“Can it really succeed?”

This is not only a question for the Tai people, but also a question for other ethnic groups participating in this plan.

More than twenty artillery pieces are being transported in the mountains and forests, and each piece of artillery is covered with woven leaves.

They will be transported to a designated mountain and hidden there, waiting for the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to come.

No one could have imagined that these chieftains and nobles would dare to murder the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Don’t they know what the consequences of doing this are?

Come to think of it, I really don’t know.

In the minds of these chieftains, there is actually no difference between the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and other kings.

It was just a vague idea of ​​how powerful the Ming Dynasty was.

It is not possible that someone would come and tell them that the Ming Dynasty had an army of two million, that the Ming Dynasty’s territory was vast, and that the Ming Dynasty was powerful.

"The emperor of the Ming Dynasty was too careless. Did they think we didn't have artillery? They even went on a tour to Annan. They regarded Annan as the territory of the Ming Dynasty."

"This is where our ancestors have lived for generations. These damn Han people must be driven out and we must never let them rule us."

The meeting to assassinate the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was soon launched under the leadership of the Dai tribe, and chieftain nobles immediately stood up to criticize the Ming Dynasty.

The other nobles around nodded in agreement.

This is because since Hu Jima's failure, many promises made to them have not been fulfilled.

Normally speaking, Hu Jima had already been defeated, so his promise would naturally be of no use. However, many chieftains and nobles felt that this was what the Annan court had promised them and it must be fulfilled.

At present, the Annan court is basically composed of Han people from the Ming Dynasty as ministers. How could they agree to these unreasonable demands? You should be grateful to the emperor for not pursuing the crime of aiding the enemy, but you still have so many excessive demands, which is simply unreasonable.

When this was fed back to the chieftain nobles, they felt that the Han people were bullying them, which led to dissatisfaction among many of the Annan chieftain nobles.

Because in the jurisdiction of Annan, the concepts of chieftain nobles and warlords are similar.

No matter which chieftain it is, the laws violated by their people will be resolved by the chieftain to which they belong, even the Annan court cannot do so.

Every chieftain noble even has his own local laws. Even if these laws are strange, if other people come, they must abide by them.

Most of the chieftain laws were passed down from their ancestors, and the tribesmen are very protective of them.

Therefore, Zhu Gaochi has a long way to go on the road of education. At present, except for a small number of chieftains close to the capital of Annan, the others are in trouble. Some people in remote areas don’t even know that Annan has changed its owner because of lack of information.

The Ming Dynasty's rule naturally required a redistribution of existing interests, and the way it handled this was actually similar to the earlier arrangements in Yunnan.

The so-called Tusi were nobles among the indigenous ethnic minorities who served as heads of local government agencies.

In order to adjust the local economic situation and pay taxes and labor according to the local conditions, and politically obey the orders of the imperial court.

This was the way Annan previously followed the example of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally the situation of chieftain warlords was formed.

Some large ethnic groups, such as the Tai, which have a large population, are themselves huge interest groups and can be called a country within a country.

Naturally, in the case of Annan, the largest population is still the Kinh people.

The Kinh people were a direct subordinate ethnic group of the Annan royal family, which is why they were able to rule Annan.

After Ming Dynasty took over, it is basically improving the chieftain system. But if it is in the interest of Ming Dynasty, of course new chieftains must be selected.

This conflicts with the previous formation.

You should know that before this, almost all the chieftains in Annan were appointed by Hu Jima's party.

Hu Jima dared to rebel because he had the confidence to do so.

After suppressing the rebellion, because too many people were involved, the Ming Dynasty finally chose to appease them and only executed the ringleaders.

Therefore, at present, at least half of the chieftains in Annan, if not the majority, are still the people who once followed Hu Jima.

This is also because there are not many Ming officials who have come to Annan at present, and it is impossible to understand the entire detailed situation in a short period of time. They dare not dismiss them at will for fear of causing unrest. This gives the chieftains and nobles a chance to breathe.

