On December 13, the 19th year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue issued an order to appoint Bian Yong'an, the former governor of Hami, Guazhou and other civil affairs affairs, as the first governor of Turpan.
Its jurisdiction is basically the west of Jiayuguan in Gansu, the north of Kangxi Province, the southwest of Khovd Prefecture in the northwest region of Gansu Province, that is, the southwest of the Altai Mountains. Going west, it temporarily reaches the Tacheng area and the Yinli Valley area, but there is no clear boundary... …
Because how far to the west we can go depends purely on whether the subsequent Chu army can continue to kill the Jungar people in this area.
If everything goes well, the jurisdiction of Turpan Province will probably be able to extend all the way west to the Yibo Sea, that is, Lake Balkhash, and it is not impossible to even expand all the way to the Aral Sea.
Because the follow-up will definitely continue to the west, because the first Turpan governor was not stationed in Hami like the predecessor Hami governor, nor was he stationed in Turpan, but was directly stationed in Yinning in the Yinli Valley.
It was Yin Ning City, the original administrative center of the Jungar people.
The Great Chu Empire directly adopted this name and established Yin Ning Mansion there, calling the local river valley area Yin Ning Valley. (It was previously called Yin Li, this is the name the author wrote for readers!)
Turpan was established as a province, and the governor garrisoned Yinning.
At the same time, administrative agencies at various levels such as prefectures, counties, and towns were established to directly govern various places in the Western Region, such as Hami Prefecture, Turpan Prefecture, Tacheng Prefecture, etc.
After establishing a complete administrative governance structure, the local surrendered subjects in the Western Regions will be comprehensively educated.
Starting from the aspects of religion, language, clothing, culture, marriage, etc., we will comprehensively educate the local surrendered people.
The Great Chu Empire has always attached great importance to the education of newly occupied areas. After all, people who are not of our race must have different minds!
Today's imperial education policy is actually very simple. To sum up, it is to ensure that everyone in the local area is one of its own.
As for those who were not one of our own... naturally they all died.
I used to treat all kinds of toast this way before. If you accept my teachings, then you will be one of my own and we can all have fun together.
If you don't accept enlightenment and insist on being a barbarian, the Chu army won't be polite to you and will just shoot you over with guns and cannons...
Various chieftains in the southwest and Kham regions were also very dissatisfied with the enlightenment policy of the Chu Empire at first. They always felt that they were barbarians and were not of the same family as the Chu Chinese people. For this reason, they often started rebellions.
So now there is no toast in these places...
One thing to say is that these rebellious behaviors are generally limited to the upper-class indigenous dignitaries. Most of the local ordinary people are hijacked just because of their ignorance.
To be honest, these ordinary people don't actually care about these enlightenment policies. After all, it doesn't matter what clothes they wear or what words they learn in school. What matters is that they can eat well, wear clothes and receive education...
They will follow whoever can keep them fed.
After the Da Chu Empire gave them enough food, they naturally followed the Da Chu Empire, which was very simple and plain.
This was also the time when the Great Chu Empire was carrying out enlightenment policies in many areas. The local ordinary people generally had no objections. Those who had objections were those who were unwilling to give up their rights, and the Great Chu Empire did not offer any preferential treatment policies, such as giving them a title or Local dignitaries with official hats, that is, the chieftains.
If the Chu Empire was willing to give them titles and official positions, then these chieftains might not rebel.
After all, anyone with any sense knows that if you can be a Chinese, why should you be a barbarian...
Historically, when the Mobei Mongols were defeated during the Kangxi period and faced with either defecting to Russia or the Qing Dynasty, why did they eventually choose to submit to the Qing Dynasty and become part of the Qing Dynasty?
