The cold winter wind howls south from Siberia, accumulates again after passing through the Mongolian Plateau, and will continue to sweep across the northern land after gaining momentum. At this time, the grasslands beside the Tula River were all yellow, and the biting north wind was carrying biting ice, making the city of Kulun desolate. On both sides of the narrow, winding, dirty and muddy roads in the city, there is nothing but rows of rustling flags and prayer wheels blown by the wind.
Kulun, called "Bogda Kulun" in Mongolian, means the residential area of Bogda. Originally, it did not specifically refer to a fixed location. Any place where the mobile temple of "Jebzundamba Hutuktu" is located can be called Kulun.
In the 22nd year of Qianlong's reign, the second Jebtsundamba Hutuktu passed away shortly after arriving at the banks of the Tula River, and never moved again. From then on, this pasture located on the upper reaches of the Selenge River and on the north bank of the Tula River became to Cullen City.
There are many monks in the place where the Living Buddha resides, and Mongolians from all tribes come here to worship in an endless stream. Later, craftsmen and businessmen continue to gather, turning agricultural and animal husbandry products that were originally only natural economic products into commodities. The emergence of temple fairs also made Kulun the city with the largest population in Mongolia in the middle and early Qing Dynasty, with more than 30,000 residents.
In addition, Uliasutai, Dolonnuoer, and Guihuacheng were also large towns with a population of more than 10,000 in Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty.
However, Cullen is more like a big town than a city. It is not a city in the strict sense. After decades of development, the entire city looks like a large settlement composed of three fortresses.
The garrison city where the government office is located is called "Urban Kulun", and the "Temple Kulun" consists of temples and courtyards. In addition, there is also a trading city with many merchants, all of which are surrounded by high wooden fences. The nomadic habits of the Mongolians require them to continue to live in yurts even if they settle in cities.
At dusk, as the wind gradually decreased, the flow of people on the streets and in the city began to increase. Suddenly, as the sound of horse bells got closer and closer, a fast horse carrying a messenger rolled up the black and icy soil, rushed into the city from the north post road, and went straight to the wooden gate of the garrison city. .
The clanking of the horse bells woke up the soldiers on duty inside and outside the gate. However, when they saw the messenger in livery and wrapped tightly on the horse, no one dared to stop him and allowed him to go straight into the garrison city. He stopped in front of the minister's office. After the soldiers at the door checked the other party's badge and security, they accepted the letter and package handed over by the other party and quickly delivered it into the house.
In the warm spring-like study room, the thirty-eight-year-old Cullen Minister of Affairs Songyun was writing a memorial at his desk. When he had almost finished typing the draft, checked that it was correct, and was about to copy it into the notebook, he heard Goshha say outside the door: "Sir, there is an urgent report from Jaktu."
Songyun put down the pen, rubbed his swollen temples, and said in a deep voice: "Bring it in."
After Ghoshha placed the wooden box containing the official letter on the table and stepped back, he took out the submission inside and read it. This official document was jointly sent by Dai Peng, the garrison officer of Kyaktu Trading City, and Wu Yi, the administrator of the Lifanyuan. However, Songyun only read half of it, and his face began to become solemn. When he finished reading the entire submission, a few drops Beads of sweat broke out from his forehead and dripped down his cheeks.
In the forty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign, a certain Kulun merchant was robbed by the Buryat people belonging to Tsarist Russia while selling goods on the Sino-Russian border. On the one hand, Lebao, the Minister of Cullen Affairs at the time, sent people to investigate the criminals based on the victim's report, and on the other hand, he notified the Russian side to assist in arresting the robbers. After the Russian side captured the thieves, they sent people to escort them to Kyaktu. After a joint trial by both parties, they sentenced the criminals to pay ten times the goods to the victim.
However, before the case was finally concluded, the officer sent by Russia to escort the prisoner violated the relevant provisions of the Kyaktu Treaty and sentenced the prisoner to flogging without authorization, and then exiled him to Siberia.
This made Qianlong angry. In order to punish Russia for violating the Kyakhta Treaty and disrespecting the sovereignty of the Qing court in this case, Qianlong issued an order to interrupt Kyakhta trade.
In order to resolve the dispute as soon as possible, in the fiftieth year of Qianlong's reign, Song Yun, a bachelor of the cabinet, was sent to handle negotiations. The reason why Qianlong chose Song Fei, who was only 34 years old, to take on this important task was first of all that his ability was appreciated. Secondly, Songyun was born in Mongolia, Zhenglan Banner, is proficient in Manchu and Mongolian, and also has a high level of Chinese, so he is fully capable.
However, the unexpected appearance of Beihai Town led to Tsarist Russia's invasion of Heilongjiang, which disrupted Songyun's hard work in the three years since he took office. Not only did Qing-Russia trade not reopen, the Russians even lost Irkutsk. As a result, Songyun was still negotiating, and it was impossible for the imperial court to open border trade with Beihai Town.
