Emperor Ming Dynasty

When I returned to Nenjiang City, it was already two days later.

After Li Yingren entered the city, he was welcomed by everyone.

This supply is the first and last supply after winter.

There will be no support for the rest of the time, and they can only survive with supplies.

There is no doubt that the Horqin Grassland is fertile, but it is also bitterly cold.

Winter begins in September in Liaodong, while winter arrives in Horqin at the end of August, and the cold winter sweeps across the entire grassland.

The same is true. The construction of Nenjiang City only took three months, and only a trench was dug and a wooden wall that was no more than three or four miles long.

The nearly ten thousand soldiers in the city built thick brick and tile rooms one by one for the safety of the winter. The earthen walls were more than three feet thick, and the long Kang was not missing.

In order to avoid insufficient firewood, half of the mountain was cut down and 50 pieces of briquettes were transported.

"Paint your ankles too, and don't leave any of them behind."

Li Yingren inspected the city wall and looked at the soldiers smearing their bodies with lard. He patted him on the shoulder and reminded him.

"Yes!" The soldier nodded quickly.

In the Northeast, in addition to wearing cotton-padded jackets to keep out the cold, applying lard to exposed skin is the best way to effectively avoid frostbite.

This method has long been spread among the military.

In the logistics supply, the frontier army and the Beijing camp also provide a wide range of supplies. As a rule, half a catty per person.

However, the bitter cold in the Northeast and Mobei areas is even worse, so it reaches one pound.

In order to save fuel and water, many soldiers left it to their families, so they applied less land.

Li Yingren was not used to it and asked everyone to apply it.

If you don't pay attention to keeping warm in the Northeast, your ears and fingers will freeze off.

He turned around and asked, "Is this oil enough?"

The deputy commander who followed him said hurriedly: "That should be enough."

"The amount is given for four months."

"Yes!" Li Yingren nodded.

Although the winter in Horqin lasts for more than four months, even up to five months, the real extreme cold only lasts for two or three months.

He sniffed: "This is not lard!"

"I heard it's whale oil." The deputy commander said, "Whale oil is cheap and easy to obtain. One whale can control tens of thousands of people."

"The effect is the same."

Li Yingren nodded and smiled: "The army's supplies are getting more and more abundant."

Oil is just a trivial matter, but from this trivial matter we can see the importance the court attaches to the border troops.

Take boots as an example. The Beijing camp generally uses cloth boots, and only officers use leather boots. In the border army, it is basically a bitter cold place. In order to be waterproof, leather boots are basically used.

Regardless of whether they are pigskin boots or sheepskin boots, as long as they are leather boots, they are better than cloth boots.

Not to mention there’s wool mixed in.

While patrolling along the way, although the weather was getting colder and the snow was coming, the soldiers did not hide away. Instead, they stayed in the cave and observed the situation.

"You have to use charcoal to draw black lines under your eyelids, otherwise you will go blind!"

Passing another battlement, Li Yingren picked up the extinguished charcoal and drew eyeliner on several sentries.

The soldiers had tears in their eyes and were deeply moved.

Li Yingren said casually while walking along the way: "In order to protect your ears, you have to change your felt hat. If you can't protect your ears, it's not enough to apply oil every day."

The felt hat was the mainstream military hat after the Tang Dynasty. It was shaped like a straw hat and was very popular among sergeants. Li Zicheng liked to wear this kind of hat very much.

"Then how should we change?"

"To put down the eaves, you have to add wool and two curtains."

Li Yingren smiled and said: "When the time comes, you can fold it up when it's warm, and put it down directly from the ears when it's cold, directly cover your mouth and chin, and then clasp it together."

"It's also appropriate to add two pieces to protect the mouth and nose."

"The general is brilliant." The deputy general couldn't help but admired: "In this way, the face will no longer be afraid of frostbite."

"I will submit a letter to the Ministry of War right away."

"In my name, you don't have enough weight."

The distance was not long, and it took the two of them an hour to complete the inspection. The soldiers were fully prepared, their morale was good, and they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

General Horqin's Mansion now only has one Nenjiang City, and there are only [-] border troops in the city who were forced to garrison here.

If there is no means, no matter how many people there are, the city will be in danger.

He put a lot of thought into making these people guard with peace of mind.

"This winter, what I'm worried about is not the city, but the outside."

Li Yingren looked at the vast white outside the city and couldn't help but sigh.

"You mean the Tartars?"

The deputy commander couldn't help but said: "Let these Horqin people starve to death."

"When the Manchus fled north to Beihai, our army had to abandon them without a guide. Last year they rebelled. We really deserved it."

"From my point of view, it won't be a problem even if they all starve to death."