Jebtsundamba I said this: "The dynasty of the Yellow Khitan Khan in the north is called Russia. Although Yun Kang is a great country, Buddhism has not yet emerged. If you wear clothes with your lapels turned to the left, you should not follow them. The dynasty of the Black Khitan Khan in the south is safe. Happiness, and the circulation of Buddhism. The clothes of the Khan of Manchuria are like heavenly clothes, and their materials are the treasures of heavenly dragons. The velvets and brocades are all perfect. He is a very blessed Khan. If we go there, we will surely enjoy it. The blessings of peace and tranquility for the country and the people.”
This statement is very interesting, because Mobei Mongolia is a descendant of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and the Meng Yuan Dynasty already wore the right jacket after moving to the Central Plains, and has since called itself a civilized person... But Russia is still a barbarian, and still wears the left jacket of the barbarians. , after the Qing Dynasty in the south settled in the Central Plains, they wore right-hand jackets and were civilized people... Naturally, we civilized people have to defect to the civilized people...
That's probably what it means.
Using clothes as a theory is just a reference. In fact, what it represents is the yearning of the various ethnic groups around China for the Chinese civilization in the Central Plains... More importantly, the Qing Dynasty treated Mobei Mongolia preferentially, and the treatment they gave was still very good. Rich.
Mobei Mongolia did this in history, and now many tribes or other ethnic groups also do it. The nobles of Mobei Mongolia are now living as civilized people in Jinling City.
Why should we be barbarians when we can be civilized people?
However, the Great Chu Empire would not give titles or official titles to the leaders of small tribes casually... This is not a big cabbage, how can it be given casually.
If you don't have a certain amount of strength, why do you want the Chu Empire to give you preferential treatment and return your title?
And many rebellious chieftains just don't get preferential treatment because of their weak strength, or they are dissatisfied with the treatment... They are all a group of people with high ambitions and low abilities... Of course, it cannot be ruled out that some of them are careerists.
But it doesn’t matter, anyway, the Chu Empire’s response to these weak rebels has always been a single one: kill!
As for you saying that powerful tribal leaders were dissatisfied with their treatment and then rebelled... The senior officials of the Dachu Empire were not stupid. They had already recruited powerful tribal leaders with high-ranking officials and generous salaries...
For example, the tribal leaders in Mobei Mongolia are treated very generously.
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In addition to educating people, the Chu Empire would also concentrate its efforts on reclamation in the local area.
Education is soft, but farming is hard!
Why is the Western Region so difficult for the traditional central dynasty to rule and defend? It's because the distance is too far and material supplies are too difficult.
To maintain rule, garrison troops are indispensable, and the number of people of the tribe is also indispensable, but these people need to eat and drink.
How do you get this food and drink?
This requires reclamation.
Relying on some local oases, river valleys and other places, especially Hami, Turpan and surrounding areas as well as the Yinli River Valley and other places, large-scale reclamation was carried out to produce food to supply the garrison and the people.
Only by being able to farm can we truly establish a foothold in the local area. Otherwise, everything will have to be mobilized and transported from the Shaanxi-Gansu region behind. Even the wealthy Chu Empire will not be able to last long.
To this end, Luo Zhixue instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and other departments to formulate a highly targeted resettlement and reclamation policy based on the special circumstances of Turpan Province.
For example, allocate land for free and provide subsidies to attract people to immigrate spontaneously as much as possible.
For example, setting up a group of C-class divisions to guard the past, and it is just for defense, but it is actually for reclamation...
The Chu Empire used to do this in the northeast and northern grasslands. In these vast and sparsely populated places, many so-called cities were actually built by the official, especially the military-organized reclamation troops.
In addition to traditional agriculture, the Ministry of Industry is also planning to set up a number of local factories to produce consumable military supplies, mainly ammunition, rifles, and cold weapons.
The subsequent battles in the Western Region should include sporadic battles in the south Turpan area and the vast grassland areas west of the Yinli River Valley and Tacheng area. But where is the nearest arsenal?
In Jiayuguan, the arsenal in Jiayuguan is actually very small. Strictly speaking, it is just a small arsenal capable of producing a small amount of ammunition and repairing guns and cold weapons.
