Since three years ago, there had been a continuous flow of merchant ships from Burma Town in the south to do business with some cities in the Jiangnan area. This matter was not a secret in the Jiangnan business circle, and many officials knew about it.
However, they thought that this kind of business had nothing to do with Burma Town itself. It was only the personal needs of Marquis Zhennan, Xiao Ruxun, who was in Burma Town. Burma was the dumping ground of the Central Plains. There was no market and there was not much demand.
The one who really needed something was Xiao Ruxun himself, but it was meaningless for Xiao Ruxun, a local tyrant, to make trouble there.
Therefore, if there was a ship, they would do business. If there was no ship, they would not go to Burma, but to Luzon.
When Luzon was still under Spanish rule, a large number of Daming coastal merchants went to Luzon to do business, mainly to buy spices. After returning home, they would resell the spices and make several times the profit.
Later on, when the war broke out in Luzon, the merchant ships no longer went to Luzon. Instead, they waited patiently for the right opportunity. Only when the news of Luzon being beaten up by Xiao Ruxun and becoming a vassal state of the Great Ming Dynasty once again spread did this kind of trade resume.
After Luzon became a vassal state of Daming again, it was about half a year. During the period when Xiao Ruxun went north to resist the invasion of the Northern Barbarians, a large number of merchant ships returned to Luzon to do business.
Now Luzon was very friendly to Daming. Daming merchants were basically unimpeded in the port cities of Luzon. The price of spices was slightly cheaper than before.
Daming merchants basically did not set foot outside Luzon. They had no interest in crossing the Strait of Malacca to reach Burma. They had no interest in Burma. Basically, what they needed was spices from Southeast Asia, which were the most valuable.
They did not know that Luzon was actually controlled by Xiao Ruxun. All the spices they bought were basically Xiao Ruxun's income. Hundreds of thousands of silver went into Xiao Ruxun's pocket, not the pockets of Luzon people.
It could be said that the Ming government officials in Jiangnan basically ignored Myanmar. Everyone minded their own business. Even Yunnan had no interest in Myanmar. Chen Yongbin had not been to Myanmar even once in the past few years, even though Myanmar was nominally part of Yunnan's defense area.
Therefore, on the fourth day of the sixth month, Burma Town was suddenly declared a rebellious town. When the local government suddenly realized that they had to do something about Burma, they realized that there was nothing they could do. The merchant ships of Burma had long since left, and not a single one could be found.
Many local merchants came to the government office to talk about this matter. They said that it was very strange. They had already paid the deposit, but they did not want the goods. What was going on?
Now that they knew, they realized that this matter was not as simple as it seemed.
Could it be that he had heard some news and escaped?
They had just received the urgent documents from the imperial court, which could be said to be very fast. How could the Burmese merchant ships know about it earlier than them?
However, these were not worthy of Ye Mengxiong's attention. It was not important at all. It was just a few merchant ships that had escaped. What was worthy of attention was the disappearance of one of Nanjing's generals.
For no reason, Xiao Ruzhi did not go to the government office to take the roll call.
When Ye Mengxiong received the news, he sent people to Xiao Ruzhi's house to investigate. At that time, Ye Mengxiong did not know about the coup. He simply sent people to investigate and see where Xiao Ruzhi had gone.
Then he found the testimony of an eyewitness who saw Xiao Ruzhi leave Nanjing a day ago. It said that Xiao Ruzhi left with a large carriage and went out of the city. It seemed to be going to the north of the city. He thought that she was just going out for a walk, but the next day, she did not come to the roll call.
This was not normal.
While Ye Mengxiong was still puzzled, the news of the coup came.
Xiao Ruxun tempted the emperor to launch a coup. Shen Yicheng saw through Xiao Ruxun's tricks, so he took the initiative and thwarted Xiao Ruxun's plot. The coup failed, and the emperor was ashamed. He issued an edict to abdicate, and the eldest son, Zhu Changluo, ascended the throne.
Xiao Ruxun was a rebel and had been executed. And Burma Town was a rebel town. The imperial court ordered the Yunnan Inspector Chen Yongbin to attack Burma Town, suppress it, abolish it, and capture Xiao Ruxun's family for punishment.
