In April of the 20th year of Chengshun, Yining City, Yining Valley, Turpan Province.
Tens of thousands of people and soldiers are working with hoes, shovels and other tools. Some people are building various city fortifications, and some are building various buildings.
But more people are working on the land on both sides of the Yining River outside the city.
This former gathering place for the Mongolian tribes in the desert and the administrative center of the Jungar people no longer has any nomadic characteristics. Instead, it has become a very typical city with Central Plains architectural style, and the city The large swaths of newly developed farmland outside give it a city look unique to the farming nation.
Anyone who looks at Yining City and the farmland outside the city will know that this is a city belonging to the Central Plains Dynasty!
A Central Plains city with a strong Central Plains style reappeared in the hinterland of the Western Regions after hundreds of years, to be precise, more than 800 years later!
Although the city is still very simple, even the city wall is only three or four meters high and very thin. It is better to say that it is a city wall than a parapet of a field defense fortification.
But every brick and tile tells one fact: after more than 800 years, the Chinese finally regained the Western Regions!
The so-called Western Region customs and all kinds of messy foreign things were stepped on under the military boots of the soldiers of the Chu Empire, and then the Chinese flag was erected!
Since the first day when the Great Chu Empire regained the Western Regions, it has comprehensively implemented the policy of enlightenment for the remaining local surrendered people. They wore Chinese clothes, spoke Jinling Zhengyin, and wrote Chinese prose.
Books and articles are on the same track, cars are on the same track!
In this way, this place can be the land of China for generations to come!
Therefore, although Yining is crude, it is still the most direct proof and symbol of Chinese orthodoxy in the Western Regions.
At the same time, the still simple Yining is also the residence of the governor of Turpan Province and the location of the Turpan Province garrison headquarters.
From now on, this place will also become the industrial, political and even agricultural center of the Chu Empire in the Western Region!
According to the plan of the Dachu Empire's high-level officials for this place, this place will become the core base for the Dachu Empire's comprehensive and practical control of the Western Region and even the Central Asia region further west.
To this end, various departments of the Dachu Empire have been cooperating since last year, and a large number of personnel and funds began to gather here.
The Reclamation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has recruited and organized more than 50,000 resettlement immigrants. These 50,000 poor immigrants recruited from Shaanxi will receive free land in the Yining Valley area and enjoy full exemption for five years. , a tax preferential policy of unified agricultural tax for five years and a half.
In addition, the official will be fully responsible for their immigration expenses, that is, the cost of the journey, the tools used for settlement after arriving in Yining, and the rations for the first year.
At the same time, they promised that the remaining grain they produced would be purchased at a high price by the Turpan Grain Company, a subsidiary of the Dachu Empire Grain Corporation.
Such immigration conditions are very generous. Only remote places where people are unwilling to go, but where the government urgently needs new immigrants, can obtain such immigration conditions.
And Yining is just such a place!
Da Chu Empire officials urgently need to fill the population here.
If it were placed in a traditional feudal dynasty, some forced means would probably be used to immigrate from other places.
Or there is no need for forced immigration, but because life is difficult and there are no other immigration options, some people who cannot survive will come and risk their lives to survive, just like the Russians immigrating to Siberia... Well, including many Overseas immigrants from European countries basically go to overseas territories to seek survival because they cannot survive at home.
But it's different in the Chu Empire... Now that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, it's nonsense to say that the people's lives are very good. It's still very difficult for most people at the bottom to have enough to eat, but it's not true. Starvation to the point of mass famine.
Coupled with the rural background, many people are actually unwilling to immigrate.
Even if they want to immigrate, many people give priority to areas such as Liaodong, Northern Liaoning, southern Heishui Province, or southern Monan Province.
There are still not many people voluntarily immigrating, let alone going overseas or to border areas.
Therefore, the immigrants in these places, except for businessmen, a small number of desperado adventurers who want money rather than their lives, and exiled criminals, are officially organized immigrants.
This is true in Nanyang, northern Heishui Province (north of Heilongjiang and other areas), most areas in Mobei Province, etc. Ordinary people are basically unwilling to go and can only rely on official immigration to fill the local population.
However, considering the cost of immigration, including the cost of deporting criminals, official immigration is not high.
Under such circumstances, in most of the border areas of the mainland, the Chu Empire actually used military settlement to increase its actual local control.
This military reclamation system was first implemented in the Northeastern region. After defeating the Eastern invaders and initially unifying the Northeastern region, the Chu Empire Army used a large number of local garrison troops for on-site reclamation.
At first, the reclamation area was limited to the northeastern plain. Later, city building and military reclamation were carried out along the Heilongjiang River, including its tributaries, Songhua River and Nen River.
