On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Holy Spirit arrived at Yanqi Mansion, but stopped because of the freezing cold wind and heavy snowfall.
Every household is preparing for the New Year.
Yes, it’s the Chinese New Year.
The Tibetan people have received a little bit of Tang culture, and Mohu knows the concept of the New Year Festival. However, they will not take the initiative to go there. To be truly inspired, they are still under the influence of the local ruling class.
Culture is an all-encompassing thing with too much content.
Clothing, food, housing and transportation are culture, language and writing are culture, artistic beliefs are culture, and customs and traditions are also culture.
Is the cultural difference between Xia people and Persians just different in religion? That is too narrow.
The proportion of this thing is not even 1%.
The food we eat is different, the houses we live in are different, the clothes we wear are different, the languages are different, the artistic aesthetics are different, the festival customs are different, there are too many...
How do you change the things that make people different from you?
Generally speaking, there are two methods.
The first one is the quickest to have the effect, change the force, and punish the person if he doesn't obey until he obeys.
The second is a peaceful approach. Use a higher civilization dimension to naturally induce changes in others, and eventually they will become the same as you.
The Dinghai Divine Needle of Yanqi Mansion is the two thousand soldiers of the Mansion.
As the masters and the ruling class, driven by their intention or unintentional, the tribes also changed actively or passively.
On this day, the snow just stopped.
In Zhang Village, Dayong Township, Yanqi County, a long exorcism team beat the thin-waisted drums and walked out of the village.
The thin-waisted drum is made by local craftsmen.
This is a small detail of assimilation. The local Hu craftsmen in Yanqi may not have made this style of thin-waisted drum before, until there was a "customer order".
After finishing it, he would try to understand the purpose of this thin-waisted drum. Over time, the culture of the Central Plains would be understood by this Hu craftsman.
This is the basis of everything, because only by understanding it first can we have the possibility to make changes later.
The composition of the exorcism team is also very complicated. It is basically a mixture of Tibetan and Han people. Some are playing drums, some are holding vajra warriors, and some are dancing on the side. All in all, it is very lively and joyful.
Through this ritual activity of joint participation, everyone unconsciously deepened their relationship.
During the beating, the team came to the sea (Lake Bosten). As the leader shouted, people lit paper figures representing the disease and threw them into the lake.
Later, several more masks representing the disease were hung on the big trees by the lake, and everyone took bows and arrows and shot them from a distance.
In this activity, Huang Tai, the soldier of the government, was the most popular. Every arrow hit the target and he was very proud of himself.
When we were in the Central Plains, some people could practice for a long time just for these activities.
"Which family are you from? How good are you at archery?" After the activity, Huang Tai walked up to a person and asked.
"Zhang~Hei~Gou." This person couldn't speak Mandarin, but he still knew the name of the owner.
Huang Tai couldn't help laughing, and said with a smile: "You called Zhang Heigou too? That's fine! Zhang Heigou's shooting skills are average, but he is tall and thick, and when he wears heavy armor, he is really capable of making changes. When he goes into battle from now on, he will
If you hold it in front, you can secretly release arrows from behind, and you will definitely be able to kill everyone."
Bu Qu looked at him with blank eyes.
Huang Tai didn't take it seriously, took out a pack of raisins from his pocket, threw it to him, and said: "Don't give up on yourself. With such skill, meritorious deeds are nothing more than trivial matters. But if you have merit, you don't have to be a subordinate."
Come on. Practice hard."
When soldiers go out on an expedition, they do not necessarily go alone.
Food, water, armor, weapons, etc., a lot of luggage. Sometimes one pack horse can't fit in, and two horses are needed to carry it. At this time, a group is often taken on the road.
In the pre-Tang Dynasty, some soldiers did not want to go on an expedition themselves, and even let the tribes do it for them. These tribes had more or less combat effectiveness and were highly militarized civilians.
After the exorcism drama was completed, the team returned to the village.
