"The Ming Dynasty's rejuvenation is expected, and Liao's salary will be suspended! This is something that Zhu really couldn't have imagined."

After receiving the imperial edict of the imperial court to stop the Liao salary, Zhu Xieyuan, the left governor of Sichuan, couldn't help but sigh to the sky.

Xu Ruke, deputy envoy of the Censor, also echoed: "What the vassal state said is really unexpected. Looking at ancient history, once taxes are increased, it will be difficult to exempt them again, because the dynasty is unable to give up their benefits! Now, Your Majesty issued an edict to stop levying Liao quotas, which not only shows Your Majesty's love for the people, but also shows that the court's government's money and food policy has improved, and the trend of deficit in the Ming Dynasty has been reversed, which is indeed a sign of a revival!"

"In this way, our local officials have become easier. In recent years, due to the increase in Liao pay, the Han and barbarians in Sichuan have increased their complaints about the government and the court. In addition, many illegal officials have imposed heavy taxes. At present, chieftains in various places, especially the Yongning chieftains, have begun to increasingly disobey the court's control. At present, the Liao pay levy can relieve the public's grievances and slightly suppress the chieftain's restlessness!"

Zhu Xieyuan continued to talk.

Xu Ruke nodded: "However, the scholars have many complaints about His Majesty today, saying that he is mean and ruthless, cruel and cruel. He didn't expect His Majesty to issue such an edict to benefit the people!"

Zhu Xieyuan smiled and said, "The people in the Shilin City have always valued the clean discussion but neglected practice. Moreover, the public opinion of the Shilin City has always been controlled by the scholars in Jiangnan. These scholars in Jiangnan grew up in a gentle village of powder piles. How could they understand the suffering of the people? Only you and me who have worked outside Jiangnan for a long time know why Mr. Yangming was able to make contributions and speak after enlightenment in Longchang. There is no other reason, but they only know everything about firewood, rice, oil and salt."

Xu Ruke laughed: "This is a correct explanation."

"The Chief Secretary wants to meet the Second Duke!"

At this time, Sichuan Governor Xu Keke came to Zhu Xieyuan and Xu Ruke and reported.

The two of them hurried to Xu Keqiu's place.

As soon as Xu Keqiu saw the two of them coming, he said, "The two are here just in time. I have something to discuss with them. Now, the chieftain of Yongning, She Chongming, wrote another letter saying that he wanted to recommend him to the court for him, and that he would lead the chieftain's soldiers to Liaodong to fight for the court like Qin Liangyu's white-rod soldiers. I wonder what the two of them mean. Should we recommend She Chongming to the court and ask him to lead the troops to Liaodong to participate in the war?"

"The officials think it is not possible! This is different from Qin Liangyu. She Chongming has been expanding its troops and recruiting refugees from our Han people everywhere to enter their territory as their new households. It is obviously ambition to expand. Although Qin Liangyu is also a chieftain, he has not expanded his troops. He only expanded his troops after the imperial court issued an edict to expand the Baigang army, and there was no sign of recruiting refugees! She Chongming even intercepted tax grain and asked for the newly reclaimed 30,000 hectares of land! This person is quite ambitious, so the officials believe that he should clearly inform the court and let the court not believe his words!"

Zhu Xieyuan started talking.

Xu Ruke agreed, "The officials also think it is not possible. She Chongming also secretly started mining and promoted smelting. The opinions of the officials below not only did not believe their words, but they should also ask the court to transfer Baigan soldiers and some Sichuan soldiers back in case something happened!"

Xu Keqiu nodded, "What the two said is reasonable, then I will report our views to the court and ask the court to snatch it."

...

"This She Chongming submitted a memorial to send troops to Liaodong, which is really active. Last month, he submitted a memorial to send troops to Liaodong. I have rejected him once. This time he submitted a memorial to ask to lead troops to Liao. What did the local officials in Sichuan say?"

After receiving the memorial from She Chongming, Zhu Youxiao asked Fang Congzhelai.