The main arsenals that supply weapons are the Lanzhou Arsenal and the Xi'an Arsenal.
To mobilize weapons and ammunition from the Shaanxi-Gansu region to Turpan Province or even to the grasslands in the west, it is really too far...
Just like in the past, in order to support the battle in the Jiayuguan area, the Chu Empire organized an arsenal in Lanzhou and a small arsenal in Jiayuguan.
In order to support operations in the areas west of the Yinli Valley and southern Turpan, as well as operations in the northern regions, the Ministry of Industry plans to establish a simple national defense system in Turpan Province to produce ammunition, guns and cold weapons on site for direct supply. An army fighting in the Western Region.
This task will be handed over to the Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company for specific responsibility. After all, the defense system of the Dachu Empire is basically divided according to regions.
The Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company was previously responsible for the construction of the national defense industry system in Shaanxi and Gansu. The Lanzhou Arsenal, Xi'an Ordnance Factory, and the small arsenal in Jiayuguan, which previously mainly provided weapons and equipment for military operations in the Western Regions and other regions, all directly belong to the Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company.
In the past ten years of history, the Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company has carried out in-depth research on its weapons research and development and production systems on plateaus, deserts and other terrains as well as severe cold weather. It has also conducted in-depth research on cavalry weapons. Its design The new type of saber developed, the 15-year-old saber, uses better materials, and the quality of the blade is even better. At the same time, the bending angle of the handle and blade is subtle, and is adjusted to better meet actual combat needs.
One of the characteristics is that in severe cold weather, this saber can still maintain relatively good performance and will not break easily.
A little common sense, steel is not a single and unchangeable thing. Due to differences in specific processes or formulas, its properties may vary.
Steel is just a general term for an alloy material dominated by iron and carbon, but it does not mean that there are only carbon and iron elements, there are many other things.
In addition to other components that need to be actively controlled, it is mostly due to technical and process issues that the steel materials produced these days often contain other components, such as phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, etc... Different manufacturers and different processes There are also differences, and the properties of the steel materials made are often also different.
If it contains a lot of phosphorus, the low-temperature performance will be very poor. However, many iron ores in China contain a lot of phosphorus. Therefore, the steel materials made by many manufacturers actually have poor low-temperature performance...
In addition, if it contains a lot of sulfur, the high-temperature performance will not be good, and it will become very fragile when the temperature is high.
This is also true for weapons. For example, weapons and equipment used in severe cold areas in the north have relatively high requirements for low-temperature performance, and the phosphorus content must be low to a certain extent. Otherwise, in the north where temperatures are often minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius, In regional battles, wouldn't it be embarrassing if knives, armor, guns, etc. could be broken with just one hit...
The low-temperature performance of the 15-year-old saber is very good. It was specially optimized for low-temperature environments and made great efforts to reduce the phosphorus content.
Therefore, this kind of saber is very popular with the cavalry troops. It has replaced the early five-year-old saber and became the standard cavalry saber of the Chu army cavalry.
Being good at weapons research and development in different fields is not unique to Shaanxi-Gansu Weapons Company, but other weapons companies also have this situation.
Just like the Guangdong and Guangxi Arms Company, they have very outstanding advantages in the field of corrosion resistance and weapons for mountain warfare.
The 15-year-old flintlock it produces is focused on use in coastal and tropical areas. Its barrel is slightly shorter than the Army standard version and has excellent corrosion resistance.
Therefore, the 15-year-old flintlock has become the standard musket for Marine Corps and Navy sailors. In addition, it is also widely used by army troops stationed in various parts of Southeast Asia.
This type of flintlock gun looks similar to the Thirteen Years Type flintlock gun, but it is improved from the Thirteen Years Type flintlock gun.
The Thirteen-year-old flintlock gun is currently the main musket in the Chu Empire, and it is also the original model of many other improved muskets.
The standard version of the Thirteen-year-old flintlock gun was jointly developed by R&D institutions such as the Royal Institute of Technology and the Firearms Research Institute. The five major weapons companies can obtain patents and related technical data for production.
