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On June 10, 1851, Changchun City, Bohai State.

Zeng Guofan has been standing on the watchtower, looking at the people who are carrying wood outside the city. Changchun City was expanded on the basis of the original Changchun Hall under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Although it is in the territory of the Bohai State, it is a city jointly managed and controlled by the General Military Office of Liaodong Town of the Ming Dynasty and the Bohai Supervision State Government. It is still being expanded, and most of the people who built the city are bannermen of the Bohai Kingdom. At this time, in an open field outside Changchun City where timber was stacked, a minor officer of the Ming army was whipping a Bohai man. The officer was extremely rude, but the beaten man was silent, I don't know if he was numb or forbearing?

"Yuan Fu, look there." Zeng Guofan pointed to that place with the folding fan in his hand, and said to his younger brother Zeng Guoquan, "The one who beats people vents the resentment in his heart, but the one who is beaten hides the resentment in his heart." ”

"Humph! What can you do if you hide it in the bottom of your heart? Do you still want to count on a comeback? ”

"The big plate can't be turned, but the small plate is hard to say." Zeng Guofan gently tapped the Changchun city wall with a half-open fan, and said with a wry smile, "If it weren't for that, why should I be in a hurry to build Changchun City?" ”

"Brother is worried about Yixin's rebellion?"

Zeng Guofan narrowed his triangular eyes: "I'm worried that the emperor will force Yixin to rebel!" ”

"The emperor is starting to force Yixin?"

"yes. The emperor's edict has arrived, and I asked him to find a beautiful woman in the Khalkha Mongol Four Khan families. "Zeng Guofan said. His brows furrowed tightly, and he didn't know if Lu Dao was worried about the future war, or if he couldn't bear to be wiped out by the Zhu family. Although he is a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he still misses some of the feelings of the old master.

"If Yi Xin gets the news. I guess I have to prepare for a rebellion in advance! Zeng Guoquan swallowed. looked at the Bohai people who were requisitioned to do hard labor outside the city. The eyes were full of murderous energy.

"Why don't I go to Cullen myself?"

"It's useless to go, Yixin's kid won't enter the court anyway. If it's just to delay the rebellion, what good will it do us? ”

Zeng Guoquan suddenly lowered his voice and said, "We might as well send troops immediately while they are not ready!" ”

"Don't act rashly!" Zeng Guofan waved the fan in his hand, turned around and walked straight down the stairs, "Old Jiu, let's go down and have a good calculation." ”

"Yes."

"When do you think Yi Xin will rebel when he can't bear it?"

"This ...... Will it be autumn? ”

"Nope." Zeng Guofan shook his head, "As soon as the news spread that the emperor was going to choose a concubine in Khalkha Mongolia. The thoughts of the four Khans of the Khalkha Mongols are unpredictable. Yi Xin will have to use the support of the Russians and Tibet to subdue them before he can raise troops, and it will not be until the second half of next year at the earliest. ”

"By then, we would have been well prepared."

"Not bad. At that time, the collective farm had been in operation for two years, and there should be hundreds or thousands of hard villages in Beiman alone. Zeng Guofan sighed softly and walked down the wooden staircase.

"Lao Yuan, bring the abacus!" Zeng Guofan returned to his yamen, took a sip of the tea bowl from the servant's hand, and opened an account book recording the emigration of the collective farm.

"Here comes the abacus."

"Changchun 218 villages."

"Well, two hundred and eighteen."

"Jilin 212 villages."

"Yes, Jilin two hundred and twelve."

"One hundred and eighty-eight villages in Songyuan."

"One hundred and eighty-eight."

"One hundred and forty-eight villages in Huining."

"One hundred and forty-eight."

"Changchun, Jilin, Songyuan, Huining. How much does it total? ”

"Seven hundred and sixty-six."

"There are 766 collective farms, and 100 people from each farm are 76,600 people!"

"It's still calculated on the basis of one cent per household. However, most of the immigrants are two or three horses per household, and 150,000 people can be mobilized if necessary. Zeng Guofan said, looking at the number of land and population of each collective farm written in red pen.