Through large-scale militarized reclamation, the Chu Empire completely established a foothold in the Northeast in just a few years.
This kind of gaining a foothold does not refer to pure military presence, but to the fact that the local area has been able to produce enough money and food to sustain the local army's consumption.
In other words, the Chu Empire no longer needs to transport food from the pass to the northeastern region to supply the local garrison.
There was even a surplus to supply garrisons elsewhere.
When the garrison solves the ration problem on its own, the pressure on civilian rations in the Northeast will be much less, and there will be a surplus of civilian food. With the surplus food, it can be used as rations for more immigrants.
Militarized farming has great benefits for the current Chu Empire. It not only allows the army to provide part of its rations by itself and reduces military expenditures; it can also reduce the pressure on local food;
More importantly, it allows the Chu Empire Army to maintain garrison strength in border areas and areas with inconvenient transportation to protect the country!
After the success of military reclamation in the Northeast, the Army carried out extensive promotion in various places, especially in other border areas.
The Western Region is the second region to carry out large-scale military reclamation!
The beginning is the Jiayuguan area including the Hexi Corridor behind!
At that time, in order to amass tens of thousands of troops in the Jiayuguan area and maintain the food and grass needs for the Western Expedition, the Army spent a lot of effort on military colonization in the Hexi area, especially the oasis area where Jiayuguan was located.
After the first Western Expedition, the Chu Empire captured oases in Guazhou, Hami and other places, and carried out military settlements in these places.
After the second Western Expedition, that is, now, the Army of the Chu Empire has naturally carried out militarized colonization in Turpan and surrounding oasis areas, the Yining River Valley area, and other oasis areas.
The Yining River Valley is a key area for military colonization. On the one hand, the Dachu Empire Army deployed more than 50,000 troops here to maintain the threat to Dzungar and the Kazakhs and protect the security of the hinterland behind Turpan Province. troops.
Including a cavalry corps, a combat-ready first-class division, and a standing second-class division, with a total strength of more than 50,000.
When these troops are not fighting, the infantry, artillery, and baggage troops put down their muskets and swords, and pick up their hoes to clear wasteland and cultivate the land!
The cavalry returned to their identity as herders and began to herd...
This military settlement of more than 50,000 troops has initially developed a large area of land and grazing, striving to solve the problem of food rations for more than 50,000 people and hundreds of thousands of horses on the spot...
To be honest, this is difficult and there is no way to solve it in a short time. We still have to rely on supplies from Hami, Turpan and other places in the rear.
At the same time, we also need to rely on the food produced by official immigrants in the Yining area.
More than 50,000 people may not be able to eat much...but there are tens of thousands of horses...these horses can eat much more than people.
Relying on your own cultivation alone will not be able to meet the needs of these main forces, which cost a lot of money and have powerful mobile combat capabilities.
This is also the reason why there are so few combat-ready first-class divisions in the Chu army... In the Great Chu Empire Army, the biggest difference between combat-ready first-class divisions and normal second-class divisions is the difference in mobility.
The difference in mobility mainly comes from the attached mules and horses.
This is true for both infantry and cavalry units.
The rations of a war horse are four to five times that of a soldier, and the first-class divisions of the Chu Empire Army have anywhere from five to six thousand mules and horses!
How can I put it this way? The food and grass chewed by horses for one first-class division man is enough for three second-class divisions!
The same is true in the cavalry units. The cavalry divisions of the combat-ready first-class divisions, regardless of light cavalry or heavy cavalry, all ride three horses alone, and each cavalry post often has a group of extra heavy-duty transport horses. To transport heavy loads.
The cavalry troops of the Normal B Division ride on one horse and two horses.
If a C-class division is prepared for battle, it will only be possible to ride a single horse alone.
In the Dachu Empire, there seemed to be thirty cavalry divisions...but in fact there were only eight first-class cavalry divisions...five of which were used in the Western Front and participated in the war to pacify Jungar.
After the war on the Western Front was initially calmed down, two of the five combat-ready first-class cavalry divisions were deployed in Yining, one was deployed in Tacheng, and one was deployed in Khovd. These four combat-ready first-class cavalry divisions were all directly Facing the remnants of Jungar, strictly speaking, they are still in a state of combat.
Another one is to go back to Mobei Kulun to prevent any changes in Mobei, and at the same time to guard against the Russians.
The remaining three combat-ready first-class cavalry divisions that had not participated in the war were deployed in the hinterland of the Central Plains, and one was deployed in Youzhou, Hebei to control the North China Plain and incidentally support the Northeast or Monan.
One is deployed in Luoyang, Henan, to control the Central Plains Plains and prevent accidents in Shaanxi, Northern Chu and other places.