This village is quite particular. Soldiers from ten households collected some sheep, exchanged them for seven or eight pigs from the merchants, and slaughtered them on the spot.
After the killing, they asked their respective tribes to come over to share the meat, gave them some wine, and told them to eat only after offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God.
The tribesmen didn't know much about this custom, so they could only inquire about each other and learn from each other. After figuring out the details, they happily went home with meat and wine.
The Chinese style and Tang style entered the lives of the Tibetan people bit by bit. The so-called assimilation is nothing more than this.
******
"In the past, the Tathagata used to preach and rely on mountains and forests. Today, monks love cities and towns." In Yanqi Tongguang Temple, two minor officials looked at the newly built temple and were speechless.
They are here for inspection.
The imperial court gave the Anxi Taoist temples tax-free privileges and allocated some land, but it did not mean that it was indifferent.
"Long Qilang, the middle seven acres, the second five acres, the second half acres..." The two sighed and began to reconcile.
"Dragon Thirteen, Middle Ninth, Second Seventh, Two Peach Trees and One..."
"Hela, middle eight, second sixth, two acres of peach, twenty-four steps..."
"Nuhan..."
"Zhong" means middle field, and "ci" means lower field.
"Peach" means "Peach", which means grape field.
The two of them checked for a long time, at least the numbers on the account books matched. Then they took the trouble to ride to the temple field near Tongguang Temple to check them one by one.
After the imperial court captured Yanqi, most of the land was "unowned", so it allocated part of it to the newly built Tongguang Temple.
The abbot of the temple was Fahai, a disciple of Master Lisheng, the great master of Gaochang. He came here to spread his business and built the first Lanruo in Yanqi Prefecture after the war.
Fa Hai has been waiting by the roadside for a long time.
Contrary to what most people imagine, Fahai is tall and strong, has a ferocious face, and is good at using iron rods. When you go into battle, no matter what armor you are wearing, I will give you a stick from my pocket, and you will not be able to use anything.
"You two officials are very polite. I have been waiting here for a long time." Fahai put his hands together and said as kindly as possible.
"There is no need to be polite to people outside the Master's area." The two of them laughed and said, "We are also here to inspect on the order of the Governor, so as to trouble the Master."
"It should be." Fahai said.
Having said that, we should lead the way and introduce one by one which fields belong to which family, whether they are upper fields, middle fields, lower fields, or whether they have trees, grapes or other crops planted.
Of course, Fahai only needed an introduction. He was also followed by several monks, calling out the tenants of the temple field one by one, so that they could be ready for reference at any time.
It can be seen that the tenants are a little cautious when they see the monks. Not only because they have rented other people's fields, but also because the temple itself is a complete closed-loop economic system. To exaggerate, an ordinary farmer will be born, old, sick and die.
Most of the things needed can be solved within this economic system.
"I heard that there were many Sogdians and Persian Hu merchants coming from the east in the past years. Are they still coming now?" Two clerks randomly checked a few farmhouses and asked after finding no problems.
"Last year there was a war and chaos, and no one came here." Fahai asked a few farmers in Uighur and said, "But these Hu merchants are indeed suspicious. If we encounter them in the future, we will strictly investigate them."
Both of them were speechless.
They came from the Central Plains and were not quite used to the role of monks in the Western Regions in society. After listening to Fa Hai's words, they could only nod and laugh dryly. The monks in the Central Plains only dared to lend money at usury. How could the monks in the Western Regions be so virtuous?
After inspecting the village, they returned to Tongguang Temple and looked inside the temple.
The imperial court paid more than half of the construction cost of Tongguang Temple. The two of them looked around and found that there was nothing flashy and luxurious, and they were secretly relieved.
Before leaving, I took a look at the monk's residence.
Hundreds of powerful monks had just returned from training. They hung all kinds of sharp instruments on the racks and lined up for evening classes.
Another shock.
I used to hear that the fifty monks and soldiers around Li Shengtian, the leader of Khotan, were all capable of one being ten, which I thought was quite an exaggeration. But now it seems that it may be true?
