I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 567 Yakuts

The Heilongjiang Navy left with a large force by boat, and the temporary garrison officer who was left behind by lot called a meeting with the soldiers.

Including Besikov, the number of troops stationed in Yakutsk is 101.

The garrison officer appointed by Sun Ruhai was named Xu Sanfu. This guy had a quick mind. He did not immediately start arranging the affairs of the castle, but reorganized the troops first. The uncertainty of the lottery resulted in many soldiers not coming from the same team, or even from the same number.

Fortunately, he was the only officer among them who could be considered a real officer, but he was really unlucky, so he didn't have to worry about anyone disobeying orders.

After a simple reorganization of the troops, they rearranged junior officers such as gang leaders and corps commanders, and then said: "There are many indigenous slaves left in the city, as well as some women and children. These slaves are easy to talk about and can be released directly according to custom." That's fine. But women and children can't be treated like this, and the brothers who are the fastest here will have to stay for more than a year. If there are some who can't hold it in and don't dislike it, they can take these women in. "

Because the soldiers' garrison years are shortened and it is easier for the soldiers to accept it, there is no need to bring the wives and children who stayed in Heilongjiang.

For the Heilongjiang Dusi and other territories close to the border and overseas, the central policy of the imperial court has always been to encourage the immigrant Han people and the remaining garrisons to intermarry with the indigenous tribes, and also encourage the Han people in these lands to annex real estate.

This is also because places like Heilongjiang are too bitter and cold. Without some benefits, Han people will not take the initiative to immigrate to these lands. Moreover, the plain land here is indeed sufficient to fully meet the needs of Han immigrants.

As long as you can farm the land and do not force serfs to be raised, no matter how much land you annex in Heilongjiang Dusi, or if you marry and have children with indigenous tribes, the court will not interfere and stop you.

Well, it will stay that way for at least the next hundred years.

It can be said that Zhu Yijiong was very worried about developing these frontiers and overseas territories as much as possible, and even the land annexation policy was relaxed.

However, in a few decades, Heilongjiang would be almost fully developed and would start to become homogeneous and inward. The imperial court would have to apply Luzon's model policy of restraining wealthy families to the Heilongjiang capital.

Xu Sanfu briefly explained the situation to the soldiers, but in the end less than half were willing to choose a woman.

These soldiers were all carefully selected from the Heilongjiang navy, and the court had made arrangements for them when they went north. Those with wives and children can be brought to Heilongjiang to live together, and will be rewarded with land and property. Those without wives and children will be directly assigned wives, and will also be rewarded with real estate.

The women and children who were cleared out in the city of Yakutsk were all kidnapped from indigenous tribes by Cossacks, and the children were also children born to Cossacks.

But the Cossacks did not regard these women and children as wives and children, but simply as tools to vent their sexual desires and keep out the cold. Don't ask why it is a tool to keep out the cold, because the temperature is about to drop and it will snow... As expected, these women selected by the Ming army soldiers will have to get pregnant and give birth to children when they set sail in the coming year.

Xu Sanfu also picked one himself. Anyway, the military regulations also encouraged them to do this: "Are these the only ones? There are still many women here, don't you want them anymore? If you don't want them anymore, I will assign these women to those slaves If you can't stand it by then, you are not allowed to fight with your colleagues, and you are not allowed to rob the slaves' wives. They will no longer be slaves in the future."

As soon as these words came out, three more people raised their hands coquettishly, causing bursts of laughter from their colleagues.

In this way, the atmosphere finally relaxed a lot. Seeing everyone gradually letting go, Xu Sanfu nodded and said: "In that case, you can go down and choose! Take whoever you like directly and take it away. If someone likes you, just fight it out in a man's way." , but cannot use weapons."

After saying that, he did not forget to ask Besikov: "Would you like to pick one too?"

After all, he would have to ask this guy how to survive the winter in this cold place, and he would also be needed as a translator to communicate with the indigenous tribes.

When Besikov heard that he still had his share, he beamed and said, "Thank you, sir."

Xu Sanfu reminded: "You can only choose one person, don't fight for it."

Besikov nodded quickly and understood, and then followed the soldiers to choose a woman.

This guy is very smart and knows where his identity lies, so he waits for everyone to finish selecting before selecting one person.

