Three days later, Alinbao and more than 20 strong men galloped on the post road leading to Qitai. After they left Gongning City, they slept in the open air and only changed horses without stopping when passing through the inn. They passed through Fukang County in only two days.
"Xu~~~"
As Alin Bao reined in the horses, others also slowed down in unison, and more than forty well-trained horses stopped neighing wildly. A strong man with a beard like a black tower said in an angry voice: "What's wrong?"
Alingbao explained: "Mr. Ba, we will reach the North Pirates checkpoint in another thirty miles. We have to go south from the fork in the road and walk close to Bogda Mountain. You and I will take a few brothers to Shichengzi." Meet us."
After the Northern Navy captured Kai'an City west of Qitai, Liu Sheng ordered the troops to continue advancing westward, and finally temporarily set the dividing line at Ziniquan Station, ninety miles away from Fukang County. Because it was already winter in October, the defenders in Fukang County did not realize that something was wrong until early November when they sent supplies to the post station.
The strong man nodded after hearing this, looked up and saw that it was still early, and said, "Let's go! Find a place to rest after entering the mountain!"
Everyone around them said "嗻" in unison, and then let go of the reins. Hundreds of horses' hooves clacked sharply, and disappeared in the smoke and snow in the blink of an eye.
It is said that after careful consideration, Shang'an, the governor of Urumqi, finally decided to take a gamble. If there are jujubes but no jujubes, try it first. If it succeeds, wouldn't it be a great achievement? When the Northern Navy attacks, even if he abandons the city and flees, his merits and demerits will be offset by General Yili Mingliang and the imperial court, and he will escape death.
In his early years, this man joined the Ministry of War as a military officer and served as a post officer. Later, he participated in the Battle of Jinchuan and Jinchuan and put down the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu. He also served as the chief envoy of Shaanxi and the governor of Guangdong. Unfortunately, nine years ago, he was involved in the case of "salt merchants from eastern Guangdong donating public funds". Qianlong sent him to Turpan to serve as the leading minister. It took several years before he was promoted to the governor of Urumqi.
Because of the relationship between General Yili Mingliang and his backer Agui, Shang'an was well aware of the terrifying strength of the Northern Navy. Mingliang's strong troops in Ninggu Pagoda were beaten to the point of vomiting blood, not to mention the thousands of troops in Gongning City and Dihua City. There was no chance of mobilizing the whole city, and something evil was needed to do it.
So Shang'an selected more than 20 elites from the Eight Banners garrisoned in Gongning City. They were all veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles and had extremely strong individual combat capabilities. As mentioned before, since the "Battle of Jinchuan and Jinchuan", the Qing army has shifted its focus from battle formation training to emphasizing personal bravery, so it has put forward higher requirements for individual combat capabilities.
The person in charge of leading the team was a Manchurian Zhengbai Banner Co-Leader named Bacina. In addition, there were two leaders and forward commanders, and twenty forward soldiers - the Bajala front sentinels originating from the post-Jin Dynasty.
The Eight Banners garrisoned in Urumqi were all Zhuang Langman soldiers from Liangzhou, Gansu. To be honest, Liangzhou Mancheng is located in a military hub, and coupled with its remoteness, it is less affected by the corrupt atmosphere of the banner people in the mainland. It was the main force in all the wars of the Qianlong Dynasty, and its combat effectiveness was very high, second only to the Qianlong Dynasty. Yu Sauron soldiers.
In addition to the short knives, tiger-thorn spears and 132-pound heavy bows each of Bachina and his team carried this time, they also had ten high-quality Mongolian flowers. This kind of gun is three feet seven inches long, weighs eight kilograms, has a charge of two qian, and the iron weight is 4.7 qian. Although the two men carried it with a longer range and greater lethality, its length was more than two meters, making it inconvenient to carry.
In winter, the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains are covered with snow, with undulating mountains, intertwined snow-capped mountains, forests, rivers and canyons, making it inaccessible and extremely difficult to travel. Although they were led by Alinbao, who was familiar with the terrain, and the soldiers of the forward battalion were accustomed to walking on mountain roads, the journey of more than 200 miles still slipped away for five days. It was not until noon on the sixth day that they arrived at the frozen Biliu River. . As long as you cross the river and enter the valley to the east, you can reach Shichengzi by walking another forty miles.