"Nonsense." Li Yingren shook his head: "Now that General Horqin's Mansion has been established, these people are all common people of the Ming Dynasty, so their methods must be gentle."

In fact, garrisoning the city is only the first step. The next step is to win over people's hearts and truly establish the general's palace.

Opening up wasteland, collecting taxes, recruiting soldiers, and doing business, every step is important.

Back in his own yard, Li Yingren didn't mind much.

Since it was just a rough construction, he only had a big yard and a few soldiers to serve him, let alone enjoy it.

Only when it comes to food, he can often eat meat, salted fish and other products.

As expected, there were tribesmen wandering around the city within a few days, but they were afraid of their strength and had to give up.

Then, news came that several major tribes were fighting against each other.

Li Yingren was quite angry: "You just don't take my General's Mansion seriously!"

The three iron orders of the Ming Dynasty governing the grasslands were: first, no conquests at will; second, inheritance by the eldest son; and third, territorial divisions must not cross boundaries.

These are shackles that, while bringing peace to the grassland, also restrict the growth of the grassland tribes.

If you conquer at will, the big fish will eat the small fish, which will easily lead to the growth of a big tribe, and peaceful development will never be able to dominate.

When the Manchu Qing Dynasty became stronger, the Jianzhou Jurchens, the Savage Jurchens, and the Haixi Jurchens became three major troubles.

The first thing the general's mansion did when it was established was to promote these three iron laws, demarcate the territory, and not allow any tribe to cross them.

Li Yingren would never allow a roadblock to appear in Horqin.

"Assemble five thousand soldiers and horses, I want to see who has such courage..."

……

Northwest, Gaochang Mansion.

As the gateway to the east of Anxi, the Turpan Basin where Gaochang Prefecture is located can be said to be extremely hot and fiery. The legendary Flame Mountain is located here.

Even so, it is still a basin after all, and there are still many suitable places. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of people live there, effectively filling the population of Anxi.

However, although this place is close to Gansu, it has been ruled by the Yarkand Khanate for many years. The people mostly believe in the Peace religion and there are few Buddhist believers.

Therefore, for many years, the county system has been implemented here, with Han officials from the mainland serving as local officials, thus promoting Chineseization and thoroughly governing this place. "Ahem!" Zhang Ying coughed, feeling the sand in his mouth, and felt helpless for a moment.

In the carriage, the wife complained: "Why did the officials come to this place? There is dirt everywhere."

Zhang Ying knew that he was in the wrong and ignored him.

As a Jinshi of Shaowu in the [-]th year, he had a bright future. During his two-year career in the Hanlin Academy, he not only served as secretary in the cabinet, but also served as a living minister.

So once the school was dismissed, fellow students went their separate ways.

According to convention, new scholars will go to places to serve as chief officials, which are usually fertile places.

Either Gyeonggi or a prosperous place, rarely to the northwest like Gaochang.

But Zhang Ying came anyway.

Without it, they are just greedy for fame and fortune.

Because according to the rules of the imperial court, the rank of officials in the border areas is higher than that in the interior.

For example, the three counties of Gaochang, Huocheng, Liuzhou, and Anlecheng are all ranked from the sixth rank, while the ordinary inland county magistrates are only the seventh rank.

As the saying goes, step by step, step by step is fast.

If you stay in the border area for three years, you can get a better promotion if you come to Beijing immediately.

Even if there is no political achievement, a comment about being able to endure hardship will hit him, and his promotion will be slightly accelerated.

After a long period of accumulation, after three years of hard work, you can be at least two or three steps faster than others. It is worth it.

Moreover, the imperial court also encouraged this matter, and it was even regarded as a privilege of the Hanlin officials.

Ordinary Tongjin scholars have no choice at all.

In this way, Zhang Yingcai brought his wife, children and children to Gaochang Mansion to take up a post.

Seeing his fair and tender wife turning gray, Zhang Rong felt a little guilty for a moment. He held his wife's hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

At this time, Mrs. Yao no longer complained as before, but said lightly: "This is what the slave family should do."

"I can't bear to see you come here alone after thousands of miles."

Zhang Ying smiled: "The incense in our family cannot be cut off!"

Over the years, Zhang Ying has had only one son. At the age of 30, it is very dangerous to have an only son.

Whether it was the expectations of his family or himself, Yao had to succumb to him and traveled thousands of miles to serve as an official in a different place.

Zhang Ying opened the corner of the car curtain and turned to look around. What impressed her most was the yellow earth color everywhere.

A large number of pedestrians were wrapped in headscarves. No matter whether they were men, women, old or young, only one pair of eyes was exposed, and they started chattering.

