"Uncle, what should we do now? The Ming army outside the city won't be here to attack us, will they?" Duan Ming paced back and forth in the main hall, although he had only been in power for less than seven months, but the wonderful taste of this power was something he did not want to give up. Faced with the Ming army under the city, he could only seek help from his uncle.

  Duan Shi, the younger brother of Duan Bao, who is the father of Duan Ming, has long been in control of the military power of Dali and is the uncle of the current Governor of Dali, Duan Ming. In some respects, what Duan Shi says may be even more useful than Duan Ming's orders.

  As for the previous reinforcement of King Liang, Duan Shi also participated. With the intention of restoring his ancestors' country, Duan Shi naturally hoped that King Liang would win a great victory and drive away the Ming army. However, the current situation is that King Liang was defeated and killed, and more than half of Yunnan has been occupied by the Ming dynasty. Even the 50,000 troops they sent to reinforce King Liang had only over 30,000 return, and with the main force of the Ming army stationed below the pass, the situation in Dali has reached a critical point.

  But as for his nephew's question, Duan Yu could only shake his head helplessly. Now there was no solution at all, and they could only do their best to guard the various checkpoints, praying that the Ming army would not attack without warning, and every day they could drag on was a bonus.

  "Adults, as for the young one, there is a plan, I don't know if it should be said or not." Said Duan Ping, the manager of the Duan estate, with a slight bow.

  At this time, the two people who were already worried and anxious immediately let him finish speaking, no matter what strategy he came up with.

  "Our Dali has been governed by my family, the Duan clan, since our ancestors' time. The other surnames, such as the Mong, have all dispersed to various places. Now that the Ming dynasty is making a big move to pressure our borders, it's unlikely that these clans will come to support us. Why don't we learn from the Song dynasty and offer tribute to the Ming?"

  "Oh? What's this about offering sacrifices?" Duan Ming asked with interest.

  "Just like the Song Dynasty's annual tribute to the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, we will annually offer tribute to the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, we can take advantage of this opportunity to establish a new Dali Kingdom with the nearby area as its foundation. When that happens, it will be an official diplomatic relationship between our two countries. We acknowledge the Ming Dynasty as the superior country, and at that point, we will have restored our national title, autonomous territory, and also gained a powerful ally. Isn't this a win-win situation?" Duan Ping explained his thoughts in detail.

  Duan Ming nodded repeatedly, but Duan Shi was very disdainful. He had always looked down on such petty people who only knew how to talk big. Without mentioning whether the person would accept the tribute or not, from the perspective of rebuilding the country, he clearly wouldn't agree. No one would be willing to let a fat piece of meat that's about to fall into their lap slip away voluntarily. The Ming army would eventually attack Dali City anyway.

  Duan Ming, however, became more and more infatuated as he thought about it, feeling that the Ming people would definitely agree to this request. At the time, he didn't even bother with his uncle's opposition and directly summoned Duan Ping to start drafting a letter. He planned to send this letter to Fu Youde, the Ming general who conquered the south, and have him forward it to the Ming emperor. Later, he would prepare a grand gift and thought that this matter could be settled.

  Duan Shijian left in a huff, fed up with Duan Ming's unrealistic fantasies. Unlike Duan Ping, who was glib and eloquent, Duan Ming should focus on defending the borders of Dali instead.

  "Alright, this letter is now written. Who should I send to the Ming army's camp? Or would you, Duan Ping, like to deliver it personally?"

  Duan Ping, who had just been smiling, suddenly knelt down on the ground in a fluster. "I'm terrified, I don't have the ability to undertake such an important task as delivering this message. Please choose another messenger, sir."

  "Look at you, so scared. It's just sending a letter to the Ming army's camp, isn't it? If our Dali kingdom is restored successfully, this will be considered as diplomatic correspondence between two countries, and many people would envy such an errand. But you're actually hiding voluntarily." Duanyan looked silently at Duanping who was kneeling on the ground, not daring to get up, then turned to another person and said: "Zhang Yuanheng, I'll entrust this letter to you to deliver. Later, I'll send someone to escort you out of the city, and when that time comes, you'll head straight to the Ming army's camp. Remember, you must personally hand this letter over to General Fu Youde, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army's southern expedition."

  "Yes, sir!" Zhang Yuanheng finished reading the letter, bowed and retreated, preparing to immediately deliver the message to the Ming army.

  At this time, Fu Youde was handling a case of killing in Kunming City. On his desk, two piles of books were placed high and low. The shorter pile consisted of Mongolians, Hui people and others who were to be executed, while the taller pile consisted of Han, Bai and other ethnic groups from Yunnan, as well as some short-statured Mongolians.

  "Come on! Re-compile this name list and go door-to-door to register my household. As for these life-and-death lists, make multiple copies and send them to the generals of each camp, let them kill people according to the list, don't let one go, as for this wheel, put it at the edge of the execution ground to let those criminals know where their death standard line is."

  "Yes, sir!" The guard bowed and withdrew, taking the wheel with him as he left.

  "Go! Search inside! This is a Mongolian residence, and I want you to arrest everyone, regardless of age or sex!"

  "And that house, let's go in and catch people!"

  "Halt! Catch him quickly, he's going to run!"

  After Fu Youde's name list was issued, countless such incidents occurred within the occupied area of the Ming army. The ferocious and evil Ming army rushed into each and every household marked on the name list, arresting all those with Mongolian blood in their homes and taking them to the execution ground in Kunming.

  The Huihe people were no exception, and even more severe. Fu Youde personally ordered the capture of the leader of a Huihe tribe, and anyone who dared to fight against them would be put to death.

  "Baby! My baby! Let him go! He's not a Yuan person!" In a courtyard outside the city of Kunming, several Ming soldiers were dragging away a boy about ten years old to the execution ground. The boy's mother was desperately clutching at a Ming soldier's clothes, refusing to let them take her child away.

  "The general has ordered that all those with Yuan blood be taken to the execution ground for punishment! Your husband's surname is Ma, a Yuan person, and this child naturally also has Yuan blood. If you dare to obstruct official business again, don't blame us for being ruthless and taking you away as well!"

  "Sir! Take me away, don't take my son! I'll exchange my life for his! One person for another is fair!" The mother begged bitterly, and no matter how the soldier tried to shake her off, he couldn't.

  "What's the delay? This is the last one, hurry up and take him away. Can't you just knock her out and be done with it?" A small flag passed by the door and said impatiently, he still had to rush back to report.

  "It's small, let's go." The soldier said and exerted himself, only to hear a "tear" sound as the child's mother tore open his pants leg. Enraged, the soldier drew his knife to chop at people, but the superior order was not to kill indiscriminately, so he could only use the hilt of the knife to knock the woman unconscious, and then they were able to take the child away smoothly.

  The neighbors around did not rush up to stop them, and they could only go to comfort the child's mother afterwards. After all, this was an official order...

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