At the same time, on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountain forty miles away, Zhao Xin, Fan Tong, and Jiang Fan rode horses and slowly walked up a high hill. Looking around, you can see the vast and vast mountains and rivers in front of you. In the distance is a river as frozen as a mirror, and at your feet is a deep ravine covered with white snow.
Zhao Xin jumped off the horse, threw the reins to the accompanying guards, and strolled into the ruins with only broken walls remaining. Fan Tong and Jiang Fan didn't know what was going on, so they had no choice but to dismount and follow. They saw Zhao Xin lowering his head and plucking on the snow in the ruins for a while, then leaning over to pick up something. Fan Tong stepped forward and took a look, and found that it was a broken clay tile; in the middle were two double cross lines, dividing the circular surface into four equal parts. In each piece was a pattern with an involute edge, and the lines were clearly discernible.
"Wardang?"
"Yes. A moiré tile from the Han Dynasty." Zhao Xin said and handed it to Fan Tong.
Jiang Fan on the side looked at it for a moment, weighed it in his hand, and agreed: "It is indeed a Han tile. Taking this thing back and finding someone to carve an inkstone would be a great addition to the study room."
Fan Tong knew nothing about literary works and said in surprise: "This thing can also be used as an inkstone? I have only heard of Qin bricks being used as inkstones."
Jiang Fan explained: "The tiles of the Qin and Han dynasties are made of fine materials, and the materials used are exquisite, almost pure mud. When used to make inkstones, they are strong and lustrous, and they can store water for several days without drying up. They are rare and top-quality inkstones. One year ago In the home of an official in the capital, I once saw an inkstone carved from Changle Weiyang tiles, which was truly exquisite."
Fan Tong suddenly understood and said with a smile: "I have to learn more from Mr. Ziping in the future. I really don't know anything about this."
Jiang Fan subconsciously stretched out his hand to stroke his beard, and only after stroking it for a while did he remember that he had shaved off his beard after joining the army. Why! This is bad in the Bei Navy. Even officers are not allowed to grow beards.
"Xiao Fan," Zhao Xin raised his hand and swept it with his riding crop and said, "Do you know where this place is?"
"Where?" Fan Tongyi looked confused and looked around, thinking, "How the hell do I know about the barren mountains and wild mountains?"
Zhao Xin has been busy these days dealing with farmland affairs left over from the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He is either reviewing files or asking staff from the logistics department to investigate the farmland situation. He also has a meeting to discuss when he comes back in the evening. Finally everything was settled and ready to leave, but early this morning I didn't know what evil possessed me, so I had to drag myself and Jiang Fan to the hills sixty miles away, saying they wanted to relax together. Originally, he called Liu Sheng, but Liu Sheng didn't come because he had something to do.
Since the Northern Navy captured Gucheng, Zhenxifu and Hami, it was natural that they would take over all the military, prison and household villages in the three places. The area of more than 60,000 acres of cultivated land is not a small amount. How to manage this cultivated land and labor force will be related to the rations of the Western Front troops in the coming year, as well as the future land system in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. Furthermore, since the Northern Navy has taken over tens of thousands of acres of farmland, then Seeds after spring and repair and replacement of damaged agricultural tools must be managed; in addition, new rent standards must be determined.
Liu Sheng and Fan Tong had been busy with military deployment, troop training and prisoner of war management for more than two months, and had not paid attention to the field affairs at all; but when Zhao Xin learned about the situation, he believed that the matter was too important to delay. While there was still plenty of time, he directed the logistics people and spent a few days figuring out the matter and formulating a plan after the spring, so that even if he left, he could stay on track.
As the name suggests, the so-called "Bing Tuen" refers to the land cultivated by the Green Camp soldiers. The Manchu Qing Dynasty divided the Green Camp soldiers from Zhuti Town, Shaanxi and Gansu who were good at farming into a village according to hundreds of people. Each family was allocated 21 acres of land, and there was a camp. Then there is the "criminal settlement", which is a form of settlement composed of exiled prisoners, which is also included in the green camp settlement.
The above two types of land are government-owned, with only use rights but no property rights, and all annual output must be turned over. Because the standards set by the Manchus in the past were too high, life was very poor whether they were stationing troops or deporting prisoners, and the latter was even worse.
