The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 153 Religion Chaos

Hami, known as Kunmo, Kunwu and Yizhou in ancient times, is the gateway to the mainland from the Western Regions. It was once an important town on the ancient "Silk Road" and the "Eastern Gate" into the Western Regions. Countries in the Western Regions and Central Asia sent dynasties to the Central Plains It is the only way for tribute envoys and business travelers to and from the mainland. Its strategic location is extremely important. It is known as the "throat of the Western Regions and the gateway from east to west".

The rise and fall of the former Hami Kingdom was also the history of the Hami royal family's conversion from Buddhism to True God Religion. During the Yongle period, the former Ming Dynasty also built the Hami Guard in its area and appointed commanders, Qianhu, and Baihu officials to guard the area. At that time, most of the Hami royal family and residents still believed in Buddhism. The residents under their rule included Huihui (believers in the True God religion), Uighurs, and Hacihui (Mongolian ancient Tatars). Each tribe had its leader and leader, and they were not related to each other. Belongs to all.

However, in the 1545th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (), Ma Heima, the younger brother of Sudan Mansu of the Turpan Khanate, captured Hami and established himself as Sudan. At this point, the Hami royal family began to achieve greening and expanded it to the people. And the Kingdom of Hami also ended.

In 1680, after the destruction of Yarkand by the Junggar Khanate, they relied on strong force to suppress the expansion of the True God Sect in the Hami area, and promoted the Yellow Sect, which promoted the political status of the Hacihui (Mongolians) and eliminated those who believed in the True God Religion. The Huihui and Uighurs were turned into cannon fodder, relegated to slavery, and exploited to the extreme.

When the Qin Dynasty launched a war against the Dzungars, these suppressed and enslaved green believers actually played a significant role. They defected before the battle, refused to pay taxes and provide food to the Dzungars, and even assembled into groups to attack the lone Dzungars cavalry. .

In the 1699th year of Qianyuan (1701), the Qin army successfully captured Hami due to the cooperation between the local Vughur people. In the 1704th year of Qianyuan (), Han households were moved to build the Hami Acropolis, which was named Yizhou City. In the nd year of Qianyuan (), the imperial court established Anxi Prefecture Tongzhi and was stationed in Yizhou City. Since then, there have been formal local administrative organs of Daqin in this area. Anxi Tongzhi is under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province.

After more than 20 years of development, the entire Hami region has built two acropolises, more than 30 forts, and 47,000 residents, including more than 5,600 mainland Han immigrants.

In view of Hami's important geographical location, the Great Qin military specially stationed more than 3,000 soldiers here. In the entire Western Region, the size of the army was second only to Luntai, the headquarters of the Beiting Governor's Mansion. It stands to reason that the existence of such a powerful military force is enough to intimidate all the surrounding gangsters and prevent any potential resistance forces from daring to act rashly.

However, on the last day of February, a warning came from Zhenxibao (today's Barkol County), more than 100 kilometers away from Yizhou City. Thousands of nearby Uighurs and Huihui launched a riot and attacked Pulehai. (Today's Barkol Lake) salt factory, killed more than a hundred stewards, craftsmen and salt workers inside, robbed their firearms, and then began to besiege Zhenxi Fort.

Luo Liangrong, the co-president of Anxi Prefecture, was furious after hearing the report and ordered Yang Yonglin, the deputy general of Yizhou Town, to immediately lead troops to suppress it.

You know, there is not only a salt factory in Zhenxi Fort, but also a military horse farm in the valley more than 40 kilometers east of it, where more than 4,000 war horses are herded. If the rioting Uighurs capture it and take away the horses, it will not only give them strong mobility and make it more difficult to control, but it will also make the cavalry (including dragoons) in Beiting and Gansu lose control. There may be a huge gap in demand for war horses.

If the imperial court blames you for this, in addition to punishing you with the serious crime of unrest and rioting in a local area, you may also be charged with beheading for delaying military flights.

