typeface
large
in
Small
Turn off the lights
Previous bookshelf directory Bookmark Next

Chapter 52 Final arrangements and departure

 In May in Xizhou, there is a harvest scene.

The wheat planted in late autumn last year has been harvested since the end of April.

The barley planted at the end of the first month is almost ready for harvest.

After harvesting, millet, millet or sorghum will be planted immediately, which will mature in September or October.

As for the wheat planted this spring, it will not be until July or August.

The fertility of each field is different. Under the two-year and three-crop system, sowing is not repeated every year, so planting and harvesting times are more complicated.

But the harvest makes people feel happy after all.

In the past month, Shao Shude has straightened out the structure of Beiya, and the second reform has begun to bear fruit.

By the fifteenth year of Jianji's reign, after taking back a large number of slaves and recruiting a group of new people, there were already twenty tribes in Beiting and north of Tianshan Mountain, each with its own hereditary native officials and Yi Lijin, and divided their own pastures (

It is divided into summer and winter parts), with a total population of more than 110,000.

This population figure is actually a bit small, and it has a lot to do with the perennial wars.

In the Qing Dynasty, before the Junggar Mongols conquered the Yarkand Khanate, the northern Xinjiang, which was at the core of their rule, had a population of about 700,000, and there was still a lot of room for growth.

But Shao Shude did not intend to give these grassland tribes the opportunity to continue to expand their population. He did not allocate a lot of land suitable for cultivation.

He can do these things because he has great prestige and the ability to take life and death from these grassland tribes - just give you these pastures and keep them. If you are not satisfied at all, he doesn't mind killing people.

But if it were another emperor a hundred years later, things would not be so easy to handle.

On the third day of May, under the retinue of Yin'anzhi and the palace guards, he led a large number of officials and palace people through Jiaohe and Jinlingkou, and moved into the Summer Palace in Tingzhou in the middle of May.

Yin, Western Second Prefecture, he is not worried. These two places are close to the Central Plains, and they are mainly farming. Their culture and system are not very different from the Central Plains. This can be seen from the differences between the Gaochang Uighur and the Great Uighur Kingdom.

The former is very "Tang". Official documents are written in Chinese characters, and the armor is also Tang style. The official positions even include Han officials such as governor, general, Yinqing Guanglu and so on. The official seal of the prime minister is also printed in Chinese characters: "Great Fortune and Great Uighur Kingdom"

Shushengmenxiajie went to Jiasi to think about the precious seals of the prime ministers."

Historically, when the Karakhanids marched eastward, they could not spread the word about the Creator in Gaochang and Khotan because they did not have the advantage in terms of civilization level. After destroying Khotan through a forty-year war of attrition, they could not spread the word about the Creator.

In the past. But because Gaochang was not captured, that area was still dominated by Buddhism and supplemented by Manichaeism. Until the Mongol era came - missionaries either had an advantage in the dimension of civilization and could penetrate through peaceful means, or they could seize power and change by force.

Belief, just like when Shule changed hands between Khotan and Karakhan, the local people repeatedly changed their faith.

But Tingzhou is different.

The overall level of civilization in this area is very low, and it is possible for it to be infiltrated. The first thing that needs to be done is to improve the level of civilization.

On May 17, Shao Shude came to the countryside of Jinman County, Lisuo, Tingzhou (now Jimusar).

"Among the 2,200 households in Tingzhou, how many are immigrants from the Central Plains?" Shao Shude asked, looking at the wheat seedlings that had grown so tall.

"Five hundred and eight households, most of them are from Henan." Tingzhou has ended military control, and the first governor is Yan Keqiu. It is he who is replying at this time.

This gentleman was a descendant from Huainan and played a key role in the uprising of Xu and Zhang. Shao Shude would not ignore his contribution. He was first appointed Sima of Chuzhou and then promoted to governor of Tingzhou.

As one of the representatives of Huainan's descendants, Yan Keqiu's career is still favored by some people. Especially after being transferred to Tingzhou, the chance of further promotion in the future will be infinitely increased.

