The area of ​​Yunnan Province in later generations was about 390,000 square kilometers, while the jurisdiction of the Yunnan Provincial Administration of the Ming Dynasty exceeded one million square kilometers.

In order to manage this vast territory, the imperial court divided Yunnan into the "inner border administrative region" and the "outer border administrative region" and adopted different ruling methods.

The inner border administrative area is the core area of ​​Yunnan Province in later generations. The imperial court set up prefectures and counties and sent officials to directly manage it. The outer border administrative area includes western and southern Yunnan, as well as the entire territory of Myanmar, most of Laos and northern Thailand. The chieftains of these areas are all "those in central Yunnan who obey the king's rule and can be dispatched", so they are organized into three Xuanfusi and six Xuanweisi, and are awarded "gold-lettered red cards" and seals and certificates to manage these ethnic areas for generations.

The so-called "Three Xuanfu and Six Wei" were also under the control of Yunnan Provincial Administration Commission. Xuanfu and Xuanwei envoys exercised local power with the "golden red card" granted by the court. At the same time, they had to pay tribute regularly, pay fixed taxes annually, and be available for conscription by the court during wartime.

The Ming Dynasty's golden red card system was much stronger than the previous policy of simply controlling the chieftains. With less than a fraction of the investment in the Nine Frontiers, it was absolutely a miracle that the southwest territory could be maintained for nearly two hundred years without loosening.

However, the long-term lack of power in the imperial court will eventually make the Three Xuans and Six Weis lose their reverence, and the Indochina Peninsula will inevitably slide into a jungle world where the strong prey on the weak.

In the fifth year of Jiajing, a civil war broke out among the three Xuanweis, and the Burmese Xuanweisi was destroyed by the Mengyang Xuanweisi and other three families, and the territory was divided among the three families. Mangti Rui, the son of the Burmese Xuanweishi, fled to his mother's home in Toungoo and established the Toungoo Kingdom.

Mangtirui was angry that the Ming Dynasty did not save him, so he stopped paying tribute and began to invade the Ming border. His descendants also had rebellious intentions and began to attack everywhere to expand their territory.

When the throne of Toungoo was passed to Mangyinglong, he became even more arrogant and blatantly refused the Ming court's invitation to pacify him, and continued to attack Outer Yunnan in the north. However, he did have strength. After these years of conquest, among the three Xuan and six Wei, only the "Three Xuan" and Cheli Xuanwei were still struggling and had not surrendered to Myanmar.

However, the imperial court still did not take decisive action against the Toungoo regime's treasonous behavior of blatantly splitting the country and forcing and inciting the various Xuanweisi to become independent, but instead let it go and condoned it.

This further emboldened the arrogance of Mang Yinglong's gang. It was said that they had openly shouted the slogan "Invade Yunnan Prefecture and capture the Duke of Qian alive."

It is reasonable for the Ming Dynasty to seriously solve the Burmese problem. Zhao Hao also reported the corruption in Outer Yunnan to his father-in-law, but for some reason, the court did not take any action.

~~

Myanmar’s position is also very important to Zhao Hao and Jiangnan Group.

It goes without saying that Zhao Hao's current strategic direction is a continuation of the route of Emperor Yongle.

Although Zhu Di's strategy was to consolidate the Western tribute system, and Zhao Hao's was for his century-long immigration, no matter which strategy was adopted, it required the implementer to have long-term and effective control over the Indochina Peninsula.

Zhu Di pointed out that if he wanted to bring the countries in Southeast Asia under his rule forever, he had to adhere to the policy of advancing by land and sea. To this end, he sent Zhang Fu to lead his army to the southeastern peninsula to pacify Jiaozhi and Annan. He echoed Zheng He's fleet and consolidated the Ming Dynasty's tribute system by land and sea.