The most popular items sold on the streets are fruits and pottery, as well as cattle and sheep.

The sounds of various livestock were heard continuously, and the smell of sheep smell was unavoidable.

At this time, Zhang Tingzhan, the ten-year-old eldest son, turned his head curiously, his face full of novelty, his eyes rolling around, and he couldn't look at it at all.

"Look at what?"

Zhang Ying pulled him over: "It's been a long journey, so I haven't pushed you to learn anything, but now that you've arrived in Anle City, Gaochang, you should start learning."

"The mind needs to be at peace."

"Yes, father!" Zhang Tingzhan responded solemnly, with a bit of regret in his eyes.

When he was arrested at the county government office, a group of civil and military officials came to meet him and welcomed his family into the government office.

The reason why he didn't leave the city was because Anle was in the same city as the prefecture and county, and it was too ostentatious for his own good.

Zhang Ying didn't think anything was wrong, so he went to the banquet in the evening.

Only then did he realize the peculiarity of Anle City's official system.

Half of the six offices in the county government are Han Chinese, and the rest are local aborigines. The general magistrates, county magistrates, principals, teaching edicts, patrol camp officers, etc. are all Han Chinese.

A serious mandarin that sounds pleasant to the ear.

She was eating stir-fried vegetables, but Zhang Ying felt that something was wrong.

There are too few locals.

The gentry is nowhere to be seen, and the officials are all transferred from outside. Can this really control a county smoothly?

You know, all officials are aware of the dangers of gentry and local snakes, but there is no other way. They must be integrated into the bureaucracy to build a real center of power.

After asking, I found out that they were all selected talents, most of whom were responsible for supervising students and promoting people.

In other words, they are all just like Zhang Ying, greedy for fame and fortune.

The county magistrate is of the sixth rank, so naturally these assistant and second-rank officials are also of high rank, the general judge is the seventh rank, and the county chief is the seventh rank.

As long as he serves the last term and then goes to the mainland, he will be a serious county magistrate.

After a few years of hard work in exchange for a good future, this is a deal that anyone can do.

Everyone naturally respects this county magistrate who was born as a Jinshi.

Because their future may still depend on this magistrate!
A few days after taking office, Zhang Ying was naturally unwilling to be lonely, and did not want to follow Xiao Gui and Cao Cao, so he took some government servants and went to the countryside.

Being disgraced is the norm in Anle City and even Gaochang as a whole.

Although there are many oases, they cannot cover up the desolation.

During Zhang Ying's visit, he discovered that due to scarcity of land, Gaochang people are not interested in growing food, so they grow more fruits.

The wine it produces is sold as far as the interior.

Even so, the grain produced by Gaochang Prefecture is still the best in Anxi, and tens of thousands of stones of grain are needed to support Urumqi every year.

It can be said that Gaochang Mansion is extremely important to Anxi.

The development of agriculture is naturally inseparable from water.

Snow water from the Tianshan Mountains flows down and nourishes the Turpan Basin.

But the one who discovered the snow water was the karez.

Excavation of underground snow water consists of four parts: shafts, culverts, open channels and dams. It can be said that it is a skill passed down from ancestors for thousands of years.

A karez is usually oriented with an oil lamp, dug with a pick, soil transported with a bucket or a willow basket, and unearthed by pulling a pulley by manpower or livestock, etc.

In order to ensure a stable water output from the karez, excavation, dredging, reinforcement and extension are generally carried out every year.

As a result, there are thousands of karez in Gaochang Prefecture, extending for thousands of miles.

There are even local water officials, weir heads, and canal directors, and there are also dedicated people responsible for water supervision and inspection, forming a management and maintenance system in which whoever uses water is responsible, and whoever fills the water pays the rent.

Karez has also evolved into two types, official wells and private wells. Among them, the private wells are owned by whoever builds them, and the government protects their ownership.

Therefore, Gaochang Prefecture does not lack cultivated land, but lacks water. Water rent is a unique leasing model in the Turpan Basin.

The same is true. Controlling the karez is equivalent to controlling the lifeblood of Gaochang.

"The location is favorable." Zhang Ying sighed: "Xue Shui saved Gaochang."

The large and small karez opened his eyes, but at the same time he discovered the disadvantages:
The six major households own [-]% of the karez, which can almost determine the fate of Gaochang Mansion.

If it is a cruel official, it will definitely attack the big family and confiscate the people's wells; if it is a mediocre official, it will naturally get by.

But Zhang Ying was different. He directly made two points:
First, encourage people to dig wells, and whoever digs them well will own them.

Second, collect well tax.

Since there is water rent, there must also be water tax.

Households that levy large amounts of water rent every year must pay taxes to replenish the treasury.