"I heard that Yan Qing brought his family to Tingzhou?" Shao Shude asked.

"Exactly." Yan Keqiu replied: "It's not just my family. I also write to my friends. If you have a son or nephew who is willing to come to the Western Regions to make contributions, you can come with your whole family. Those who follow the township party can also apply to join the army."

"People from Jianghuai are willing to come?" Shao Shude was a little curious.

"Your Majesty, the general household registration in the south is not abundant, but the land of Wuyue has become densely populated after years of development. In the Taihu Lake area, the poor only have a few acres of thin farmland." Yan Keqiu replied.

"At that time, Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty was still deporting Tibetan prisoners to Wuyue. I didn't expect that more than a hundred years later, it would be like this." Shao Shude said with emotion.

If there are more than 20 million people in the north of Daxia, there are only more than 10 million in the south.

Compare it with other dynasties in later history.

When the Northern Song Dynasty was founded, there were about 12 million people in the north and 20 million people in the south.

When Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, there were tens of millions in the north and more than 50 million in the south.

When the Qing Dynasty was founded, there were about 70 million people, most of whom were in the south.

The more than seventy years from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty was a period in history when a large number of people moved southward and the south developed greatly. Now this process has been greatly weakened.

One person's behavior actually changed the course of history.

No, to be precise, it should be a delay, because this is the general trend. Sooner or later, in more than a hundred years, the population will still move south to find a new living space.

Take Hunan under Ma Yin's rule as an example. At this time, the population was only one million, but during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the population exceeded 20 million.

The situation in Hubei is similar, both are on this scale, which is a fraction of what it was in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"There are few wars in Jiangnan. In the past forty years, there were only two wars between Huang Chao and Sun Ru." Yan Keqiu said.

In fact, there are many warlords in Jiangnan. After all, they are all in the "start-up period" and their territory has not yet stabilized. Only when their respective boundaries are clear and they find that they cannot annex each other can they achieve stable development. But in general, except for the rebellion of Sun Ru

Outside, the intensity, breadth, and depth are indeed not as good as those in the north.

"Of course I welcome those who come voluntarily. It's better than forcing people to relocate and making complaints." Shao Shude smiled and said, "What are you going to do here in Tingzhou?"

"Your Majesty, please return to Xihai County." Yan Keqiu said.

Tingzhou has jurisdiction over four counties, namely Jinman (Lisuo, today's Jimusar), Luntai (now Fukang), Houting (now Qitai, originally Tang Pulei County).

, and now it has been changed to the back court to distinguish Puleihai) from the West Sea.

Xihai County is located near Qingzhen. In fact, it has long existed in name only and only exists on paper.

Shao Shude asked someone to bring a hand-drawn map and handed it to Yan Keqiu.

After Yan Keqiu took it, he felt a little calmer. It turned out that there was already the word "West Sea" near Qingzhen.

There are many swamps and abundant water resources in the north of Qingzhen. It is actually an excellent agricultural reclamation area. It currently has a population of tens of thousands, mainly the families of the soldiers and their tribes. It is under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council and has nothing to do with the local area.

Now that we have agreed to restore Xihai County, we can naturally immigrate there, but we can't move too much.

On the west sea, south of Luntai, was Dihua County (now Urumqi).

To the east of Pulei County, Dushan Shouzhou City (today's Mulei County) was established, and Dushan County was newly established.

In this way, Tingzhou will govern six counties and govern the country.

"Your Majesty's plan is far-reaching, and I am impressed by it," Yan Keqiu said.

"Don't rush to flatter me." Shao Shude said with a smile: "In the six counties of Tingzhou, there will be very few immigrants this year and next, just a few hundred households, no more than a thousand households at most. A considerable part of them may require you to find a solution yourself. Tingzhou

You know better than me how much wealth the state has and how many immigrants it can accept."

"Your Majesty, during last year's Western Expedition, didn't we seize a large amount of cattle, sheep and food?" Yan Keqiu said, "Please allocate some of it so that I can resettle more people from the Central Plains."

