It is better to act than to think. Just move your lips and shout out eight words, and you will get the salt!
The power of role models is infinite. Seeing others benefit, even if it is just a little bit, is enough to tempt you.
The eyes of the hesitant Yi people lit up, and they all rushed over. Soon, shouts from all over the country rang out.
Just shouting a few slogans was just the beginning. You know whether there were any backers or not. And the five kilograms of salt and thirty acres of land given for joining the army were even more tempting conditions.
However, in the Ming Dynasty, discrimination against ethnic minorities made it difficult to recruit Yi soldiers. The promise of giving salt for shouting slogans paved the way for them to join the army.
This was a plan devised by Governor Fu Zonglong to better implement the emperor's plan. There was an ancient story of setting up a tree as a token of trust, and Fu Zonglong simply used it casually.
The reason for recruiting minority soldiers into the Ming army was not just a stopgap measure to quell the She'an Rebellion.
In Zhu Youxiao's vision, increasing the proportion of naturalized soldiers in the Ming army would first be beneficial in strengthening the ability to quell the She'an rebellion in the short term.
With the increasingly tight blockade of the rebels, the shortage of supplies, especially salt, and the political offensive launched by the Ming court, the rebels will become divided and unstable.
Many naturalized barbarians were familiar with the terrain of Shuixi, which was the weakness of the Ming army. At the same time, their calls for surrender during the battle between the two armies would also have the effect of disintegrating the enemy.
In the long run, bringing more Yi people under the jurisdiction of the government would also weaken the power of the chieftains. If they lived well, it would also serve as a form of propaganda and encouragement for the Yi people still under the jurisdiction of the chieftains.
You must know that ordinary Yi people under the rule of chieftains were slaves who lived a hard life and had no freedom or rights.
The Ming Dynasty was a feudal society after all, a generation superior to the slave society! The lives of the people would get better and better, and it would always be better than being a slave.
To put it bluntly, isn't it a disguised form of "reforming the natives and returning them to the Han Chinese" to make more and more foreigners naturalize and truly bring them under the jurisdiction of the Ming government?
Zhu Youxiao dared to make up his mind to pacify Liao within five years, and the She'an Rebellion would not fall within this time limit.
However, he conservatively estimated that it would take another 30 to 50 years to completely "transform the natives into Han Chinese" in the Ming Dynasty, and it would also be accompanied by wars and casualties.
As the saying goes: "Emperors last a hundred years, chieftains a thousand years." This shows his tenacious vitality. Therefore, he did not hesitate to try any measures that could accelerate the process of "reforming the chieftain system."
An alien came to the recruiting office and expressed in a strange tone his desire to join the army.
He was tall, barefoot, and had a dark complexion. Standing there, he looked like half a black iron tower, looking very fierce and intimidating.
An older barbarian came up to act as an interpreter, asking and answering questions, and then relaying the information to the clerk next to him.
Shamabuda, male, 22 years old, Yi nationality, six feet one foot tall... The clerk was taking notes when his attention was attracted by the sudden noise next to him.
Next to the recruiting office stood several stone locks, serving as a sort of physical examination facility. A sturdy man was performing acrobatics with the locks, drawing cheers and applause from onlookers.
Seeing that the clerk was looking away and seemed to have forgotten his own business, Buda frowned, snorted, strode over, grabbed a heavier stone lock, and started to play with it from his left hand to his right hand.
After swinging for a while, Buda put down the stone lock, walked to the clerk, stood with his chest out, his face not red, not out of breath, staring at the clerk with his big eyes.
The clerk didn't take it seriously, just laughed, picked up his pen, finished writing, and waved to Buda with a number plate.
An Yi translator gave the badge to Buda, explained the specific regulations to him, and asked him to take the badge to report to the military camp on the other side.
Not far away, the mat stalls where people exchanged grain for salt were bustling with activity. From time to time, Yi women, dressed very differently from the Han people, would walk together, chatting and laughing, carrying shoulder poles.
Guizhou was short of salt, and salt was expensive, so they used cheap salt to win over the people. The food they got in return could also be used as military supplies, saving money, killing two birds with one stone.
How could the people of Guizhou not be enthusiastic about such a good opportunity? When food was scarce, they could make do with coarse grains and vegetables, but cheap and precious salt was not something they could easily come across.
The fact that they dared to take such a measure also showed that the Ming army had completed the blockade and was very tight, and they were not worried that anyone could smuggle into the area where the rebels were entrenched.
In terms of combat power, the Shuixi rebels were incomparable to the Jiannu, and even the Ming army was inferior. It was just that the complex terrain made it difficult for the Ming army to capture them.
The Ming army has now stabilized its position, continuously training and reorganizing, constantly changing equipment and strengthening, and taking a defensive stance, only blocking major transportation routes and river crossings.
The Shuixi rebels wanted to reverse the situation, so they had to take the initiative to attack. Without the advantage of terrain, the Shuixi rebels' attacks were repelled by the Ming army several times, and they fell into an increasingly difficult situation.
This situation is quite similar to that of the Jiannu: if they attack, they are not strong enough; if they do not move, they will be trapped and die. In short, they are caught in a dilemma and cannot escape the passive position.
In the Guiyang Governor's Office, Fu Zonglong had just met with a group of officers from the military academy and was writing a secret memorial to the emperor in his study.
This was not only a war to quell the rebellion, but also an opportunity for the imperial court to reorganize the army and improve its combat effectiveness. The border troops were strong, while the inland troops were weak, and Zhu Youxiao wanted to change this situation.
Through the constant transfer of officers, Zhu Youxiao was able to more firmly control the army. Behind these measures was Zhu Youxiao's longer-term revenge plan.
During the Wanli period, the most familiar things should be the three major expeditions, and they all achieved victory, which is very exciting.
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