Fang Congzheze said: "Sichuan Governor Xu Keqiu and others wrote memorials saying that She Chongming had been secretly expanding his troops, forming alliances with surrounding chieftains, and even mining and smelting iron. He was quite restless and took the initiative to ask for assistance to Liao, for fear of other intentions. Therefore, he did not agree with the court's permission to lead his troops to Liao, and asked the court to send more troops to Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places to prevent other changes, such as transferring back to Baigan soldiers and some Sichuan soldiers."

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded and ordered Liu Ruoyu: "Summon Wang Xianggan, Xu Guangqi, Guo Hu, Chen Ce, Niu Bingzhong, You Shigong, Qin Liangyu in the Political Affairs Hall, and the court discussed military affairs."

"yes!"

Liu Ruoyu retreated because of this.

After a while, Grand Secretary Wang Xianggan, Minister of War Xu Guangqi, veteran Qin Liangyu and others all came to the Political Affairs Hall.

"Let's look at this memorial. This is She Chongming's second memorial. It's still a request to me to allow him to lead his troops to Liao."

As soon as these people arrived, Zhu Youxiao handed She Chongming's memorial to Liu Ruoyu and asked Liu Ruoyu to hand it to Wang Xianggan and others.

Wang Xianggan read the memorial first, pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, She Chongming obviously has no good intentions. How could the chieftain take the initiative to ask for troops? From the perspective of me, he was secretly building a plank road and secretly trying to serve the court, but in fact he had hidden evil intentions. He also numb the court by actively asking for troops to numb the court and let the court relax his vigilance. Since ancient times, there were three uneasy places in the Ming Dynasty, one is the nine borders, the second is the southwest, and the third is the southeast coast. Therefore, we cannot relax our guard against the southwest. Local officials in Sichuan should strictly guard against the chieftains such as She Chongming."

"This She Chongming may have initiated a crime by asking for troops to go to Liao. Once the court agrees, he will inevitably use this as an excuse to incite the people in his jurisdiction to provoke conflicts between the court and the local barbarians on the grounds that the court wants to ask them to go to Liaodong to die, and then raise troops to cause chaos. This possibility is not ruled out."

Xu Guangqi also started talking at this time.

Zhu Youxiao nodded his head, then looked at Qin Liangyu and asked, "What does Qin Aiqing think about this?"

In Zhu Youxiao's view, Qin Liangyu was also from a southwestern chieftain. Although the degree of sinicization is higher than that of other chieftains, and even has a stronger sense of belonging to the court than other chieftains, as a general who came from a chieftain, he should know more about the southwestern chieftains than others.

Qin Liangyu immediately replied: "Report to Your Majesty, the chieftains in the southwest have always been a place of restraint. Each chieftain has its own territory and belongs to the people, and can also appoint local officials to assist them. Therefore, their loyalty depends entirely on the personal ethics of the chieftains, which is very different from the land governed by the Central Plains officials. In the opinion of the minister, it is not ruled out that She Chongming has a different intention!"

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but admit that the officials involved in military affairs whom he now valued were still very knowledgeable in military affairs.

In Zhu Youxiao's memory, She Chongming did take the initiative to ask the Ming court for his own request to lead troops to Liao and suddenly rebel. In the end, An Bangyan, the chieftain of Shuixi in Guizhou, also rebelled, conquering Chongqing, Neijiang, Guangzhou and other places. The war affected Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Huguang for nearly ten years, causing great turmoil within the Ming Empire and expending countless money and food.

This made the Ming Empire unable to concentrate all efforts against the Liaodong Donggu.

This is the same as during the Chongzhen period, because of the large number of bandits causing chaos, the court was unable to concentrate all its efforts to deal with the Donglu.

Therefore, Zhu Youchao was disgusted with She Chongming, the restless and about to launch a war.

"I believe that a war will inevitably occur in the southwest. She Chongming is going to rebel, not only She Chongming, but also other chieftains."
Chapter completed!