"With so many soldiers and horses stationed in Beiting, don't we need to consume cattle, sheep, food and grass?" Shao Shude asked back: "Zhao Feng of Yinzhou mentioned the strategy of 'Shangtun', and you might be able to think of a way. Don't worry, this

The Qian court will pay in Luoyang, and Tingzhou will provide some convenience."

"Shangtun?" Yan Keqiu didn't think clearly and didn't know why.

Shao Shude waved his hand and asked Yan Keqiu to read Zhao Feng's memorial.

He himself came to the foot of the mountain and looked at the gurgling stream.

These are seasonal rivers. After spring comes and flowers bloom, the ice and snow in the mountains melt and gather into rivers, which flow down and provide water for the growth of crops.

In fact, this was an extremely important source of agricultural water in Xinjiang until later generations.

The places suitable for farming in Beiting are actually mainly concentrated at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains. This can be seen from the military towns of the Tang Dynasty, which were lined up along the foothills of the mountains.

In his plan, the tribes he collected were grazing in the north, and the people were cultivated near the Tianshan Mountains. They complemented each other and served as the two foundations of the imperial court in Beiting.

Without tribes, farming areas would face the intrusion of nomadic tribes on the front line.

Without farming, the tribal areas would not have sufficient supplies when facing the northern nomadic tribes.

Both are indispensable.

Just now, Yan Keqiu mentioned that a large number of livestock and grains were looted last year, which is indeed true. And not only this, Shao Shude also collected hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep from the Qinbei and Qinan grasslands last year. After raising fat, he sent a batch

We went to southern Xinjiang, but there was no shortage of food there for the time being, so we stopped transporting it. Most of it was raised on the Beiting grassland and was managed by Fu Cunshen.

The food, cattle and sheep in the Beiting camp are still sufficient, and can even be said to be very sufficient. After all, this is a place where 700,000 people could live in the Junggar era, but now there are only more than 100,000 people, and the resources are far from reaching their limit.

Based on the existing resources in southern Xinjiang, if new oases are not developed and agricultural facilities are not improved (such as repairing wells and canals), there will probably only be a population of over 500,000, with a maximum of 700,000 or 800,000.

The total number of people in Xinjiang as a whole will not exceed 1.5 million. This is the population carrying capacity based on the current infrastructure, development level, security situation and other factors.

Of course, times develop step by step.

During the Western Han Dynasty, there were 1.26 million people under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Protectorate, less than half of which were located in present-day China, that is, about 600,000 people.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Xinjiang experienced great development. Especially because of its remote location, Zhuliang attached great importance to the Western Regions, invested a lot of resources, and utilized the land that was originally unusable.

When Lu Guang of the former Qin Dynasty led an army of 70,000 to conquer the Western Regions, Qiuci and other places could dispatch an army of 50,000. The population was estimated to be between 150,000 and 200,000. The population of Xinjiang as a whole exceeded one million at that time.

.

After Tianbao, wars became frequent and the population of Xinjiang dropped sharply.

In this mess that Daxia inherited, the three military towns of Shule, Gumo and Qiuci have about 29,700 households and less than 120,000 people; Yanqi, Gaochang, Yinwu and Beiting Sizhengzhou have less than 33,000 households and more than 160,400 people.

The Beiting tribes have a combined population of more than 110,000; and the Fubing and Ji tribes have nearly 16,000 households with a population of more than 77,000.

A total of 470,000 people was the entire household. If Khotan was included, the population would exceed 600,000, but it was still very small.

The most critical thing is that the racial composition is very unbalanced, with very few Han people. Even if all yellow people are included, white people still make up the majority of the population.

"Have you finished reading?" Shao Shude came back and asked after walking around in a circle.

"After reading it, I think it's feasible." Yan Keqiu said.

"Then let's start the trial." Shao Shude said: "Don't worry about the cattle and sheep camped in Beiting. I have great use. But in Tingzhou, you can cultivate it carefully. This is a fertile land. It doesn't need many people.

You can harvest a lot of grains and beans.”