After learning this news, although Ye Mengxiong realized that Xiao Ruzhi's disappearance was not a small matter, what made him even more confused and angry was that the abdication of the emperor and the ascension of the new emperor were such big events. They only knew one result, and they could not get any useful information from Shen Yicheng's explanation.
Xiao Ruxun rebelled and was executed?
Dead?
What kind of joke was this?
Didn't they just win the war? Why did they suddenly rebel?
There were many officials who had the same thoughts and doubts as Ye Mengxiong, but there were not many who were as angry as Ye Mengxiong.
Ye Mengxiong admired Xiao Ruxun very much. His relationship with Xiao Ruxun could be traced back to the battle in Ningxia in the 20th year of the Wanli era. They had been friends for six years. In the officialdom, no one understood Xiao Ruxun better than Ye Mengxiong.
When they parted in the small pavilion on the outskirts of the capital, Ye Mengxiong had hoped that he would never forget his oath to support the country. Later, when he watched him become the most powerful general in the Daming, Ye Mengxiong was really happy. He felt that as long as the Daming had Xiao Ruxun, he could guarantee the safety of the country.
Since they parted, the two had never stopped communicating with each other through letters. During festivals, Xiao Ruxun would also send gifts to him. Even when he was fighting in the north, the envoy from Myanmar would not forget to send him a New Year's gift.
Three months ago, the two had been communicating with each other. How did Xiao Ruxun become a traitor this time? And he died?
Ye Mengxiong could not adapt to all of this. Faced with the fact that the new emperor had ascended to the throne, faced with the "death" of Xiao Ruxun, he was angry and sad. He did not eat or drink, and he did not go to the government office.
This made a lot of people very anxious.
As one of the few people who actually held power in Nanjing, Ye Mengxiong's status was very high. As soon as this matter came out, the officials of the six ministries in Nanjing rushed to find Ye Mengxiong. Not only that, even the Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji, who stayed in Nanjing, came.
A group of people asked all at once, but there was no result. No one knew the ins and outs of this matter, and what impact the change of the new emperor would have on everyone's future. Therefore, a group of people finally decided to submit a petition to the imperial court.
Of course, they had to submit the petition with the reason of congratulating the new emperor on his ascension to the throne.
Since the new emperor had ascended to the throne, it meant that at least the capital had been stabilized. They were far away in Nanjing, so they could not affect the capital in any way. They could only ask the imperial court about the whole story on the basis of recognizing the new emperor.
When the officials made such a decision, Ye Mengxiong had his own ideas.
On the one hand, he secretly sent people south to Myanmar to inquire about the news, and on the other hand, he silently suppressed the news of Xiao Ruzhi's whereabouts without telling others. He ordered Xiao Ruzhi's deputy to take over Xiao Ruzhi's task and not to make it public.
This news was too sudden and too strange. He did not believe what Shen Yicheng said. He wanted to find out the truth himself.
When Nanjing was in an uproar, Xiao Ruxun's fleet had already sailed on the sea. When the news reached Fujian, Xiao Ruxun's fleet had already arrived in the coastal area of Guangdong. When the news reached the northern part of Guangdong, Xiao Ruxun had already arrived in Siam.
He landed in Siam, crossed the Indo-China Peninsula, and changed to another ship on the west side. This saved him the time of crossing Malacca and went directly to the port of Yangon in Myanmar.
Wu Guang, the mayor of Yangon who replaced Yuan Yan, saw Xiao Ruxun in the official office and was stunned.
Then, according to Xiao Ruxun's order, he was ready to send Xiao Ruxun and others to Nanan, the capital of Myanmar, and began to check the number of all kinds of stocks in Yangon and the number of people that could be conscripted. According to the maximum proportion that could be mobilized, he was asked to complete this task within two days and report it to the capital.
"Marquis Xiao, this … why?"
In the face of Xiao Ruxun's order, which was almost like a mobilization order, Wu Guang did not understand it.
"There is going to be a war."
Xiao Ruxun just gave a simple explanation.
It was June 13th.
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