Yunnan has a complex geographical location, far from the Central Plains, is the border of Our country, and Yunnan has been a place of frequent wars and chaos from ancient times to the present. Coupled with the fact that there are many ethnic minorities living in Yunnan, it has become very difficult to govern Yunnan
。 Because Yunnan is located in remote areas, there are often many local earth overlords, exceeding the rights of the central government.
During the Ming Dynasty, such a situation was also very serious, and the affairs of Yunnan were not directly managed by the central government, but were managed by local large and small toastmasters. It caused great trouble to the emperor, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that this problem was really solved. In the Ming Dynasty, to solve this problem, it was generally up to the central government to send a minister to preside over the work, and this person was Mu Ying.
First, Zhu Yuanzhang's righteous son Mu Ying
Mu Ying's origin is very similar to Zhu Yuanzhang, he was also born in a poor family, his parents died when he was young, and it was also at the time of the Red Turban Army Uprising, the Yuan Dynasty sent troops out to suppress, and the social environment was extremely complicated.
It was also at this time that Mu Ying met Zhu Yuanzhang,
Zhu Yuanzhang was leading the peasant uprising at that time, met this poor child, and felt very close to Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife, so he adopted Mu Ying as a righteous son.
Mu Ying was only eight years old when he met Zhu Yuanzhang, but fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife took good care of him, not only teaching him martial arts but also teaching him to read and hyphenate, and Mu Ying also grew up very well
。 He began to fight in the army when he was a teenager, because of his outstanding military talent, he took up important military positions at the age of eighteen.
Zhu Yuanzhang was called empress, because Mu Ying's military achievements were outstanding, so Zhu Yuanzhang made him a general of zhenguo and in charge of the world's soldiers and horses, which can also be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang appreciated him very much.
Although Mu Ying was very busy in his military position, it was fortunate that Mu Ying was smart and decisive, and there were no flaws, which also made him deeply like Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. Later, when there was constant war in Yunnan, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Mu Ying to pacify Yunnan, and Mu Ying spent a year defending Yunnan and stabilizing the situation in Yunnan with his combat experience.
However, because Yunnan was far away from the Central Plains, it was not enough to stabilize the situation, and people from the imperial court were needed to be stationed there. This task was also handed over to Mu Ying
In order to stabilize the situation in Yunnan, Mu Ying has been staying for more than ten years, and under Mu Ying's governance, Yunnan has slowly stabilized
。
The deaths of Empress Ma and the Crown Prince dealt a heavy blow to Mu Ying, and from this time on, his body contracted a serious illness, and he died at the age of forty-eight.
When Empress Ma died, Mu Ying even coughed up blood and fainted. After dying of illness, he was posthumously honored as the King of Qianning by Zhu Yuanzhang, and was worthy of the Taimiao Temple.
2. Descendants of Mu Ying
After Mu Ying's death, Zhu Yuanzhang was very sad, and in order to commemorate Mu Ying's military exploits, he not only posthumously named him the King of Qianning, but also posthumously honored him with the title of Zhaojing. In addition to Zhu Yuanzhang's heartache over the death of his righteous son, he was also worried that Yunnan would be left unattended because of Mu Ying's death, which also made Zhu Yuanzhang very headache.
Fortunately, Mu Ying's son had grown up at that time and could be independent. And Mu Ying's sons grew up in Yunnan and were very familiar with the situation in Yunnan, so Zhu Yuanzhang did not send people over.
Rather, the Son inherits the father's inheritance. Let Mu Ying's eldest son inherit Mu Ying's position and also inherit Mu Ying's title
Titles, like the throne, are generally passed from father to son, and if there is no particularly serious crime, the title is generally not deprived and can be inherited forever
。 Mu Ying's eldest son inherited the title of Marquis of Xiping and died of illness not long after.
Mu Ying's second son also inherited his brother's title as Marquis of Pingxi. Mu Ying's second son Mu Sheng just caught up with the Vietnamese invasion of the border, and Mu Sheng did not disappoint, making military achievements in the war, so he was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang to the Duke of Qianguo and promoted to the highest rank.
This title has also been inherited by the Mu family and passed to the seventh generation of Mu Ying's descendants.
Mu Ying's descendants were loyal to the emperor until the seventh generation, and as the descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang's righteous son, they did not pamper and be proud, but diligently defended Yunnan
However, the situation has changed slightly in the generation of Mu Chaobi, and generally the Mu family will not punish them if they make a small mistake, because the Mu family has merit after all and the family is from a noble family. And Mu Chaobi's arrogance caused dissatisfaction among many people in the imperial court.
Third, Zhang Juzheng is giving advice
The Mu family has been stationed in Yunnan for generations, so they have a lot of power in Yunnan. If the Mu family is loyal to the emperor, then this is the power of the emperor, but if the Mu family has a little non-division, then it is the enemy of the emperor.
Mu Chaobi often did some transgression during the attack on the lord,
Not only did he often secretly inquire into the intelligence of the palace, but he also harbored important criminals in Beijing. Once on the territory of Yunnan, Mu Chaobi had the final say, which made the emperor very worried.
For such a Mu Chaobi Emperor will definitely find a way to deal with,
However, Mu Chaobi is entangled in Yunnan, and his strength will definitely move his whole body. Coupled with the fact that Mu Chaobi was a descendant of Mu Ying, there was no way to easily move him,
There has never been a good way to deal with it.
Zhang Juzheng gave the emperor an idea, that is, to alienate Mu Chaobi and the people around him who supported him. First of all, the imperial court issued a decree to promote Mu Chaobi's most important person, his son.
This will went down to Yunnan, which made Mu Chaobi very incomprehensible, Mu Chaobi had been paying attention to the news of the imperial court, but he did not expect that what was waiting was the will of promotion. Although Mu Chaobi did not understand it, after all, he was promoted, and Mu Chaobi's son was still full of joy, believing that the emperor loved the Mu family and accepted the holy will very excitedly.
But in this way, Mu Chaobi and his son were on the opposite side, one wanted to attack the imperial court, and the other was fighting for the imperial court.
Now that the Mu Chaobi family has received the favor of the emperor, they do not want to be affected by Mu Chaobi.
And the emperor's ability to be promoted alone also means telling Mu Chaobi's family that Mu Chaobi's behavior has nothing to do with his family, which also alienates Mu Chaobi and his cronies.
4. Summary
Zhang Juzheng used this plan to solve the problem of Yunnan without spending a single soldier, and later the imperial court found a reason to trick Mu Chaobi into arresting him in the capital.
Although the emperor arrested Mu Chaobi, he did not order him to be killed, but imprisoned him for life. This is also thanks to Mu Ying, who can still shelter future generations even after many years of death.
It happens from time to time that the generals who guard the border pass dominate one side because of their excessive merits. The method that Zhang Juzheng thought of was a good way to disintegrate Mu Chaobi's forces.
Not only did it successfully help the emperor solve the problem, but it also spared the people the pain of war and chaos, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.