Zhu Di sent troops to Annan in order to control the Indochina Peninsula, because the Indochina Peninsula was not only a foothold for the Ming Dynasty to penetrate into the South Seas, but also a frontier for the Ming Dynasty to manage the West. Moreover, it was also a very rich place - Bangkok in Thailand, Yangon in Myanmar, and Hanoi in Vietnam were known as the three major granaries in Asia. The high-quality timber in Myanmar and Thailand was also an extremely important strategic resource in the Age of Discovery.

Again, the existence of the fleet is temporary, but the Indochina Peninsula will always be there.

As long as the Indochina Peninsula is under long-term control, Nanyang can be returned to China forever. If the Indochina Peninsula is not taken, if the Coast Guard Fleet disappears like Zheng He's Fleet one day, Nanyang will be in danger of losing connection with the mainland again.

However, the situation in the Indochina Peninsula is too complicated. The three small strong countries of Myanmar, Thailand and Annan are not easy to deal with, and Laos and Cambodia are not easy to deal with either.

Moreover, the navy can conquer, at least the island nations in the South Pacific. But to conquer the Indochina Peninsula, one must fight deep inland.

The peninsula's hot and humid climate, rugged and complex mountains, dense jungles and rivers, and the elusive army are enough to scare away any sober-minded person.

The world is so big, there are many places with higher cost-effectiveness. Zhao Hao cannot invest his precious manpower and material resources in a place like the cemetery of empires.

As he said in his book The Age of Navigation:

'The world in this era is a feast. Please remember that all your energy should be used to prevent other diners from taking the table. As long as no one can snatch the food from you, all the dishes on the table are yours. The only difference is whether you eat them earlier or later. Remember not to waste your precious energy on hard bones - no matter how hard the bones are, they are just dishes and will not snatch the food from you.'

Therefore, in the overall strategy formulated by Zhao Hao himself, although the Indochina Peninsula is important, it is necessary to use wisdom instead of force when managing it. Even if it is necessary to use force, it must be done in moderation to ensure that it is more effective with less effort. The group must not be allowed to get stuck in the quagmire of the Indochina Peninsula.

~~

This black prince who came to the doorstep arrived at the perfect time.

Young Master Zhao was secretly delighted. He was just worrying about how to start the game of Indochina. This was like someone giving you a pillow when you wanted to sleep!

Because even if he did not intervene, the Black Prince would lead Siam to break free from Burmese rule in four years.

The reason why the Black Prince was able to succeed was that next year, the great ruler of Myanmar, Mang Yinglong, would die of illness, and his successor, Mang Yingli, would be a fool with great ambitions but little talent...

As long as the operation is done properly, the Black Prince alone can deal with two of the three little strong men.

So in the eyes of Mr. Zhao, the Black Prince was a rare treasure. As a result, he only cared about being intimate with his treasure and completely ignored the charming Green Queen.

This disappointed the big mud lady who had been trying her best to seduce Mr. Zhao. She couldn't help but wonder, is it because I'm not sexy enough? Why did Mr. Zhao get so excited when the rough man opened his mouth?

Zhao Hao had no idea that the Green Queen had already classified him as one of Long Yang Jun's followers. He was still talking to the Black Prince with great interest:

"Your Highness and his son are loyal to the Ming Dynasty. I will definitely report this to His Majesty and ask the court to make the decision for Siam."

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, the Celestial Empire." The Black Prince spoke authentic Chinese and bowed to Zhao Hao gratefully, saying, "When the Celestial Empire's soldiers attack the Mang bandits, it will be the day when our Siamese soldiers and civilians raise the banner of rebellion against Toungoo. When the time comes, we can attack the Mang bandits from both sides, and the rebels will surely be distracted."

"Hahaha, that's right." Young Master Zhao nodded and laughed, "Although Siam and Myanmar are separated by mountains, Myanmar is high up and has the best geographical advantages, so the Burmese always cross Mount Pilao to attack Siam. And if you Thais want to fight back, you have to attack from above, which is really a disadvantage."

"My Lord, you really understand our two countries too well." The Black Prince sighed and said, "Yes, it is precisely because of the terrain that we have suffered a great disadvantage that we have been defeated by the Burmese repeatedly. In recent years, we have even lost our country."

