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Wan-li: Year 17, Month 3, Day 16

30 Apr 1589

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The troops of the two garrisons at Teng-chong and Yao-an engaged in wrangling with each other. Previously, Teng-chong and Yong-chang had always been known as peaceful places. Only when Yue [Feng] and Han [Qian] engaged in rebellion, was it proposed that troops be raised. Those troops raised were all fugitives from Si-chuan, Hu-guang and Guang-dong/Guang-xi. Thus, the two garrisons of Teng-chong and Yao-an were established. Liu Ting (Alt: Liu Tian-feng) was appointed as commander of Teng-chong while Deng Zi-long was appointed as commander of Yao-an. The two generals did not get on with one another and the troops of the two garrisons thus wrangled with each other. When Liu Tian-feng was arrested, Deng Zi-long was appointed as regional vice commander and also exercised control over [Liu's] command. Thus, the Teng-chong troops became subject to his orders. After this, Zi-long controlled his hostility somewhat and there was peace among the troops and commanders. Half a year later, the divisions again began to appear and whenever there were tasks to be done, he unreasonably assigned them to the Teng-chong troops. When the army was employed in Long-chuan, the troops of both garrisons were there. Zi-long intentionally treated them differently and when slaughtering cattle to feast and reward the troops, the Yao-an troops received double that received by the Teng-chong troops. The Yao-an troops also presumed upon their senior commanders in order to insult the Teng-chong troops. The Teng-chong troops found this unbearable. As the three pacification commissions had had good harvests, grain was cheap. One shi of rice sold for only eight qian. The troops should have been rewarded in silver, but Zi-long required that they be given rice instead. The troops grew daily more angry. After a time there was a false story that Zi-long had been dismissed. The Teng-chong troops started clamouring and making a disturbance. They wanted to disband the force and return home. The Circuit Intendent Jiang Xin instructed Mu Yuan-rui to take control of the Teng-chong troops. They were thereby soothed and quietened. Zi-long then returned to the Yao-an garrison and as the Yao-an troops had long been well-treated by him, they clamoured in their demands for their pay. Zi-long wanted to wait until the Teng-chong garrison was disbanded before giving the pay to the Yao-an troops. The troops suddenly rose and with great shouts proceeded to the training ground, unfurled great banners, killed the residents, stole their horses and made known that they wanted their rewards. The troops then went to Yong-chang where the gates were locked against them. At this time the Qian-guo Duke Mu Chang-zuo advised of the events. The memorial was sent to the Ministry of War. * Further references to this incident and subsequent events can be found at Shen-zong juan 212.6a-b, 212.7b and 218.6a-7a.

Shen-zong: juan 209.7b-8a

Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 105, page 3922/23

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Preferred form of citation for this entry:

Geoff Wade, translator, Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/reign/wan-li/year-17-month-3-day-16, accessed January 22, 2019