His main task in the past two years has been to ban border smuggling, cooperate with General Ulyasutai, supervise the military preparations of Tushetu Khan and Chechen Khan, and at the same time closely monitor whether anyone in the two departments has illicit connections with the Northern Navy.
"One hundred thousand against ten thousand, and they were defeated again. What a bunch of losers." After muttering a few words to himself, Songyun called Geshha outside the door to come in, and said in a deep voice: "Take my invitation to invite Kagashi. Vice General Erka came to the Yamen to discuss urgent military matters!"
"嗻!"
The deputy general of Khalkha mentioned by Songjun is Borzijit Chedendorji, the king of Khalkha Zasakdoro County. As the deputy general of Khalkha, his main responsibilities are to guard Kulun, manage the temple attendants of Hutuktu - that is, the upper-class lamas of Mongolia and the subjects of the temple, and assist Songyun in handling border affairs with Tsarist Russia. .
More than an hour later, Chedeng Dorji arrived. Songyun had already changed clothes in advance and had been waiting at the gate for a long time. Seeing the chubby prince getting out of the carriage with his servants serving him, Songyun hurriedly stepped forward to salute.
"I will pay my respects to the prince!"
Although Songyun was a first-rank imperial minister, Chedendorji was not only a county king, but also had a distinguished status. The fifty-eight-year-old Tushetu Khan was also the twenty-fifth grandson of Genghis Khan.
Cheden Dorji didn't dare to show off in front of Songyun, because he was an imperial envoy no matter what. So they hurriedly reached out to help him, and after some humility, the two of them entered the office and sat down in the signing room.
After the servants had served tea, Chedeng Dorji said with a smile: "Xiangpu, it's late at night, what's the hurry with me?"
Songyun handed the report from Kyaktu to the other party and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, the Russians have been defeated again this time. This is an urgent report from the spies we deployed among the Buryat people to the trading city. .”
"Ah!" Cheden Dorji's expression changed. He took it and read it carefully. Cold sweat broke out on his back. He felt that it was a shame that he didn't listen to Marshal Fu's plan and send troops without authorization. Otherwise, he would have relied on his few people. He also wanted to steal a chicken, but in the eyes of Bei Haijun, he probably wouldn't even be able to eat a plate of food.
He looked at Song Yun in astonishment and said: "Xiangpu, they are one hundred thousand people! In just one day... one hundred thousand pigs cannot be defeated so fast! Those Rakshasa soldiers are all musketeers. ah!"
Songyun was silent, thinking not to mention the muskets. The pirates in the North Sea used rapid-fire rifles, which could fire several shots in an instant; the cannon could really destroy dozens of miles with one shot. The imperial court's hundreds of thousands of troops were beaten to the ground several times and were unable to fight back, let alone a mere one hundred thousand Rakshasa soldiers.
He frowned and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, as a minister appointed by the emperor, I, Song Xiangpu, have the responsibility to defend the land. Even if Kulun City falls, I will die to repay the king's kindness at most. But there are tens of thousands of people in the city. Why should the surname be deserved? Why should the hundreds of thousands of people of Chechen Khan and Tushetu Khan be deserved?"
"Xiangpu, why are you doing this?" Chedendorji was silent for a while and then explained: "It's winter now. Even if the North Sea Pirates defeat Rakshasa, they can't brave the cold to attack Kulun City. In my opinion, Rakshasa is also a country thousands of miles away, how can we swallow this breath. Zhao Ni has poked a hornet's nest this time and asked them to fight with Rakshasa to the death. You and I just sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and strictly guard the border."
In fact, this Tuxie Tuhan was scared to death, but he was cunning and cunning, and pretended to be as stable as a mountain on the surface.
At present, the total strength of Tushetu Khan's tribe is 7,800, and there are no more troops to recruit; even if the Chechen Khan's tribe next door is added, the full strength is only 14,000. It only took one day for the North Sea Pirates to defeat one hundred thousand Rakshasa soldiers, but how many of them were gone in a blink of an eye?
Songyun said: "Your Majesty, let alone the other three tribes, can Tuxie Tuhan tribe recruit another 10,000 soldiers and horses?"
Cheden Dorji trembled in his heart when he heard this, and sighed: "Ten thousand people at most is the limit."
When Songyun heard that he could only recruit more than 2,000 people, he thought to himself that this was not enough, and then sighed in distress.
Speaking of the Qing Dynasty's management of the Khalkha Mongolia, various rumors were flying in the sky in another time and space. It's like reducing the number of men and letting Mongolian families send men as lamas. What they say seems to be true. A certain author whose background was in the Cao Mansion even made serious remarks about the Qing Dynasty's reduction of the Mongols.
