"Although this is your first meeting with me, you don't have to be too reserved. I am very easy-going and easy to get along with. If I keep a straight face and be cautious all day long, what's the point of it?"
As soon as the emperor finished speaking, Ma Xianglin smiled at his mother and wife and nodded.
Qin Liangyu and others relaxed a little, but they were still very serious and did not dare to move more. It was just that their expressions were not as stiff as when they first saw the emperor.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. But Your Majesty is the king. How can ministers mess with the etiquette of a king and his ministers?"
Qin Liangyu said respectfully.
Zhu Youxiao also felt that what she said made sense. The emperor was the emperor, and ministers were ministers. No matter when, where, or who he was, the emperor should be a supreme and transcendent existence.
Qin Liangyu then asked:
"Why are you here in person? Although She Chongming's rebels are powerful, I am confident that it won't take long before I and Futai can lead their troops to wipe out these traitors."
"I'm not here just to be extravagant and Chongming. A small person like this doesn't have such a big reputation that is worthy of me traveling all the way from the capital to Sichuan and Guizhou."
"Then what is the purpose of your Majesty's trip?"
"She Chongming is just a pathfinder. He is definitely not the only one who has ulterior motives and wants to start a rebellion. He is just the beginning."
"You know a lot more about these chieftains in the southwest than I do. Even if you don't know everything about the relationship between each family and how much strength they hide, I believe you can guess at least 70% of the time."
Qin Liangyu secretly thought that the emperor was really powerful. He was not fooled by the superficial appearance of the matter, but knew how to think deeply about the network of forces behind it.
"Your Majesty is wise. Among the chieftains, there are not a few who are obedient and secretly treasonous. It's just that they haven't been exposed clearly yet!"
"As for how much strength they have hidden and how weak they pretend to be, I really don't know. The heritage of various races cannot be compared. Some have only been passed down for hundreds of years, while others have a foundation of more than a thousand years.
.”
In fact, Qin Liangyu knew a little bit about the chieftains in Sichuan and Guizhou, but she didn't even have any actual basis, so naturally she didn't dare to speak nonsense in front of the emperor.
Just like the Ma family, which has been inherited from the Han Dynasty to this day, it is a prominent family in central Sichuan and one of the oldest and oldest families. Although it is not as rich as the country, its heritage is not comparable to anyone.
On the surface, there is a standing military force, with a size of about 5,000 people. But in fact, as long as a family of their level has enough money, food, weapons and armor, they can mobilize tens of thousands of people with just a cheer.
Casually.
Zhu Youxiao also had some knowledge of these situations. In the Battle of Hunhe in history, four thousand white-pole elite troops were wiped out. Qin Liangyu issued a military order and transferred another three thousand elite troops from Shizhu. The strength of them was mediocre.
This is also the reason why the emperors of all dynasties have been unable to do anything against the chieftains. Their local influence is deeply entangled, their foundation is extremely stable, and they have their own ethnic group, which means they have a basic base.
Moreover, they also have their own private soldiers covertly and covertly. These private soldiers are raised by themselves and their combat effectiveness is still very impressive. At least they can still gain the upper hand against the currently weak Southern Guards Army.
In the late Ming Dynasty, when the whole world was in rebellion, the chieftains were much stronger than in other periods because they had greater power.
They are holding the imperial court by the neck. The imperial court's control authority in the southwest is transferred to them. If they disobey, then the southwest will no longer be the territory of the Ming Dynasty in an instant.
The Ming Dynasty's strategy of using barbarians to suppress barbarians completely lost the control of the imperial court. Just like the strategy of treating Liaodong and the grasslands, it was completely out of control and eventually turned into using barbarians to support barbarians.
The most fatal thing is that the imperial court has no ability to change, nor the strength to suppress them. It can only watch them slowly gain momentum, expand their ambitions, and then rebel.
Even at the beginning of the founding of the country, Emperor Taizu, who controlled hundreds of thousands of elite warriors, ended in complete failure when he returned to his native land. Zhu Di did not even dare to take charge of it. One can imagine the hidden power of these chieftains.
How big is it.
But Zhu Youxiao, who knew the fate and future of the Ming Dynasty well, had to bite the bullet even if he knew he was playing with fire.
These chieftains, like the officials, were all greedy and cannibals. Under their double-layered exploitation, the people in the southwest were starved of food, which was even worse than in Liaodong forty-six years before Wanli.
The people in the southwest can really be said to be walking on the edge of an uprising. After double-layer exploitation, they have not had enough to eat all year round, but they can still starve to death. They are in dire straits and suffer in pain every day.
They did not have much favorable impressions of the imperial court, otherwise Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others would not have desperately wanted to enter Sichuan.
In addition to its strategic position, there is another important reason. Places such as Sichuan and Guizhou are very chaotic. The people's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty is extremely low and they are always in war. It is the base area they dream of.
After the She'an Rebellion broke out, under the guidance and encouragement of these chieftains, many miserable people quickly joined the rebel camp.
In just one year, the rebels were involved in the five southwestern provinces, which dealt a blow to the Ming Dynasty's finances, which were already unable to make ends meet, and made the situation even more difficult to maintain.
Now that he is here this time, he must strive to completely eliminate this scourge. People in later generations only know how hateful the Jiangnan gentry group is and how worthy of death it is, but they do not know that these chieftains, who are similar to the aristocratic families, are also a big borer.
"The reason why I have called you all together for this meeting in such a hurry is to tell you what I really think in my heart!"
"I have long been dissatisfied with this unreasonable and deformed chieftain system. This time I came here precisely to use the opportunity and name of the extravagant rebellion to completely reform this shortcoming once and for all!"
Although Qin Liangyu, Ma Xianglin and others were also chieftains who had been hereditary for thousands of years, Zhu Youxiao still spoke out. He believed that they would support him.
Qin Liangyu has never been ambiguous when it comes to national affairs. During the Battle of Xiangyang, he knew that Ma Xianglin would die on the battlefield, but still encouraged his son to fight to the death with Li Zicheng. Her broad-mindedness was evident.
In Qin Liangyu's heart, he cherishes the great righteousness of serving the people, the country and the king, and as long as he settles her, it is equivalent to settling the chieftain Shizhu and most of the Tujia people.
Qin Liangyu's status in their hearts is really too high, and her words are like the emperor's decree in their hearts.
She can have a steady supply of soldiers, money and food precisely because her subordinates support, love and truly respect her.