory based on their clan’s bond.

The relationship between chieftains is complicated, with both cooperation and conflict. Regardless of cooperation or conflict, the purpose is to maximize their own interests.

The Duke of Qian's task was to balance the interests of the various chieftains and make them feel that the imperial court was the fairest.

Only in this way can the various departments be convinced.

Then they took the opportunity to suppress the powerful chieftains and support the weak ones.

There is also a very important premise here, the imperial court is strong enough!

"Have you verified your identity?" Wu Bikui asked cautiously.

"I have verified that the official document does have Sha Dingzhou's seal on it."

"Let him go to the back hall!" Wu Bikui stood up while speaking.

He took out a chain mail from the box under the bed and put it on, and then put on a long gown on the outside.

After doing these things, he slowly walked out of the bedroom.

Arriving at the back hall, the man bowed deeply to Wu Bikui and said, "I am Chen Changming, and I am here to pay you a visit on the orders of General Sha Dingzhou."

Wu Bikui looked at the man carefully.

This man was tall and strong, with a big dark face on his round head, which made people subconsciously feel afraid.

Wu Bikui said expressionlessly: "I am a little tired, so let me make it short."