After the selection was over, Besikov acted as a translator and announced to the summoned indigenous slaves: "You are all free. The benevolent Ming army rescued you. You are now free citizens here. You can continue to stay here." For farming and potato digging here, you only need to pay a small amount of food as taxes every year, and the rest belongs to you. The Ming army will no longer oppress you. If any of you want to leave here, you can always do so. leave."

Leave the hell! It was going to be cold and snowy soon, and without enough food and furs, it was impossible for them to return to their tribe by hiking alone. Moreover, these people were all slaves. Most of their tribes were wiped out by the Cossacks, and a small number of them were nomadic and moved to unknown places.

What's more important is that the garrison troops like Xu Sanfu will not really allow these slaves to leave, otherwise they should provide them with food and cotton clothes, and they must have small boats for transportation.

These former slaves had long been numb and naturally knew what to choose, and the Ming army quickly fulfilled its promise and distributed food and cotton clothes to those who stayed, so that they could survive the winter safely. There were also a few lucky ones who were assigned extra women as wives, which made these indigenous slaves even more grateful.

After the women were distributed and the slaves were appeased, there were still some Cossack children left. Xu Sanfu thought again and again, and instead of massacring them, he drove them all out of the castle, without giving them food or warm cotton clothes, and just let them fend for themselves.

There is no way, these Cossack children are quite old, some are over ten years old, and they are already old enough to remember. In order to control this place, these children must not be allowed to live, and even all the Cossacks captured in the future cannot be kept.

As serfs of Tsarist Russia who were once oppressed, Cossacks turned into butchers and ogres who massacred and plundered the natives after fleeing Siberia. Many of them even succeeded in whitewashing themselves in the Tsarist Russian government through this method and became countless nobles. The gentleman's guest.

Xu Sanfu put Yakutsk in order, and the weather finally began to cool down, becoming colder every day than the previous day.

Within a few days, it began to snow on a large scale.

Fortunately, the Cossacks had already driven the slaves to harvest rye and potatoes, and now the population of Yakutsk is just right.

Xu Sanfu finally understood why these Cossack castles were so poorly built. The weather only warmed up for a small part of the year, and it snowed heavily the rest of the time. Even a thousand men might not be able to build a strong city.

Under the continuous accumulation of snow, the Ming army in Yakutsk and the local indigenous tribes finally met for the first time.

A dozen reindeer pulled a sleigh, and there was someone driving the car. They were all wrapped in thick animal skin jackets and quickly approached the castle.

The original walls of the castle have been simply repaired. They just made some new rammed earth, and went to the forest to cut down some trees to build wooden fences. The defense is definitely still unable to stop the artillery, but the indigenous tribes here do not have artillery.

The Cossack Castle in the north will not come to Yakutsk during the winter, nor will they bring artillery with them. After all, no one will inform them that this place has been captured by the Ming army.

The reindeer sleighs were discovered by the garrison patrolling the city wall before they even got close to the city wall, and Xu Sanfu was quickly notified.

When Xu Sanfu and Besikov climbed up the city wall, they saw a sleigh breaking away from the team and coming to the bottom of the city wall. A man came down from the top. He was quite tall and strong. He shouted to the city wall: "We are here to hand over the furs. Let all the people in our tribe be released soon."

Xu Sanfu asked: "What are they talking about?"

Besikov replied: "Redeeming the hostages."

The most common way for the Cossacks to control the indigenous tribes of Siberia and plunder their furs is to go out to hunt in the autumn wind every spring. When they see nomadic indigenous tribes, they attack fur.

The Cossack, who later returned to Moscow with his name clean, also admitted personally: "The in-kind taxes collected for His Majesty from the newly conquered Tungus and Buryat people every year are actually paid for with sabers and blood."

Historically, Tsarist Russia was never able to truly control the vast Siberia until its demise. It could only build cities on the three key rivers and Lake Baikal, and conduct bandit rule and massacre-style plunder.

The Chukchi people, who have not yet been conquered by the Cossacks, have been fighting with the Cossacks for hundreds of years. In the end, the Tsar was forced to have no choice but to order to allow the Chukchi people full autonomy. The Cossacks would no longer care about them, but they must swear allegiance. tsar.

Xu Sanfu nodded: "Since they are all tribal brothers who have been taken hostage by the Cossacks, we will bring them out and let them identify themselves. Besikov, you also come with me to negotiate."

(End of this chapter)