"On this trip to counter the rebellion, we should use thunderbolt measures to frighten the mob." When the troops were about to set off, Luo Liangrong solemnly told his deputy Yang Yonglin: "Back then, when we, the Qin Dynasty, took over the land of Yizhou, we only expelled the Junggar Mongolian Tatar forces. The local Uighur, Huihui and other tribes have adopted a gentle policy and have maintained the settlement of their tribes as they are. In recent years, due to different sects and different beliefs, these tribes have been in constant disputes, attacking and killing each other, and even repeatedly The immigration of local Han people to settle the fortress has become the biggest factor affecting the stability of Yizhou. Therefore, when the general leaves, he needs to let others know that the power of our Qin Dynasty cannot be taken lightly, and the laws and regulations of the imperial court cannot be taken lightly."

"Grand Commander, please relax, we will save you in the end." Yang Yonglin clasped his fists and promised: "This time to pacify the local mobs, we should use thunder to suppress them. If these local tribes are not convinced by killing them, they will be killed. The cruel and bloodthirsty nature of that generation will probably cause endless harm in the future. They are not from our race, and their minds must be different. We will take advantage of this riot to kill them all and make room for the Han people who will move from the mainland."

"Uh……"

Luo Liangrong looked at the murderous look of Qiu Ba in front of him, and suddenly hesitated. This killing was too heavy, would it affect his official reputation and future?

After all, only benevolent people can be good and evil.

"General Yang is suppressing the rebellion this time, and he will kill the people who are the culprits and advocates of alliance. However, we should leave some leeway to those ignorant and rebellious people who are coerced and bewitched, and do not kill them all. Those religious people are also governed by our Great Qin. Lower people."

"Huh?" Yang Yonglin was stunned for a moment, the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily, and then he cupped his hands and responded: "...Oh, I will remember it."

Damn it, these civil servants are full of benevolence, justice and morality, but they don’t know how they can intimidate the mob if they don’t show the great power of our Great Qin in this place where mixed people live together in the Western Region, so that the believers of the True God Sect who chant sutras and worship Buddha can act like obedient citizens. , growing grain, raising livestock, and paying taxes for our government.

Damn it, these religious rioters thought they had great achievements in helping the Qin Dynasty capture Hami, and they also had the intricate local power. They always showed an unruly appearance, and they were a conquest of the government. Paying taxes and collecting donations were repeatedly opposed.

Moreover, these Vighur and Hui tribes took advantage of the retreat of the Mongol forces in Junggar to occupy all the most fertile farmland and pasture in Hami, leaving the Han immigrants who came later unable to get any decent land. The establishment of some settlements on the edge of some oases has cost a huge amount of money, whether it is to reclaim wasteland or to build corresponding water conservancy facilities.

Although these religious tribes have been deeply influenced by Sinicization in the past two decades and have gradually accepted some Han culture. There are even a small number of people who have Han surnames, speak Chinese, and wear Han clothes, but they do not They are willing to mix with the Han people, insist on living in separate villages and communities, have neighbors of their own ethnic group, follow their own religious leaders, pray and chant sutras, and do not eat pork.

These religious people are even more unique because of their own specialized occupations. They are mainly engaged in livestock breeding, occupy a dominant position in the camel, donkey and horse transportation industry, and are active in the caravan trade with Central Asia. However, they resisted the taxation imposed by the Anxi Prefecture local government and failed to fulfill their obligations as obedient citizens, which really caused the government a headache.

What makes local governments even more worried is that some powerful religious leaders have demanded local autonomy, which would allow them to manage their tribes, villages, towns and communities, and allow them to obtain a certain amount of armed self-defense.

Don't they know that the whole world is the land of the king, and that within the four seas, everyone is the king's ministers?

What does it mean that you True God followers dare to think this way and do this?

Da Qin has been conquering the Western Regions for more than 20 years. Although various regions have developed greatly, compared with other border areas that are constantly developing in the interior, the number of registered taxpaying households is still very small. This resulted in the imperial court's expenditures in the Western Regions, especially the Beiting Governor's Mansion, always exceeding its income - in fact, there was not much income, mainly a pitiful business tax and local military camp grain output income, which required the imperial court to spend every year A large amount of financial subsidies will be provided. The burden of supplying the army in this region fell on the two northwestern provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi, which were also in extremely financial difficulties, placing a heavy financial burden on more than 10 million people in the two provinces.

Therefore, both His Majesty the Emperor and the cabinet government must emphasize every year that the Western Region, including Illinois, must increase local development efforts, strengthen its own hematopoietic function, and reduce the financial pressure on the central government and Shaanxi and Gansu.