This flintlock gun is the first flintlock gun in the Chu Empire with a high firing rate. Its performance is very good, and its firing rate far exceeds that of the matchlock gun.
Once it was released, it became the standard rifle of the Dachu Empire Army. The production volume was very large. At present, the five major weapons companies have produced a total of at least more than 800,000 rifles, covering most of the main army units, namely the A-class division and the B-class division.
In addition, there are sub-models developed by major weapons companies based on the 13-year-old flintlock musket, such as the 15-year-old flintlock musket, which is based on the 13-year-old flintlock musket and is designed to meet the needs of coastal and tropical operations. A targeted improved tropical rifle.
There is also the 14-year-old cavalry flintlock developed by Hebei Arms Company, which is also improved based on the 13-year-old flintlock.
In fact, in addition to the standard model of the Army, there are also short-barreled models used by cavalry, namely the Thirteen-year-old cavalry musket.
However, it is not popular with the cavalry because the barrel of the Thirteen Years-old cavalry musket is very short. The original intention is to allow the cavalry to load and shoot directly on horseback...
However, the cavalry of the Dachu Empire do not use flintlocks on horseback now... They either dismount and fight on foot, or they charge directly with sabers...
If you develop a cavalry musket that can be fired on horseback, the cavalry will not bother to pay attention to you!
In response to this situation, Hebei Weapons Company developed a cavalry model with a barrel that is shorter than the army model, but longer than the 13-year-old cavalry model... Just such a small change has been welcomed by the cavalry.
Its barrel is slightly shorter than the basic model, allowing cavalry to carry it while marching on horseback, but it is not too short to avoid disadvantages in terms of range and power when dismounting and fighting in formation.
In order not to suffer losses when fighting with bayonets, a longer bayonet was specially issued.
Therefore, the 14-year-old cavalry flintlocks in the Chu army's cavalry are not issued with bayonets, but with lances.
To put it bluntly, this is a conventional rifle that can be carried on horseback and then dismounted for use. Compared with the basic army model, the barrel is slightly shorter, but if an extended bayonet is added, the overall length is no different from the basic army model. !
The cavalry used this thing as the basic model of the army and then engaged in line combat. They had never considered using this kind of musket on horseback!
Currently, the Chu army is equipped with three types of flintlocks on a large scale in the Thirteenth-year-type series of flintlocks, namely the Thirteenth-year-old army flintlocks, the Fourteenth-year cavalry-style flintlocks, and the Thirteenth-year-old cavalry flintlocks. Five-Year-Old Tropical Model Flintlock.
These three muskets come from the same source, and the bolt structure is almost identical. The only differences are the length of the barrel, processing technology, and bayonets/guns issued.
This is only talking about the Thirteen-year-type series of flintlock muskets... In fact, the army, navy and Guards of the Dachu Empire are equipped with more than Thirteen-year-type muskets.
Production has been discontinued, but it has not been retired. There are still hundreds of thousands of subsequent improved versions of the 2-year-old flintlock gun still in service in some second-class divisions and third-class garrison divisions.
The various improved models of the 2-year-old flintlock musket are more numerous and more complex. The military has successively equipped more than ten improved models of the 2-year-old flintlock musket, and four of them are still in service.
Its later improved models, especially those that have undergone bolt action modifications, are quite reliable, and the firing rate will not be much worse than the 13-year-old flintlock gun.
There are currently two series of main guns used by infantry, with as many as seven sub-models.
Then there are pistols. The pistol is also a large-scale weapon in the Chu army. It is mainly used by artillery equipment and officers. The current main models are the 14-year-old Suifa pistol and the 16-year-old Suifa pistol. The former is an ordinary pistol issued to technical arms such as artillery and grassroots officers for self-defense.
The 16-year-old Suifa pistol is a more exquisite and more reliable pistol. It is specially issued to mid-to-high-level officers. The output is relatively low. It is better to say that it is a weapon than a handicraft.