There is another one deployed in Fengyang, Anlu, to suppress Jiangbei!
Almost every one of these eight combat-ready first-class cavalry divisions is stationed in a strategic location and shoulders an important strategic role.
There are six standing second-class cavalry divisions, usually riding single horses and two horses, and some participate in frontline operations.
And more, those who account for half of the Chu army's independent cavalry are actually cavalry units riding single horses, and they are all light cavalry units.
In addition, the cavalry regiments under the direct jurisdiction of each infantry division are basically configured according to the specifications of three horses for combat readiness, two horses for standing alone, and one horse for defense.
Therefore, the distinction between combat readiness, standing preparation, and garrison in the Chu army is actually more about the number of mules and horses attached. The different numbers of mules and horses lead to differences in mobility, ability to carry baggage, and heavy firepower.
The mobility and the ability to carry baggage artillery directly affect the field combat or offensive combat effectiveness.
As for defensive operations, this does not count... fixedly deployed artillery does not require mules and horses.
As for the artillery... we don't use many artillery shells even if we don't fight, and the artillery itself is not worth a lot of money, much cheaper than mules and horses.
However, the troops deployed in places like Yining cannot defend the C Division, which lacks mobility. They must be the main force with strong mobility. Only in this way can they fight against the remnants of Jungar and continue to attack. Fighting, expelled the remnants of Jungar, continued to seize land, and even fought all the way to Lake Balkhash.
It is not enough to rely solely on a standing C-class division that lacks mobility, or even a standing B-class division with certain mobility.
After all, although the remnants of Zhungeer's army are small in number, they are very mobile... It would be difficult for a first-class division to pursue them, let alone a second-class division with poor mobility.
However, in a border place like Yining, maintaining the garrison of tens of thousands of first-class division troops is too expensive.
If we simply say that military spending is nothing, it is just a matter of spending some money. The key point is that Yining is too far away from the main grain producing areas in the Central Plains, and it is difficult to transport even rich grain.
The only current solution is to rely on military settlement to provide part of the rations, and then rely on officially organized resettlement to solve part of the problem, and then rely on transportation from Turpan, Hami and other places in the rear to solve part of the problem.
In addition to agricultural reclamation, the Chu Empire also began to build factories in Yining City, which was the Yining Arsenal.
This arsenal will be the most important arsenal in the Western Region of the Chu Empire. It will produce all kinds of weapons and ammunition on site, and even some artillery with relatively low technical content.
Although it is not large in scale, it is a comprehensive arsenal with a relatively complete range of products.
Today, the Yining arsenal has begun construction on the banks of the Yining River, and manpower has been mobilized to search for important minerals such as iron ore and coal mines in the surrounding area.
Coal mines are easy to say. An open-pit coal mine has been found near Yining City. Detailed surveys are currently being carried out to prepare for small-scale mining. Iron mines are more troublesome. No small iron mines have been found nearby. Expand your training.
However, they learned from local herders that there seemed to be traces of iron ore in the mountains to the east of the Yining Valley, but mining iron ore in the mountainous areas would definitely be troublesome.
For this reason, the various iron materials needed by the Yining Arsenal can only be transported from the rear areas in the early stage. Of course, the iron materials transported will not be pig iron, but refined wrought iron.
In addition, it can also be imported from nearby grasslands, such as Kazakhstan and other regions. There are actually iron ores in these places, and the iron ore in the Kazakh Khanate has a very high iron content. Many of them are open-pit iron ores, which are easy to mine. And transportation on plains is also convenient.
Although no iron ore has been found in Yining for the time being, a certain amount of iron materials can still be obtained from the surrounding areas in a short period of time to maintain the production of the Yining arsenal.
When Zhungeer cast its own guns before, it also used iron ore and coal mines in surrounding areas.
However, if you want to obtain iron ore shipments from the Kazakh Khanate area, you will have to continue fighting with the Zhungar people. Although the Zhungar people have withdrawn from the Ili Valley, they have not actually gone far...well, not even Way to go the distance!
They are still active in the large grassland areas west of the Yining Valley, especially the area east of Balkhash Lake, that is, the Seven Rivers area and the middle and upper reaches of the Irtysh River to the north.
To the west is the territory of the Kazakhs, and to the south is the Bukhara Khanate.
Based on the idea that the enemy's enemy is the enemy, and the Kazakh Khanate itself is at war with Jungar, the Dachu Empire officials have sent envoys to the Kazakh Khanate in an attempt to reach a cooperation agreement with the local nomadic indigenous people. , and use their combined force to kill the remnants of Zhungeer.