Recently, with the stabilization of the situation in Northeast China, many people who had taken refuge in the mountains and forests to escape the war have come out to beg for a living - most of them are Han people or their descendants who stole into Northeast China during the Manchu Dynasty, and there is no household registration information in the three Manchu generals' mansions. After withdrawing from Guanwai, the Manchu Qing court, which was in chaos, did not have the time to search for these people and compile them into the household register, and now they are all cheaper, and the Ming Dynasty, which is actually controlling the area in the northeast, is getting bigger and bigger. Many of the unregistered people who came out of the woods were directly incorporated into the collective farms.

"How? How many are there? ”

"The people, including the four cities of Changchun, Jilin, Songyuan, and Huining, have a total of more than 128,000 households, a population of about 650,000, more than 3.3 million acres of cultivated land, about 100,000 horses, and more than 20,000 cattle."

"That's a lot! It's really unexpected that there will be such a scale in more than a year, and by the second half of next year, it should be able to increase a lot, right? Zeng Guofan narrowed his eyes, personally picked up a brush dipped in red paint, and wrote down the total number.

"Lao Yuan, have all the foreign guns been issued? According to the 200 guns per farm, special people must be sent to teach the use of foreign guns. ”

"A total of 153,200 guns have been distributed, all of which have been sent to households, people, two per household, and special personnel have been sent to teach the use of foreign guns. Foreign guns are kept by themselves, which can be used for hunting, repair, and ammunition, all of which are in charge of the office of the Northeast Development Corporation, and they can pay the bill with mountain goods. ”

"Hmm. After the autumn harvest this year, they will be urged to build and strengthen the fort...... There are as few as 500 people in a village, and as many as 6 or 700 people, and it will not be possible if it is not built stronger. Each village also needs to have a beacon tower, which can be called at any time. ”

The immigrants of the Ming Dynasty in the Northeast are armed immigrants! And it was not a family unit, but a hundred households as a semi-militarized autonomous collective. The biggest advantage of this model is that it has strong combat effectiveness - in the process of immigrating to the Northeast, especially in the process of immigrating to the territory of the Bohai State, armed conflict with the flag people of the Bohai State is inevitable! Although Yi Xin did not dare to tear his face and fight, skirmishes occurred from time to time, and the frequencies increased the farther north they went, and in the vicinity of Hoeryeong City, the migrants even exchanged fire with Russian armed gangs. If it is not a hundred households and one village, but a single immigrant, it is impossible to gain a foothold.

In addition, when building a walled city, the farm model of a hundred households was more efficient than working alone, otherwise it would take more than ten years just to naturally form hundreds of settlements. Moreover, the kind of residential area without any protection has no defense ability at all, let alone Yixin's Eight Banner soldiers, even ordinary bandits can't stop it.

Zeng Guofan sighed: "We also have 5,000 soldiers and horses stationed in the four cities of Changchun, Jilin, Songyuan, and Huining, of which half of the Liaodong Zhentun Army and the Imperial Court are half of them. There were 20,000 troops in total, and counting the militia of the collective farms, there were no less than 100,000 people! ”

"If I am given full power, I don't need reinforcements from Liaodong Town and the Liaodong Army, and I can pacify the Bohai Kingdom!" Zeng Guoquan is full of confidence. Zeng Guofan glared at him and reprimanded: "What's the hurry! Before the foundation is firmly established, you want to make immortal achievements? Have you forgotten what the emperor sent us to Bohai for purpose? ”

Although the achievements of the immigrants are great, after all, the beginning time is too short, and most of the villages are only scratched up, not yet solid. And although foreign guns have been issued, how many people can use them and use them well? It will take time to improve.

In addition, Zeng Guofan still hopes that Yixin and others can "learn their way back", not mix with the Russians, and it is best to return to the semi-feudal and semi-capitalist family of the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible.

"I'll still go to Kulun, and you, Ji Hong, and Runzhi will patrol around and supervise the preparations of each village." When Zeng Guofan proposed this, Zeng Guoquan objected: "Why should the eldest brother go in person, just send a few messengers." If there is a what-if, how can it be born? ”

Zeng Guofan waved his hand and said, "What will happen?" When the time comes, Yi Xin will not dare to tear his face, I will lobby again, maybe I can convince Yi Xin...... Even if he refuses to enter the court, he should send protons into the court and break off diplomatic relations with Russia, so that the court should allow him to divide his territory in Kulen. ”

So, after Zeng Guofan made some arrangements, he took a team of guards and Emperor Zhu's edict and gifts to the Mongolian steppe. At this time, Kulun was extremely anxious because of the arrest of Su Shun and others and the news from Xining. (To be continued......)