For example, for garrison soldiers, those who pay more than fifteen shi for fine grain will be rewarded with one month of salt and vegetable silver (one tael); those who pay more than 25 shi for fine grain will be rewarded with two months of salt and vegetable silver. But if the amount of fine grain paid is more than twelve dan but less than fifteen dan, there will be no reward or punishment; if the fine grain paid is less than twelve dan, not only the garrison troops will be punished, but also the commanding garrison and battalion officers will be punished.
The standards for deporting prisoners are: six shi and six buckets of fine grain, plus half a kilogram of white flour per day; ten shi of fine grain, plus one kilogram of white flour per day; no reward if the fine grain exceeds four shi and six shi per ration. As a punishment, those who pay less than four stones in fine grain will be severely punished. The reason why the standard for sending convicts to farm is lower than that for soldiers is mainly because there are insufficient livestock and farm tools, and there is also an insufficient number of laborers.
Despite the high-sounding claims of the Qing Dynasty, it is salt, vegetables, silver and white flour, but when Zhao Xin took several staff officers to review and tally the account books of Qitai County's farmland, he found that under normal circumstances, the difference between stationing troops and sending troops It is already very difficult for criminals to meet the standard of paying food without reward or punishment, and it is even more difficult to meet the standard of receiving reward.
In the 32 years from the 25th year of Qianlong's reign to the 57th year of Qianlong's reign, there were only eight years in which the amount of grain payments for troops and fields was more than fifteen dan, accounting for 25%; there were ten years when the amount of grain payments above twelve dan was not rewarded or punished. , accounting for about 37.5%; the passing standard for paying less than twelve shi of grain is fourteen years, accounting for 43.75%.
The figures for deportations are even worse. The history of deported prisoners on Xinjiang East Road is thirty years. In only five of these years, the standard of food payment exceeded six stones and six, and they were rewarded with half a catty of white flour every day, accounting for 16.7%; the food payment was more than four stones. There were twenty-one years of no reward or punishment, accounting for 70%; there were four years, or 13.3%, of those who paid less than four dan of grain and were severely punished; as for those who paid ten dan of grain, there was none for one year.
Because the grain payment standards for the military and prison camps were not met, both the commanding battalion officers and the camp officials were punished. Therefore, in order to avoid being punished, the field officers at all levels had to force their subordinates to cultivate more land, and it could not be included in the land account books. , the hardship of farming is indescribable. Of course, if there is a famine year, even if you risk your life to cultivate more land, you still won't be able to complete it.
Speaking of hard life, because the troops in the garrison still have more than one tael of salary every month, and the price of food on Xinjiang East Road is extremely low - the market only charges three yuan for one stone, so although they live in poverty, they can still have enough to eat. . But the situation was different for those deported prisoners. Although they were stationed in the army and engaged in farming together, they could not get any money. The government did not care about food rations, so they could only survive on the leftovers of the soldiers. Their lives were extremely miserable, and escapes occurred from time to time.
People from the Western Front Command once rescued a half-crazy guy. Later they learned that this guy was an exile who was sent here three years ago for selling illegal salt. First, his wife died of illness, leaving behind a five-year-old daughter. Later, in order to complete the farming tasks, he could not take care of the child at all, so he could only put it in the nearby woods while farming and let it moan. Within a few days, The child was carried away by the wolf, and the man went crazy.
After completing these statistics, Zhao Xin roughly understood how miserable the situation of ordinary people exiled in Xinjiang during the Qing Dynasty was. In his intuitive impression, he thought that the exiles came here to serve as soldiers guarding the border or herding sheep.
After getting the survey data, Zhao Xin felt that the land ownership system should be as it is. The key is to give villagers a reasonable rent so that they can farm their land with peace of mind. Furthermore, the circumstances of deportation of prisoners need to be re-screened. For example, those who are disobedient, robbed, harbored thieves, abducted, dug graves, murdered, escaped from prison, or even corrupted, criminals must continue to undergo labor reform, and those who have been wrongly accused must be re-screened. It would be better if the treatment becomes the same as that of Bingtun.
In addition to the above problems, there is another farming group that gives Zhao Xin a headache - "hutun". This form of farming was established in the 27th year of Qianlong's reign. The sources of labor were diverse and the situation was complicated. Among them are refugees and tenant farmers from all over Gansu Province, "people in the craft industry" and small traders who come here to seek a livelihood, as well as children of the Green Camp Soldiers, and some powerful families from the mainland, as well as local development Those implicated in the case, border residents involved, etc.