After drinking a cup of tea, the two of them said goodbye and left, leaving Tongguang Temple.
Under the gloomy twilight, they looked at the temple nestled in the white snow, with its overhanging eaves and cliffs, and its majestic treasures. Recalling the temple's monks, even the Fanhu people began to learn the Han language and were firmly entrenched in it.
Locally controlled and organized.
The changes in the Western Region are taking place bit by bit. Given time, it will definitely turn upside down.
******
After the Laba Festival, it snowed heavily again.
Shao Shude had no choice but to stop in Yanqi and prepare to celebrate the New Year on the spot.
Fortunately, this place has been developing for a year and has a little foundation. As an important logistics transfer center, it has a large amount of food and grass. Otherwise, we would still have to travel in the snow.
On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, he summoned the officials of Yanqi Mansion, large and small: Xiao Chuqian, the newly appointed Yin of Yanqi, Zhu Yanshou, the Shaoyin, Wang Dong, the Si Lu who participated in the military affairs, Niu Zhiye, the meritorious officer who participated in the military affairs, Zhang Renyuan, the commander of Yanqi, and others.
Xiao Chuqian was the former governor of Cangzhou. When King Wang captured Cangjing Town, he took office and stabilized the local situation for the court. This time he was transferred to Yan Qiyin, and his career was favored by many people.
Needless to say, Zhu Yanshou was demoted to Huainan. After the Longhu Army was gone, he was assigned the post of Yanqi Shaoyin, a "military-transferred cadre". You can think of this as a comfort to him, or you can think of it as a frontier fortress.
It is correct that military generals are needed to help control the situation. In fact, there are two factors.
Wang Dong was the son of Wang Qianyu, the former deputy envoy of the Longxiang Army. He was one of the two generals recommended by Zhuge Shuang. He has passed away.
Wang Dong himself was a Yin official and had served as a county captain and bookkeeper, so he had quite a lot of experience.
Niu Zhiye's background is similar to that of Wang Dong. He is the son-in-law of Xiao Fu, the Imperial Academy, and the son of Niu Li, the general recommended by Zhuge Shuang.
Zhang Renyuan is the son of Zhang Cunjing. He is not a Yin official, but a serious Jinshi. He is only 21 years old this year, and he can be said to be a young man with ambition.
"Is there enough land in Yanqi?" It was snowing heavily outside and it was warm as spring inside. Since Shao Shude decided to stay, he stopped thinking about it and planned to inquire about local military and civilian affairs.
"Your Majesty, since last year, I have organized the people to dig ditches and level the fields for more than a year." Xiao Chuqian said: "There are many fields, but there are few people."
"Where's the food?" Shao Shude asked: "If there are more than 10,000 people, can they support it?"
"With less than 20,000 people, we should be able to barely support it. But, Shule, over there in Beiting, do you need anyone to transfer grain and grass?"
"Just take care of yourselves." Shao Shude said: "In that case, I have nothing to worry about. Next year, the Yanqi Prefecture Army will be formally established. I will draw 3,000 people from the Hengye and Luoyan armies, together with their family members,
Moved to Yanqi. Remember, these are three thousand households, and they will be given land by decree. Each family will be given twenty acres of land, and you will be responsible for the distribution."
"I obey the decree." Xiao Chuqian responded.
People are the root of everything.
With more immigrants from the Central Plains, they can bring advanced agricultural production technologies, cultivate more fields, and produce more food.
More food is produced, and more new immigrants can be accommodated.
After these immigrants from the Central Plains take root, they can assimilate the Tibetan people and stabilize the social order. The stability of the social order will also promote the development of agriculture, industry and commerce.
This is positive feedback, also called snowballing. To put it politely, be a friend of time.
He has seen Yanqi's changes.
After returning to Beijing, he will continue to pay attention to the affairs of the Western Regions and continue to invest more resources here.