Pooh! Pure nonsense!
According to the records in the "Archives of the Palace of the Prince of Zhasak Tuhan", starting from the Kangxi period, the Qing government set up banner commanders in Mongolia. Each commander was rated at 150 archers, of which 50 were active soldiers, 100 were reserve soldiers, and there were less than 150 People call him Yu Ding or Ban Zuo. From the middle of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the total number of subordinates in the four tribes of Khalkha basically remained at about 140, and the total number of arrows was about 21,000. As a military organization, the Zasak Banner became the basis for the Qing government to implement the military service system, recruit archers, and apportion service in the area. The number of sergeants and archers of each banner was used as the basis for the recruitment of service.
Historically, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had few troops stationed in Mobei, and all border defense tasks were completed by the four Khalkha Mongolian troops. The four departments are responsible for a wide range of imperial duties. In addition to wartime expeditions, they also undertake various duties such as post stations, military platforms, Karens, border patrols, official animal husbandry factories, and farm fields in peacetime. They are assigned to Uliasutai and Khovd. Various handymen in the imperial court or local military and political agencies in , Kulun, Kyaktu and other places. At the same time, they also had to provide some of the camels, edible livestock, felt bags and other physical items needed by the Qing government on the border of Mobei, or exchange them for silver and distribute them. They were even sent by the Qing government to other areas outside Mobei to serve as various errands.
Because alliance leaders who failed to complete their errands would be punished by the Qing court, and even be deposed and inherit the title, the four tribes often recruited the sons of archers and monasteries to work as errands.
It is true that the four tribes of Khalkhatu Shetu Khan, Zhasak Tu Khan, Chechen Khan and Sanyinnuoyan guarded the northern border for the Manchu Qing Dynasty and shouldered various heavy tasks. They were severely squeezed by the Qing court. The bottom of the Mongolian tribes The people are also very poor, but unless the Manchus no longer want the territory of Mobei, why go crazy and reduce the country? !
Furthermore, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had strict restrictions on the number of monks from the four tribes of Khalkha and Mongolia who could become monks. If there were not enough adult males in each ministry, it would be impossible to complete the heavy service tasks of the Qing court. It was in the late Qing Dynasty that the Qing government's control over Mobei almost failed, which led to a sharp increase in the number of monks in the temples.
The situation where a family with many children chooses one son to inherit the family business and the rest to become monks is because the Mongolians later became poor and could not survive, so they could only become monks to seek food and clothing.
According to the records of the "Zhasak Yamen Archives of the Right Wing Banner of Khalkha", during the Qianlong period, the entire Right Wing of Khalkha only issued no more than 500 ultimatums, and there were another 900 temple quotas.
You must know that ancient Mongolian and Tibetan monasteries were also a wealthy class. The upper-class lamas ate more and occupied more, and they were no worse than those princes and nobles. Take the Bailing Temple as an example. During the Guangxu period, the number of livestock reached its peak at 50,000, and more than half of the herdsmen in the entire Khalkha region herded livestock for the temple.
The method of reducing the number is a matter of the Jin Dynasty, so don't be fooled. The lies fabricated by the Japanese and Russians in order to create divisive facts have been passed down from generation to generation, and the hearsay records of General Feng are often used as serious historical materials. How ridiculous!
An imperial envoy and a prince sat in Chou City for a long time to discuss, but in the end there was no result. When Cheden Dorji saw that it was getting late, he stood up and left. However, when he returned home, he called his son Eyiduob Dorzi over.
"Amma, what's the matter with your son?" Eryiduobu Dorzi was smoking a cigarette in the house, drinking a small amount of wine, and was suddenly summoned by his father. He felt unhappy.
Looking at his drunken son with a red face, Chedendorji first backed away, then asked his cronies to watch outside the yurt, and then asked: "How many cigarettes did you bring back this time?"
"One hundred boxes."
Chedendorji thought about it in his mind. One box is five hundred boxes. Based on the fact that four boxes can earn one sheep, this trip is worth tens of thousands of sheep. It is really a good deal with huge profits.
"Next time I go back and make more friends with them. I can sell them cattle, sheep and horses, except for people who can't give me anything."
"Ma?" Eyiduobu Dorji's eyes widened and he said worriedly: "If Songyun finds out about this, it will be a big trouble!"
Cheden Dorji showed a trace of disdain on his lips, beckoned his son to come closer, and whispered: "What do you know! To tell you the truth, Rakshasa was defeated again this time, and he lost a hundred thousand people!"
"Ah! What about us?"
"You remember my words, the imperial court cannot defeat those people at all, and the change of dynasty will only take a year or two. If you want us Mongolians to block the bullets for them, don't dream!"
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