"It's actually not that difficult to turn the situation around." Zhao Hao smiled faintly and said, "For example, if I use the fleet to transport your army to the Gulf of Martaban, will that give the Burmese a surprise?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Upon hearing this, the Black Prince stood up suddenly, dancing with excitement, and said, "Sixty miles up the Pegu River from the Mataban Bay is the pseudo-capital of Mang Yinglong, Pegu City! I have been a hostage in Pegu, and I know that the Mang bandit is attacking from all sides, with heavy troops outside, and his lair is very empty! The sudden appearance of the army under Pegu City will surely capture the Mang bandit's pseudo-capital in one fell swoop!"

If he could also capture Pegu, he would wash away the shame of Siam having its capital captured twice by Mang Yinglong. He, the Black Prince Panarai, would also become a national hero of Siam and revive his country's decades of decline!

This huge threat made the Black Prince, who had experienced hardships since childhood and was particularly mature, completely lose his composure. He clasped his hands together, knelt down in front of Zhao Hao, kissed his toes and said, "Sir, if you can let me lead the army to attack Pegu, we can avenge our past shame! My Siamese royal family will worship you as a Buddha for generations to come."

"No, get up quickly." Young Master Zhao bent down with a smile, touched the black prince's head and said, "Do a good job, I'm counting on you."

"Yes, yes." The Black Prince seemed to have his proton constitution triggered, and he was as obedient as a puppy. "I will obey your orders from now on."

~~

Of course, Mr. Zhao couldn't just rely on his words to recruit followers, he also had to do something solid. So he waved his hand and gave the Black Prince a thousand Spanish matchlock guns and twenty Spanish cannons.

Do you think it's not enough? That's right. This is a free trial pack. If you find it useful, come back and buy it. Mr. Zhao has plenty of Spanish weapons!

After receiving this generous gift, the Black Prince became even more obedient. He immediately expressed Siam's willingness to follow the example of Annan, Aceh, Bachang, and Johor and also offer land to the Ming Dynasty.

Before the Black Prince came, he actually always wanted to restore Siam's independence.

But after watching the naval and land parade, he suddenly realized that the Celestial Empire would sooner or later put down the rebellion in Burma, and by then Burma would probably not re-establish the Xuanwei Office, but would change it into the Burma Prefecture.

Although Siam was only a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it was too close to Yunnan and of course knew that the imperial court would use the policy of "changing the chieftains to officials" to punish the rebellious chieftains and deprive them of their hereditary power.

Although Myanmar is too far from Yunnan Prefecture and there are no roads in the deep mountains and forests, it is not realistic to send officials from Kunming to Pegu for management. But now the power of the Ming Dynasty has penetrated deep into Southeast Asia. As long as the blockade of Malacca is broken, the fleet can enter the Gulf of Martaban.

His Royal Highness the Viceroy, who has been managing Siam for many years, has divided Myanmar into prefectures and counties on behalf of the Ming Dynasty.

But in that case, compared with the Burmese government, Siam would become an outsider again. At that time, the Ming fleet would turn around to protect Burma, and it is even possible that it would land the Burmese army in the Gulf of Siam!

A city is not far from the sea...

So the Black Prince thought about it and decided to join the Ming Dynasty first. He thought that since Siam had become a vassal state of Burma, it might as well become a part of the Ming Dynasty.

At the very least, the Celestial Empire would treat both sides equally. And only in this way could they gain enough benefits in the future war against Burma, such as taking the opportunity to seize Siam's hidden land - Mount Pilau. This was what Siam really needed.

Moreover, another powerful country in the east, Annan, had already surrendered and was downgraded from a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty to a territory.

All the neighbors do this, so the Black Prince doesn't feel ashamed at all.

Whether it's king, governor-general or governor-general, they are just titles. As long as Siam has belonged to his family for generations, does it matter what title he uses?

P.S. I have been busy from morning till night today, and writing one chapter is already the limit. Alas, I have to go to the hospital all day tomorrow... so if conditions permit, I'd better have one more child.