To put it bluntly, we hope that the Western Regions can achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency. After decades of Junggar War and thousands of miles of material supply lines, the imperial court really cannot afford it.

As for the Western Region, including Illinois, military expenditures, administrative expenditures, food supplies, war horses and livestock supplies, and other types of material supplies would be a drop in the bucket if they all relied on the hundreds of thousands of Han immigrants.

Besides, in order to stabilize the hearts and minds of the Han immigrants, the government cannot squeeze too much. Otherwise, if people just run away with their buckets and flee back to the mainland, wouldn't it be a waste of the imperial court's immigration measures, and the political and economic losses will be even greater.

In this case, the people of all ethnic groups in the Western Region who were included under the rule must bear certain tax and donation obligations.

I, the Great Qin, protect your safety and save you from the brutal rule of the Junggar Mongols. Isn’t it too much to pay a little tax?

Is it fair to accept some food from you?

Or, you should bring your own dry food, prepare horses and weapons, and march forward for the king, right?

But now, you believers who are dissatisfied with the king's rule, do not want to share the worries of our great Qin, but you are going to rebel. Then, don’t blame the imperial army for resorting to thunderbolt tactics!

It was bitterly cold in the Western Regions. As a town army guarding Yizhou, there was little to gain. They had to endure the wind and snow, eat sand, and fight with some invisible horse bandits all day long, which made all the officers and soldiers miserable. . If the believers in Zhenxi Fort were rioting, they should not take the opportunity to kill them all so as to vent the pain accumulated in their chests and plunder the rebels' belongings. Furthermore, our military achievements in the Qin Dynasty are all inherited from the Ming Dynasty model, which is based on beheading. If we don’t chop off a few more heads, how can our brothers be promoted and made rich?

Of course, the heads of these rebel mobs are not as valuable as the heads of Dzunghar Mengtar, but as long as there are enough, they can still gain merit that can be transferred.

As for which of the mobs were "coerced and beguiled" and how to "leave leeway" in the process of quelling the chaos, it was not Yang Yonglin's discretion on the battlefield as the commander of the army.
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"Young and old men, it's time to eat!... Come up and take a breather!"

On March 3, near a farm a few hundred meters west of Huangshabao (today's Erbao Town, Hami), several strong women put down their burdens and shouted loudly at a shaft.

Following the woman's shout, farmers covered in mud filed out from the shaft holding windlass and baskets. After climbing to the ground, they vigorously slapped the dirt on their bodies.

"How is your progress today?" A village chief scooped a ladle of water from a bucket and handed it to a farmer in his forties.

"Today's progress is a little slower than yesterday." Liu Ergen took the water ladle, drank a few mouthfuls, rinsed the sand in his mouth, and then drank the remaining water in one gulp. "Several supports collapsed. It was loose, and it took a lot of effort to re-fix it. However, according to the current progress, this section of the diversion well should be dug before spring plowing."

"Oh." Sun Weibao, the village chief, nodded and said, "If this water diversion well is dug, then another hundred acres of land can be opened this year and more grain can be harvested. At the end of the year, the old and young men in the village will also You can loosen it faster. Alas, what a fool, the war is going on endlessly, and the food turned in is increasing year by year. These days, it's not much better than Longxi!"

"It's pretty good." Liu Ergen took the thick-wheat bun from a woman's hand and took a big bite. "At least, the government has left us enough food rations in the past few years, so no one has starved to death."

"Haha..." Sun Weibao smiled, "Yes, no one has starved to death. If the government allows all the Han people like us to starve to death, how will they support the food supply of the army? Just rely on those Uighurs chanting sutras and praying. , Can you collect taxes after all?... Damn it, you can’t grow anything in a good land, and you still have to buy food from us!”

"Shh..." Liu Ergen looked at Huihui in the distance who was instructing the villagers to dig the karez, and put a finger to his mouth to signal the village commander not to say anything, so that they could hear him.

"Mom, what's there to be afraid of?" Sun Weibao said, but his voice was much lower. "They didn't help us dig wells for free. We gave them five bags of wheat. Huh, look. Well, when the Yizhou City army slaughters the rebel believers in Zhenxi Fort, these people will definitely be honest and not dare to come to us again to make trouble. Damn, the good land has been occupied by them, could it be that the underground water is also Their?"