The Ming Dynasty now has an army of 200,000 to suppress Annan. Naturally, it will not have a good face towards the chieftains who disobey its management.

Especially the chieftain families.

The areas under the jurisdiction of Jingning Hou Ye Sheng and Puding Hou Chen Huan were directly under military rule, completely depriving the chieftains of their power.

This seems to be sending a signal that the Annan court, which will be governed by the Ming Dynasty in the future, will abolish the chieftain system and bring everything under direct rule.

Sharp contradictions arose as a result, which infringed upon the collective interests of all the Annan chieftains.

In fact, neither Ye Sheng, Marquis of Jingning, Chen Huan, Marquis of Puding, nor Liu Sheng and Zhu Gaochi had such an idea. The reason for this situation was entirely because some conspirators were secretly making trouble.

Most of those who lurked in the dark and deliberately spread rumors once had deep interests entangled with Hu Jima, or even had connections with him.

After all, Hu Jima had already served as prime minister in the previous dynasty of Annan, and was also the minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor.

When Chen Yong succeeded to the throne, everything in the Annan court was under the jurisdiction of Hu Jima.

Hu Jima was not a stupid person. On the contrary, he not only had a smart mind, but also had excellent talents in military and political affairs.

Reform the imperial examination system, make use of talented people, and select capable people.

A large number of water conservancy projects were built to ensure food for the people of Annan, and even to reduce taxes and labor.

He also personally managed the army and maintained relations with the chieftains.

Under his leadership, the ancient enemy Champa was defeated step by step, lost a lot of land, and even the Champa king was killed.

Such great achievements are Hu Jima’s real capital.

For the people of Annan, Hu Jima was actually a hero, a hero who led Annan to become powerful.

During the decades when Hu Jima served as prime minister, Annan enjoyed peace and prosperity, its national strength gradually increased, and it was relatively strong externally.

So even though Hu Jima had been executed, many people still missed him very much.

Coupled with the remaining interest groups, this has led to some chieftain nobles now being extremely hostile towards the Ming Dynasty.

"Even if we can't kill the Ming Emperor this time, we can at least let him know that we are not easy to mess with."

"Annan is not the Annan of the Ming Dynasty, but our Annan. Even when the prime minister was alive, he would not dare to treat us like this."

"These Ming people directly occupied our land and said that it should belong to the court. There has been no such saying in the hundreds of years since Annan was founded. The Ming Dynasty actually treated us like this. It simply doesn't take anyone seriously."

"I heard that the Ming Dynasty's grandson is here too. That's great. We can just send them all down. Then, when the Ming Dynasty's emperor dies and his successor dies, the entire Ming Dynasty will be in complete chaos and will no longer be able to take care of Annan's affairs."

An older chieftain noble said viciously.

From his tone, one can feel his hatred towards the Ming Dynasty.

He was a direct victim. The newly appointed Han officials removed him from his position as chieftain on the grounds that he was too old and replaced him with his rival in the tribe, which almost angered him to death and sent him away.

But he was not someone to be trifled with. After all, he had been the local official for such a long time and had the strongest power in the tribe. On the second night alone, he forcibly killed the newly appointed local official.

Everyone knew that he arranged it, but without evidence, no one would be the witness.

Finally, the Han official had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and let his son serve as the chieftain.

Although he is nominally his son, in reality, nothing can be done without his permission.

Such things made him feel that the Han people were nothing special. After receiving the news from the Dai people, he was one of the first to respond.

"If the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the crown prince, is really killed by our cannons, will there be revenge from the Ming Dynasty?"

"I heard that the Ming army is very large. The current Ming emperor and the previous Ming army have a total of 340,000 troops."

"The Han Chinese lackeys of the imperial court will certainly obey the will of the Ming Dynasty. If an army of 500,000 or 600,000 were to come and suppress us, we would have no room for resistance."

After hearing this, the originally excited and enthusiastic atmosphere suddenly became stiff.

