But in the far southwestern borderlands, there was another war that lasted for decades and is less well known. The war ended with the defeat of the Ming Dynasty and the loss of a large area of land. This was the Ming-Myanmar War.
During the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, Myanmar's Toungoo Dynasty gradually developed, expanded its territory, and annexed most of present-day Myanmar.
The Mengyang Xuanwei Si, Mubang Xuanwei Si, Myanmar Xuanwei Si and Babai Xuanwei Si, which originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, were successively occupied by it.
However, the Ming government turned a blind eye to this and allowed it to develop, which undoubtedly fueled the ambitions of the Toungoo Dynasty.
In the first month of the eleventh year of the Wanli reign (1583), the Burmese army captured Shidian (now Shidian, Yunnan), attacked Shunning (now Fengqing, Yunnan) and Zhanda (now Yingjiang, Yunnan), and penetrated hundreds of kilometers into the current national border, heading straight for Chuxiong and Dali.
At this time, the Ming court could no longer sit still and sent famous generals Liu Jing and Deng Zilong to lead the Ming army to resist. They defeated the Burmese army in Panzhihua, south of Yaoguan, and won a great victory in Panzhihua.
The Ming army pursued the victory, and Deng Zilong led his army to recapture Wandian and Gengma. Meanwhile, Liu Jing led his army to advance straight into Longchuan and captured the Burmese Prime Minister Yue Feng.
After Yue Feng surrendered, the Burmese army collapsed immediately. The Ming army recaptured Manmo, Mengyang and Menglian along the way. The Mengmi chieftain also announced his submission, and Ava defender Mang Zhuo also surrendered to the Ming court.
In the 12th year of the Wanli reign, the Burmese army invaded again, captured Mengmi, and besieged Wuzhang. Gao Guochun, the general of the Ming army, led his troops to defeat the Burmese invasion again.
Since then, the power of the Toungoo Dynasty was driven out of the chieftain areas of Mubang, Mengyang, Manmo and other places. The traitor Yue Feng who betrayed his country and defected to Myanmar was escorted to the capital and executed. The chieftains in the border areas returned to the Ming Dynasty one after another.
But the Ming-Myanmar War did not end there. Starting from the 13th year of Wanli, due to the corruption of the government, the border areas began to be encroached upon by Myanmar, and it expanded rapidly to present-day Jinghong, Ximeng, Lincang, Tengchong and other places.
The last war broke out in the 30th year of Wanli's reign. The Ming Dynasty was finally unable to look south due to the outbreak of the Korean War and began to negotiate peace with Myanmar.
In the end, the Ming-Myanmar War ended with the Ming Dynasty ceding Mengyang, Mubang, and Xingwei (now Theni, Myanmar), and the two countries restored "normal" relations.
Perhaps the Ming court did not regard the territories of the Xuanweishisi as its inherent territory, nor did it recognize that it was ceded, but considered it a humiliation.
But Zhu Youxiao was still upset about this. Over one million square kilometers of land was not a small amount. Moreover, this was only a temporary peace and did not satisfy Myanmar's ambitions.
He remembered that during the Qing Dynasty, he had fought several major battles with Myanmar. The last emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty was presented to Wu Sangui by Myanmar, marking the end of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Youxiao was not prepared to leave such a capricious country to his descendants to deal with. Once the Liao Dynasty was successfully pacified, he would wash away the humiliation and march his troops to the southwest.
Moreover, the Ming army defending Yunnan Province had proven weak. The Mu family, which had ruled Yunnan for generations, no longer possessed the bravery and strategic prowess of the first Duke, Mu Ying.
By suppressing the She'an Rebellion, Zhu Youxiao was preparing to build an army that could fight and dare to fight. This was the best experimental field to test and train the army's combat effectiveness, and actual combat was the only standard.
Fu Zonglong obviously had no idea of the emperor's ambitions. Strategies such as defense as offense, blockade and siege, and farming and retaining soldiers were showing results, and the rebels outside the water were also being gradually eliminated. He was confidently reporting the good news to the emperor!
………………
The capital.
The air was filled with spring, the snow had almost melted, and the dripping water from the eaves of the temple had become sparse.
Although the latest situation in Shuixi is unknown, judging from several battle reports, the Shuixi rebels' several counterattacks were all repelled by the Ming army, and the entire war situation has almost stabilized.
As long as the battle line is stabilized, how can Shuixi outlast the Ming Dynasty with its manpower and resources? Moreover, the current leader of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youxiao, is still very good at making money.
In the hall, dozens of nobles from the capital stood solemnly, with different expressions on their faces, listening to the emperor speaking.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Baba was entrusted by the founding nobles with the management of various military and political affairs, and later launched a series of fatal attacks on them.
By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court had gradually formed the policies of "banning meritorious officials from interfering in the affairs of the Nine Ministers" and "commanding the military with civil officials", and the political status of meritorious officials with high positions but low powers was basically fixed.
The Ming court's system of suppressing the involvement of nobles in state affairs continued the historical development trend of bureaucratic politics that emphasized ability and qualifications since the Qin and Han dynasties, especially after the establishment of the imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
However, the meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty still had a special relationship with the emperor. They maintained a parasitic class status of dignity for generations, and their legal status was higher than that of ordinary civil and military officials.
Generally speaking, the meritorious officials held high positions but little power, their authority disproportionate to their status. However, their powers were unique in nature, beyond the reach of other court officials. For example, they held the power to oversee the capital, command the regiments, and so on.
This distorted power situation exacerbated the corruption of the nobles, turning them into a "quasi-political class" that had long dominated the courts of the two capitals.
But this situation changed last year. Zhu Youxiao reorganized the Beijing camp and opened a military school, gradually excluding the nobles until he had complete control of the capital's army.
Not only that, through transfers and changes of positions, most of the guards in the palace have also been replaced, and are now under the charge of Lu Jianxing, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
After these measures were implemented, Zhu Youxiao felt confident when facing the nobles and his words were not polite at all.
"…Since the edict prohibiting officials from engaging in commerce was issued, the stipulated period has already passed. Yet, some have disregarded the edict and are showing contempt for me. I summoned you here today to discuss this matter."
Zhu Youxiao's eyes were cold as he swept over the prince and others, taking in their expressions, and sneered in his heart.
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