novelAbuy Chapter 132 Shuofang and the Ili Province
Chapter 132 Shuofang and the Ili Province
Chapter 132 Shuofang and Yili Province. Emperor Qianlong had only been in power for less than half a year. When he heard that he was to be dragged up, a foul odor wafted out, and all the civil officials covered their mouths and noses.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the people cannot kill me!"
"I was forced onto the throne. My father was Dodo, and my fourteenth uncle was Dorgon. I am also a victim of the Aisin Gioro family. I am willing to be a Han Chinese!"
Liu Mu was already exhausted and was teasing Zhu Xin from a distance when he heard someone call for His Majesty. He got up and went forward, and immediately smelled the stench. He hurriedly gave an order!
"Just cut it down!"
"The Ming Taizu only needed one Manchu chieftain to accompany him!"
After Liu Mu finished speaking, he covered his mouth and nose and quickly left.
Zhou Peigong drew the Imperial Guard's sword directly, and with a look of fear in Chani's eyes, brought the sword down heavily, and blood immediately splattered onto the bronze statue of Kangxi.
Whether they were military officers or civil officials, everyone around trembled at the sight, secretly thinking that it was fortunate they hadn't provoked him before, otherwise the Minister of War would have killed them too.
For the next month, Liu Mu used Zhu Xin's status as a princess of the Ming Dynasty and the bronze statue of Emperor Kangxi worshipping Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to create hype around Southern Zhili.
Rebel armies from various regions surrendered to the Han dynasty, or laid down their arms and returned to their fields, accepting the administration of Han officials.
After more than two years of training, there may not be any officials who can govern the world, but there is no shortage of officials who can manage a county.
Under their rule, Southern Zhili gradually returned to peace, while Zhou Peigong devoted himself to the military garrisons, distributing land to the soldiers who had followed Xu Chuang south and incorporating them into the garrisons.
As long as they had land in their hometowns, these soldiers who went south would not rebel, since it was not worth the cost.
On the first day of the sixth month of 1676 AD (the year 1876 in the Han Dynasty), Liu Mu received military reports from Liu Weiqing and Subutai and hurriedly convened a meeting at the Nanjing Imperial Palace.
Nanjing is indeed a wealthy place. During this period, apart from arranging the garrisons, Zhou Peigong spent most of his time entertaining gentry. Not only did he gain weight, but he also couldn't even wipe the pink stains off his neck.
Seeing Liu Mu staring at him, Zhou Peigong realized something was wrong. He quickly wiped his neck with his collar, then looked embarrassed and hesitated for a long time before speaking.
"Your Majesty, the Lin family, porcelain merchants in Nanjing, seeing that I am old and have not taken a concubine, specially asked a matchmaker to betroth their daughter to me. I could not refuse!"
"However, regarding the Altai Mountains region, I did not act out of favoritism or abuse of power; it remains a top-tier county with a value of 500,000 taels of silver, and the title is Marquis of Jiangning County in the Western Regions!"
Liu Mu didn't say anything upon hearing this. He already knew about this matter. The Imperial City Guard's spies had already infiltrated the inner circles of various ministers, but only he, the emperor, and the commander Pan Feng knew about it.
This was conducted according to the Jinyiwei model, which was the dark side of the Imperial City Guard. Its main function was to monitor officials and military officers, but it lacked the right to use private torture.
Zhou Peigong was already forty-three years old. It was normal for a man to take a concubine. This daughter of the Lin family was someone that even Chani wanted. In the end, she was given to the Dutch officer Philip.
That officer has now been sent to work in the mines, and marrying Zhou Peigong would be a good match for her.
The more prosperous the families of his ministers are, the more he will worry about them, and the more at ease Emperor Liu Mu will feel.
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"It's alright, it's alright. After all, a beautiful lady is sought after by a gentleman. Look at General Subutai's military report. Now, the area east of the Ural Mountains in Tsarist Russia is under the rule of our Great Han. The Middle Horde of Kazakhstan has also submitted. The vast plains get colder the further north you go. What do you think we should do to divide it?"
Zhou Peigong was very knowledgeable in military affairs. Only someone like him could divide up the territory to ensure the Han Dynasty's rule over the regions. If the territory were divided arbitrarily, it would easily create independent forces.
Just like the division of provinces in China, it was a process of extensive investigation, reaching a point where each province was intertwined with the others, and no single province could stand on its own for a short period of time.
"Your Majesty," I said, "in my opinion, this land is relatively barren, and the situation is even worse than north of Liaodong. It would be better to establish Shuofang Province, with the Ural Mountains and the Kazakh Hills as the boundary!"
"These gentry counties are mainly characterized by river distribution, allowing them to make a living through a combination of animal husbandry and agriculture. In the future, when these areas have developed sufficiently, we can use the pretext of immigration to attract investment to the local cities, leaving only the shops of these gentry!"
Liu Mu nodded upon hearing this. As long as these gentry did not form groups but were scattered in various places, and instead distributed along both banks of the river, they could be quickly monitored. If anything was amiss, the army could arrive immediately.
Thinking of this, Liu Mu opened the map again, which was still a map of the Ming Dynasty's tributary system, and pointed to the location of Kazakhstan's future capital.
"Alright, let's settle on that. From now on, it will be called Shuofang Province. At the same time, we will build Shuofang City on the left bank of the Ishim River, and build it to accommodate 200,000 people."
At this point, Liu Mu moved his finger backward.
"As for the area east of Shuofang, which was formerly known as Junggar, it has been called the Western Regions for more than two thousand years. However, Junggar was stronger than Ili, so it was later called Ili Province. At the same time, Ili City was built in the Ili River Valley, also built to accommodate 200,000 people."
Zhou Peigong listened and took notes the whole time, and when he heard that the Western Regions were called Ili Province, he showed a look of doubt!
"Your Majesty, why not call it the Western Regions or Xinjiang?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Mu pinched his increasingly thick beard.
"From then on, the area west of Shuofang Province under Tsarist Russia was called the Western Regions, or, as you said, Xinjiang?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Peigong immediately nodded. That makes sense. The term "Western Regions" is very broad in Chinese, as is the term "Xinjiang."
Did the Han Dynasty's expansion of territory stop here?
"Your Majesty, no matter what the province is called, it still needs someone to govern it. These two places are both impoverished areas, and I'm afraid those civil officials are unwilling to go there."
After recording the events in Yili City, Zhou Peigong expressed his doubts, which were also major events in the history of the Central Plains dynasties.
Upon hearing this, Liu Mu did not speak immediately. Instead, he began searching through the intelligence folders, finally pulling out one and revealing a smile.
"Lord Pei, this is Qi Yanzhao, whom I selected from among the tribute students last year. Although he is a scholar, he is well-versed in military strategy and the art of commanding troops!"
"In just over a year since arriving in Nerchinsk, they have already conquered all the indigenous people around the North Sea, as well as the scattered Mongols, through iron pots, tea, and salt!"
"Now, they have even managed to bring prosperity to Jilin Province on behalf of our great Han Dynasty, and have even sent 10,000 able-bodied slaves. It can be said that Jilin Province is now as solid as a rock!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Peigong immediately took the folded book. After reading it, his expression changed drastically, and he gasped in shock.
"Your Majesty, isn't this too cruel?"
"In Jilin today, the population is probably less than 100,000, yet there are 5,000 regular soldiers and 10,000 servants in the army, while the remaining 80,000 are slaves?"
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