Yes, what if the Ming Dynasty retaliates? Wouldn’t all the people present be killed?

People live for themselves.

What national justice? It's all just a cover.

If everyone present will die because of this, then what is the point of planning?

It is better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Even if it is like this now, it does not mean that we cannot go on.

Just a few words made this fragile makeshift group feel somewhat fragmented.

The dozen or so people present, chieftains from various regions, stared at each other in silence, and no one was willing to speak.

You have to know that all the people under his command, including the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, add up to less than 100,000, while the army he may face in the future may be hundreds of thousands. What's the difference between this and hitting a rock with an egg?

Naturally, the people here cannot be said to represent all the people of their own ethnic group; they only represent the area under their jurisdiction.

The chief of the Dai tribe is only the chief of a region, and there are hundreds of such chiefs in the Dai tribe.

"madness!"

At this moment, the chief of the Dai tribe at the top shouted loudly and knocked the ground with his cane, making a thudding sound, which attracted everyone's attention.

"Mr. Li, it's not that we don't want to, but given the current situation, it seems that everyone has overlooked this point."

"You are the leader of this plan. We all follow your command, but we can't just focus on the immediate pleasure."

"If the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty dies, and the Crown Prince dies, and that leads to our death as well, such a situation of mutual destruction is not what we want."

The person who said this earlier stood up and retorted, without any intention of giving any face to the Dai tribe leader, Mr. Li.

It is true that the Tay are a large tribe in Annan, but their Tai people are not much worse.

It’s just because Mr. Li has the most seniority in this area that everyone agrees to obey his orders.

The person who was speaking actually had some conflicts with the Dai people and had suffered a lot at the hands of Mr. Li.

For example, the scramble for water conservancy repairs and the disputes over farmland boundaries are all conflicts that have accumulated over time.

With these things happening, there is certainly no need to consider Mr. Li's face too much.

Old Li narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the Dai chieftain who was speaking. He waited quietly for him to finish, with no intention of interrupting him.

Although Mr. Li is old and seems to be somewhat amiable, he was actually very brave and aggressive when he was young. Even now that he is old, he is still very strong.

The reason why he was so confident was that he had twelve sons, each of them was tall and strong and was not afraid of anyone in a fight.

This is why Mr. Li still has a say in the clan.

Everyone would feel a little scared when being looked at by Mr. Li with such a sinister look.

The person who spoke earlier now felt a little regretful in his heart, as if he had said too much and caused a feud.

However, compared with his own life and that of his clan, offending Mr. Li of the Tay tribe is better than offending the Ming Dynasty or the Annan court.

"What you said does make some sense, and I don't deny that what I just said may actually happen."

"But some of the things they said were too exaggerated."

With just two sentences, Mr. Li seemed to have regained control of the rhythm of the parliament.

After a brief pause to let everyone's attention pass, he spoke again, "First of all, if the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the crown prince, died, the first to be thrown into chaos would definitely be the entire Ming Dynasty, because they no longer have an heir."

"Indeed, these troops who stayed in Ming Dynasty will definitely come to seek revenge on us, but you must know that this is Annan, the Annan where we were born and raised."

"A hundred years ago, the once invincible Mongol cavalry also launched a massive attack on Annan, but what could they do? In the end, they were all defeated."

"Everyone, remember, we are not the imperial court, and we don't need to defend any city. When facing the Ming army, we will go directly into the depths of the mountains and jungles. No matter how many Ming troops there are, they can't do anything to us."

"As long as we delay for a while, the fighting in Daming will become more intense, and then we will have a chance."

"I believe that by that time, the officials and ministers of the court will naturally know who has made contributions to Annan, and we will be able to walk out of the depths of the mountains and jungles again."

"It's just a few hard days. Who hasn't suffered a little?"

"The Ming Dynasty at that time would not be able to withstand more than a few months and would have to withdraw its troops."

"It's only a few months, or even a year or two. Are you worse than an old man like me?"