Entry
Zheng-tong: Year 8, Month 8, Day 15
8 Sep 1443
The Jing-yuan Earl Wang Ji, Minister of War and supreme commander of Yun-nan military affairs, and others, memorialized: "The Ava-Burma Pacification Superintendent Bu-la-lang Ma-ha Sheng-yi-su-la has sent persons with a letter, saying that he has captured the Lu-chuan bandit leader Si Ren-fa and that he will wait until this winter, when it has been arranged to join with the Mu-bang troops and cavalry, and then will escort him to the Gong-zhang area where he will be handed over to the Imperial army. We have fixed a date with them and I will first send the guard commander Li Yi at the head of crack troops forward as the vanguard. They will proceed along the Mt. Nan-ya road and directly attack Gong-zhang, from where they will investigate and report on the situation. On the agreed date, I and the regional commander, the Ding-xi Marquis Jiang Gui will lead the Great Army in continuing forward. I will leave the Commissioner-in-chief Mu Ang and the Vice Minister Hou Jin to supervise the troops engaged in the transport of grain, who will also serve as reinforcements. Further, I will send interpreters and others to proceed to the bandit lair, to make known both Imperial grace and might, to soother them with trust and righteousness and to advise that if they surrender there will be no further attacks. If they will not surrender, we will wait until the bandit leader is obtained and then will join with the Mu-bang soldiers and cavalry and engage in a double pincer attack, coming at them from four sides. We can certainly look forward to the elimination of the bandits and the pacification of the borders." The Emperor sent Imperial orders to Ji and the others, noting: "You must work together and coordinate your efforts in order to achieve success in this matter."
Ying-zong: juan 107.4b-5a
Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 27, page 2172/73
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/zheng-tong/year-8-month-8-day-15, accessed January 22, 2019