It is not an option to allow the remaining 200,000 Zhungar troops to stay entrenched in the Yining Valley and the western part of the Tacheng area for a long time. Sooner or later, we must find a way to deal with them.
Of course... the purpose of sending envoys to the Kazakh Khanate region was secretly to collect various local conditions and prepare preliminary intelligence for further westward expansion.
How should I put it? After killing the remnants of Zhungeer, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the First Army can't just eat dry food when they have nothing to do... They have to find something to do and gain some territory for the empire, otherwise they will spend so much military expenditure. Why keep them?
The relatively weak Kazakh Khanate in the west and the Bukhara Khanate in the south are very good soft persimmons. If you squeeze them, you can add millions of square kilometers to the empire. land.
Some senior army officials and civil servants in the empire who support westward expansion, such as the senior generals of the First Army and the governor of Turpan Province, have already set their sights on the Kazakh Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate, hoping to expand the Little Western Region Become the Great Western Region...
But this is all in the future. At least the remnants of Zhungeer must be killed first, and Zhungeer's home base of the Seven Rivers area and the middle and upper reaches of the Irtysh River must be snatched away.
Before that, the Chu Empire would still behave like a great country.
Such surrounding situations and even future strategic ideas prompted the Chu Empire to colonize the Yining Valley on a large scale and establish the Yining arsenal.
The Yining Arsenal is invested and constructed by the Shaanxi-Gansu Arms Company. They have sent engineers, technical workers and even equipment to set up the factory since last year.
Although the factory buildings are still very crude and most of the main production lines have not yet been built, they already have the ability to produce ammunition and muskets on a small scale.
In addition to the Yining Arsenal, the Ministry of Industry has also invested in and established several machinery factories, coal mining companies, steel companies, quilt factories, woolen mills and other enterprises in Yining through several other large government-run enterprises.
These investments are all defense investments, all aimed at providing the military with various military supplies and incidentally providing iron farm tools, tools and other small commodities to the local people.
The Da Chu Empire's industrial layout in Yining is a very pure defense industry layout, and it is still small in scale but very complete in variety.
A similar situation also occurred in Kuhl City in Xiaobeihai Prefecture, Mobei Province. The official capital of the Dachu Empire is also preparing to build a defense industry system here that is small but complete.
Once the defense industry systems in these two cities have a certain production capacity, the Chu army's series of military operations in these two directions will not be troubled by the lack of weapons and ammunition.
Even if the production capacity is still not enough, it can greatly alleviate the pressure on the long transportation and supply lines behind.
Yining City is being built at an unusual speed, and in Songjiang Mansion, the prosperous place in the south of the empire, a huge factory has begun to break ground.
This factory was invested and constructed by Guangzhou Machinery Company and is a professional factory for the production of steam engines.
Guangzhou Machinery Company is currently one of the three major steam engine manufacturers in China. The small steam engines they developed based on the original design of the steam engine in the past few years are extremely popular.
The sales of steam engines and the good prospects in the future have led Guangzhou Machinery Company to increase investment in the steam engine business. In order to raise funds, they also sold some of their original non-core businesses that were neither improving nor declining.
Guangzhou Machinery Company is transforming itself into a large-scale machinery and equipment manufacturer, and the steam engine business has become their core business.
Since it has placed a heavy bet on steam engines, Guangzhou Machinery Company is no longer satisfied with its local factory in Guangzhou in order to compete for more market shares, especially to open up markets in other regions.
After careful consideration, they invested heavily in building the factory in the east of Songjiang Prefecture near the Huangpu River.
And this factory is different from the factories that produce steam engines in other companies. It is not only an assembly plant, but also has the ability to process most steam engine parts.
It is precisely in order to have the independent production and supply capabilities of these core components that this steam engine factory has such a large investment and covers such a wide area.
Because strictly speaking, this will be a comprehensive factory integrating smelting and large-scale mechanical processing.
These things are typical heavy industries, and the investment is very huge. Just the large boring machine used to process the cylinder, plus the supporting large steam unit, are worth a lot of money.
As for Guangzhou Machinery Company, which has invested so much, its plans are certainly not small.
They want to rely on the strong production capacity of the new factory to further consolidate their leading position in the field of small steam engines, and at the same time get involved in and seize the more profitable medium-sized steam engine market to better seize the industrial steam engine market.
They even have ambitions for large steam engines. Although the total market share of this thing is slightly lower, the unit price is higher and the profit is higher.
They are striving to become a comprehensive steam engine manufacturer covering a comprehensive product line.
At the same time, they are also rushing to seize the national market, especially the core market in the Yangtze River Basin.
They are even rushing to be the industry leader!
(End of chapter)