Then there are the 15-year-old cavalry pistols, the 13-year-old tropical pistols used by the Navy and Marines, etc. There are four total models... and these are still new models.
Even more if you count the older models that haven't been retired yet.
In addition to the three main muskets, rifles, lances, and pistols, the military actually has a lot of muskets that are messed up for various special purposes or for testing.
In the winter of the 19th year of Chengshun, the Army had just purchased a large-caliber short-barreled flintlock gun for testing equipment.
This thing is very special... its barrel is very short, and the muzzle is bell-shaped... so it is also called a trumpet gun.
The reason why the trumpet gun has such a special muzzle and such a short barrel is purely because this kind of musket was developed for cavalry.
After the 13-year-old cavalry model was despised by the cavalry, not only Hebei Arms Company targeted the cavalry muskets, but other weapons companies did not give up. Northeast Arms Company also joined the competition.
They believe that the reason why cavalry hates using muskets in combat on horseback is because it is inconvenient to load and the hit rate is very low on horseback, especially when in motion. As long as this problem can be solved, the cavalry can be happy to fight on horseback. Muskets were used on horseback.
Regarding the loading issue, in addition to continuing to keep the barrel short, they simply gave it a bell mouth to make loading more convenient.
As for the hit rate issue, they imitated the shotguns in artillery and directly issued shotshells to the new cavalry muskets. This shotshell is custom-made and contains multiple small steel balls, so that the bullet can be expanded after firing. coverage area to improve hit rate.
After reading it, the generals of the Army Ordnance Department felt that the idea was sound, but they had to give it a try to see if it would be useful or not, so they ordered a few hundred for testing equipment.
In fact, the new experimental muskets purchased by the Army Ordnance Department for cavalry use are not just this one, but there are several others, but they are all pistols used by cavalry.
The top brass of the Ordnance Department have never given up on the research and development and equipment of cavalry firearms... even if the frontline cavalry particularly dislikes muskets.
Especially the cavalry pistol. The cavalry has almost never used this thing in large-scale actual combat in the past ten years...it is only used in sporadic special circumstances.
The reason is basically the same as their dislike of the 13-year-old cavalry short-barreled muskets, that is, they never use muskets on horseback...
If anything happens, he rushes in with his saber, and even shoots nonsense...
When dismounting for defensive operations, they directly use the 14-year-old cavalry musket with a barrel that is only slightly shorter than the standard version, or simply use the Army's standard version of the long musket to directly transform into a line infantry and play with you. …
After being tricked by pistol cavalry and dragoons in their early years, the Chu army's cavalry were quite repulsive to the use of any firearms on horseback. In their own words: Only fools play shooting on horseback!
This also led to the way the Chu army's cavalry fought, which was different from the cavalry of other contemporary countries...
For standard large-scale cavalry, cavalry artillery is often the first to intensively bombard. After the cavalry artillery shakes the enemy's cavalry formation, one's own cavalry will directly line up and charge forward with sabers or lances...or it may be unable to do so or other situations require defensive operations. Or something, then just dismount and play line combat...
Basically, any organized cavalry combat force does not have the option of shooting on horseback.
Only in very rare special sporadic battles, cavalrymen would shoot and fight on horseback, but very rarely.
However, cavalry generals, especially some traditional cavalry generals with backgrounds in cavalry and archery, always believe that cavalry who can shoot on horseback are the future...
Although mounted archery is now unusable, the fault lies not in the mounted archery tactic itself, but in the lack of a more efficient mounted archery weapon than the traditional mounted bow.
It would be great if there could be a cavalry-specific musket with high power, high accuracy, low recoil, and the ability to shoot continuously like a bow and arrow.
Then your own cavalry can gallop on their horses and raise their guns at the same time, killing enemies hundreds of meters away through continuous shooting!
The problem is, such a musket cannot be produced!
Therefore, they can only find some compromise solutions.