The "well digging" they were talking about was not the ordinary drinking water wells used by mainland residents, but the underground water conservancy projects - karez wells - dug by local people in the oases in the Western Regions.

People use the natural slope of the mountain to draw large amounts of rainwater, glaciers and snowmelt water that seep into the ground in spring and summer to the surface for irrigation to meet the production and living water needs in deserts and areas lacking surface runoff.

There is no regular surface river near the Huangshabao settlement, and the amount of rain that falls every year is even less. However, there is abundant groundwater beneath the surface of the settlement area. Therefore, local colonial officials and people began to dig karez wells in late winter when the soil began to thaw, and based on the location of the wasteland to be reclaimed, they searched for water sources upstream and estimated the depth of the underflow water level, and guided it to farmland for cultivation.

According to the nature of the soil that may be passed through, and the suitable longitudinal slope of the culvert, the immigrants dug the culvert under the guidance of several experienced locals. They first started downstream, digging the first section of the open channel and the mouth of the karez, and then arranged shaft excavation section by section upstream. Every time a shaft is dug, the culvert is dug section by section in one or two directions from the bottom of the shaft to the upstream or downstream, and finally the longitudinal slope of the culvert is corrected from beginning to end.

When unearthed, earthen baskets were used to lift the objects from the shaft using a windlass. Generally, they were pulled by manpower, and in deeper shafts upstream, oxen were used. In order to prevent sand and soil from blowing into the karez in strong winds and avoid freezing damage in winter, the entrance of the shaft will be covered with treetops, straw and soil in layers.

When digging culverts, the working surface is narrow and only one person can dig at one place. It is also very difficult to dig in the dark, relying only on oil lamps for illumination. Workers need to be constantly rotated. The orientation method mainly hangs two oil lamps in the shaft. From the direction and height of these two lamps, the direction and longitudinal slope of the culvert can be corrected. During summer excavation, solar reflectors will also be used for orientation and lighting. Generally, the bottom of the culvert is dug first and then the top. When digging, you should also use both hands to dig crosswise to prevent digging. An excavation section generally requires 3 to 5 people. When loose sand is encountered, it must be partially supported with boards to avoid landslides and prevent water from washing away in the future.

There are many karez dug by the local Uighur people around Illinois, which irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile farmland. Except for extremely bad weather, they can always get good harvests, which makes many Han immigrants jealous, so they invite experienced workers. The well diggers guided them to dig their own karez wells in various settlement sites.

With the perseverance and hard-working spirit of the Han people, the deserts on the edge of the oases in the past have gradually turned into fertile fields. Agricultural output has increased dramatically, causing the price of food in the Illinois region to drop significantly from 20 years ago. More than 40% of the total was used, which effectively supported the government’s rule over the vast areas of Hami.

With the base of Han immigrants and the gradually abundant supplies, the Illinois government had the confidence to forcefully collect the taxes "owed" over the years from the many tribes under its jurisdiction. However, it unexpectedly triggered their resistance, and the Zhenxi government broke out. Civil unrest in the fort.

"The riot in Zhenxi Fort has been suppressed. Two thousand officers and soldiers have been beheaded, and the rest have surrendered!"

Just as the villagers were having lunch and sitting together to rest and chat, a camper ran excitedly from Huangsha Castle and shouted loudly.

"Ha..., after killing more than two thousand people, those believers must be discouraged and not dare to cause trouble again."

"Isn't that right? You said those people are living a good life, why are they making such a fuss! Even if they collect a little tax, they still dare to rebel!"

"They probably think that they have lived here for hundreds of years and are the masters of this place. Everything should belong to them. If they make a little fuss, they can get rid of this tax, and maybe they can get us." The land for cultivation was taken away, and the factories for building were also snatched away.”

"When the Mongol Tatars came, why didn't they dare to cause trouble?"

"That's not because the Tatars dare to kill people."

"Hehe, our officers and soldiers in Great Qin also dare to kill people. ...And besides, muskets are more powerful than swords!"

"..."

Two people who were invited to guide the digging of the karez Huihui turned extremely pale when they heard the villagers' enthusiastic discussion.

Aren’t the Han people always behaved meekly and respectfully?

Why, with firearms, things are different from before? !

(End of this chapter)