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Zheng-tong: Year 9, Month 5, Day 21

7 Jun 1444

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The Commissioner-in-chief of the Right Mu Ang, regional commander of Yun-nan, and others memorialized: "The Ava-Burma gang (緬甸黨) are concealing the bandit leader Si Ji-fa and are guileful in 10,000 ways. We desire to raise an army again and proceed on expedition to eliminate them. However, it is a secluded area in a corner of the ocean and they are defiant, relying on their perceived security. It will not be easy to attack and defeat them and, in addition, both the military and civilian populations have been subject to levies for successive years, financial strength is limited and, because of repeated years of droughts and floods, the grain stores are depleted. Thus we cannot proceed lightly. The Lu-chuan chieftain Gong Xiang and others who have come to allegiance acted as guides for our army and took us deep into the bandit's lair, where we captured his wife and spawn. We have already divided the territory among them, so that they can guard it. They should be ordered to seize Si Ji-fa. Also, we should send native officials to Mu-bang to instruct the pacification superintendent Han Gai-fa to send some people to accompany them to Ava-Burma, where they will instruct Ava-Burma in what brings calamity and what brings prosperity, and requiring them to hand over the bandit leader. Further, we should order him to restrain the yi people. If he refuses to obey the Court's orders we should wait until grain supplies are sufficient, the military and civilians have had some rest and then again discuss the policies to be adopted." The Emperor approved this.

Ying-zong: juan 116.7b-8a

Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 27, page 2346/47

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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/zheng-tong/year-9-month-5-day-21, accessed January 22, 2019