The cultivated land in Hutun was also government-run at the beginning, and each household was given thirty acres of official land. However, as long as they cultivated it for five years, they could be "promoted" - that is, they had to pay taxes to the government, and at the same time, the official land was converted into private land. In addition, the agricultural tools and livestock of this group of people are not allocated by the government, but are loaned for use. They must return them when their livelihood is sufficient, and they must bear the losses themselves.
Although the amount of this part of arable land is not large, it cannot be underestimated. Zhao Xin is still undecided on how to collect the ownership and how to collect it. The key is that Xinjiang in these days is vast and sparsely populated, and there is really a lot of uncultivated wasteland. If we take back the ownership for this point, before the whole of Xinjiang is taken over, it will bring bad reputation to the Bei Navy; but if we don't take it back, leaving such a tail will be troublesome in the future.
After Zhao Xin held many meetings and discussions with Fan Tong, Jiang Fan and the logistics staff, the final plan was as follows:
1. The Western Front Command has established an Agricultural Reclamation Department, with Chief of Staff Changjiang Fan as the general person for the time being. Relevant personnel can be transferred from the Logistics Department or recruited from the private sector. The Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation will coordinate all farmland water conservancy affairs along the entire Xinjiang East Road, including the distribution and maintenance of seeds, new farm tools, and livestock. The Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation will also be responsible for this. The redemption of private land is also temporarily placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Reclamation.
2. Beginning in 1794, the fine grain payment standard for soldiers in the villages was reduced to ten shi - that is, 1,200 kilograms. The excess went to the village households. Those who meet this standard will receive a subsidy of NT$50 per household. In addition, the salary for garrison troops was adjusted from the original 30 taels per year, equivalent to 154 Beihai dollars, to 200 Beihai dollars; the salary for horse farmers was adjusted from the original 41 taels, or 207.5 yuan, to 260 yuan. The purpose of the increase is mainly to improve their lives so that they no longer have to worry about the expense of salt and vegetables.
3. The fine grain payment standard for deported prisoners is reduced to 3.5 kilograms - that is, 420 kilograms. Those who complete the task will receive a subsidy of 30 yuan per household, and the remaining part is the same as above. In addition, deported prisoners must also be given a certain living allowance to improve their lives. The annual standard is one hundred North Sea dollars. However, this part of the money must be managed by a separate account set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation. When deported prisoners want to use it, they must fill out a form and apply for approval (otherwise The front leg took the money, and the back leg ran back to the pass.)
4. Regarding the issue of "hutun", the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation will purchase the ownership through agreement, but no compulsory redemption is allowed. The land price will be increased by 20% based on the local farmland transaction market price. In terms of grain payment standards for Hutun, the standards of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties continued to be implemented, that is, grain payment was eight liters per mu, and 30 acres of land was 2.4 shi. In addition, if the full payment is made within August each year, a 10-yuan subsidy will be issued; if the full payment is made within September, a 5-yuan subsidy will be issued; if the full payment is made within October, a 2-yuan subsidy will be issued; in November and December It was only completed in full and there was no subsidy.
When news of the plan spread, the first people to learn about it were the military and prisoner households in the Qitai area. The hearts of everyone who had been hanging around finally settled down. Many people simply kowtowed in the direction of Jingyuan City, saying that the days ahead would be easier!
Zhao Xin believes that as long as this plan is implemented unremittingly, the Western Front troops will no longer have to worry about the food problem in the future. And with the increase in grain production on Xinjiang East Road, the food supply in the Khovd region can also be met.
After finishing the farm work, Zhao Xin, who was already dizzy, remembered that there was another scenic spot in the south of Qitai - Jiangbulake, and there was an ancient city ruins nearby. It's rare for me to come to Tianshan, so I have to take a look before leaving to make the trip worthwhile.
He definitely didn't have time to see the beautiful scenery in autumn, but he had heard someone say that the scenery there was not bad in winter, so he called Fan Tong and Jiang Fan, and ran over early in the morning with a platoon of guards.
A lot have been deleted. As I write, I feel something is wrong.