"According to the order." Yan Keqiu responded, but judging from his face, he didn't seem very sure.

Shao Shude smiled and said nothing. There is no need to underestimate the agricultural potential of the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.

He originally thought that Xinjiang could not deploy a large number of government troops like Liaodong. Over the past two years, it seemed that this was a bit of a stereotype. At least northern Xinjiang could deploy a certain scale of government troops.

Frowning and thinking hard, he could not recall how many fields the Qing Dynasty cultivated in northern Xinjiang in history——

When the Qing Dynasty first came here, there were almost no people left because of excessive killings.

It is evident that the Junggar Basin has become a geographical term.

In the fifty-third year of Qianlong's reign (1788), after years of development, Jimusa (now Jimusaer) and Hutubi (now Hutubi) collected grain every year and donated and stored grain in advance, totaling 880,000 yuan.

More than 8,000 shi are needed every year, and there should be enough new grain for storage and old storage. Over the years, more than 60,000 shi have been stored in wheat and beans for more than ten years. The imperial court ordered that they should be harvested in three years to avoid mildew.

In the fifty-sixth year of Qianlong's reign (1791), the capital of Urumqi reported to the Urumqi capital that because the warehouses were full, they requested the Jimusa green camp soldiers to return to the camp for drills and withdraw from the military garrison.

The Qing government made a compromise and ordered the number of green troops in the military camps to be reduced year by year. At the same time, it recruited merchants and civilian households to take over the fields after the military camps were withdrawn and began to immigrate.

In that year, Jimusa withdrew 14,451 acres of military garrison land and transferred it to civilian land.

In eight places including Dihua Prefecture, Changji County, Jimusa, and Hutubi, a total of 987,789.3 acres of land for commercial, civilian, and military settlements has been reclaimed and will be measured, which is close to one million acres!

By the time of Dao and Xian Dynasties, there were 340,000 people in Urumqi and Barkol area, and each person cultivated more than 30 acres of land.

After Aguba arrived, the number of people dropped sharply to one hundred thousand people. Jimusa changed hands several times, and there was not much left in the population.

Even so, when Zuo Zongtang regained Xinjiang, northern Xinjiang was still his base camp, otherwise he wouldn't even have a foothold.

Shao Shude didn't know the data of the Qing Dynasty, but after two years of observation, he found that the land in northern Xinjiang had relatively abundant water resources, and it seemed that he could recruit more soldiers. At present, there are only 2,000 people in one Qing town, which is really too few.

In the first year of Tongguang, Tingzhouhui hired a thousand new soldiers from the Luoyan Army, and each soldier was granted a hundred acres of land.

In addition to the government soldiers, professional warriors will also place about two thousand people, stationed in Heishui Shouchu City (today's Wusu) and Xilin Shouchuo City (today's Jinghe), as part of the Shuanghe Town Army - this

It is the first military town in northern Xinjiang and the fifth town in Anxi.

You can take your time with all of the above, don't be too hasty.

Arrange a group of them every year and keep doing it. Over time, there will always be results.

During the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions could support 500,000 to 600,000 people, during the Northern Dynasties, they could support a million people, and during the Tang Dynasty, they could support more than a million people. Each generation was developing and making progress. In the Xia dynasty, it was always necessary to build on the achievements of the predecessors.

What should I order? His requirements are not high. When the Great Xia is destroyed, the Western Region will have a population of more than 1.5 million and will be highly culturally transformed to Xia. This will complete the historical mission.

On May 20th, Shao Shude met with the chiefs of various tribes gathered in the grassland north of Tingzhou. After a long talk, he set off the next day, passing through Puleihai (Barkol Lake).

After passing Luoman Mountain, we arrived in Yinzhou in mid-to-late June.

It was a hot summer day, so he did not stay here for long. He ordered Yinwu's army to set up Pulei County (today's Barkol County) as the fourth county under the jurisdiction of Yinzhou, and then left for Dunhuang and officially embarked on his return journey.


This chapter has been completed!
Previous Bookshelf directory Bookmark Next