It was difficult for Geldan to understand why the kind-hearted Ming Emperor had suddenly become an enemy. It is even more difficult to understand why, in the absence of the Dzungars, the Han and the Heshute people can decide the ownership of the north and south roads of the Tianshan Mountains. This is the cruelty of the government, and he will not show mercy at all because of the politeness on the face.

The Ming Dynasty will build an official road between Lanzhou and Xiningwei, so that Lanzhou and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will be connected more closely. The labor force in the three provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Longxi will be further transferred to the west, and at the same time, the imperial court will also place large machine production plants in the north.

First, the price of land in the north is low, and second, due to the influence of weather, there is a lot of idle land in the north, which is suitable for the overall strategic deployment of the country.

In the long run, there was no longer a single enemy in the south of the Ming Dynasty, and at most there were some local unrest. As the north expands, the enemy will be a grammar country that is on the rise, or about to enter an upward phase, and needs to mobilize stronger forces to fight it.

Artillery is one of them.

Now the only thing that can deal a blow to the cavalry two miles away is artillery.

In October of the fifth year of Longjing, the Ming court set up the Northwest Artillery Bureau in Lanzhou, which was responsible for manufacturing artillery, mainly for the equipment of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

At the same time as the establishment of the Northwest Artillery Bureau, a new Western Regions Frontier Minister also arrived.

An old man who was too old and could be a master rode a donkey and leisurely entered the gate of Lanzhou. He is the former governor of Sichuan, and now Zhang Shiqi of Gansu and Tianshan provinces.

Zhang Shiqi's experience may be comparable to Jiang Ziya. Until he was sixty-four years old, he had always been a little scribe who did nothing, and suddenly one day, he became a subordinate official of the East Palace, and then began his legendary story of soaring prosperity. From a county official to a prefect, and then to participate in politics and governors. Finally sat in the governor's position.

And they are also the two provinces with the heaviest military power today.

After the Northern Expedition entered the fourth stage, Monan was completely pacified, the Khalkha tribes surrendered, and there were no more enemies in the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty. The two provinces of Qin and Jin also shifted from a state of war readiness to a stage of governance and development. Only Gansu, because the Northern Expedition turned into the Western Expedition, became an important military town of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the establishment of the Tianshan Political Department was announced in September. These two provinces can be considered the front line.

In particular, the Tianshan Political Division is still in a state of fall, the main force of the Ming army has not yet left the customs, and the provincial system is also temporarily placed in Lanzhou.

Lanzhou in the Han Dynasty for Jincheng County, because there is Gaolan Mountain in the south of the city, so in the Sui Emperor Wen Emperor opened the emperor for three years to get the name of Lanzhou, put the governor's office.

In the second year of Taizu Hongwu, the Ming army defeated the Yuan army and captured Lanzhou. The following year, Lanzhou Wei was placed, and Hongwu was placed in Zhuang Langwei for five years.

In the first year of Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Ao, the king of Su, led the central guard of Ganzhou to move to Lanzhou, Lanzhou, with three points of soldiers to defend the city, seven points of soldiers to Tuntian, plus the immigrants from the southeast provinces continued to move to Lantun to reclaim, build water conservancy, and promote economic development. The population multiplied, and when it became a city, Lanzhou was "inside and outside the city." The military and civilians are not less than 10,000 districts."

At the time of the national change, although the Su Fan and the civil and military officials of Lanzhou intended to resist, they were finally defeated by the light yì, and the Zongren died. The original Su Wangfu also became Zhang Shiqi's governor.

Zhang Shiqi rode a donkey, like a Mr. Dongyan who came to the west to make a living, and traveled to Chengguan. It can be seen that there are many restaurants and tea shops on both sides, and some people even have raised wine flags, which is quite eye-catching when the prohibition has not been lifted. Seeing that Xingyuan was close at hand, Zhang Shiqi was not in a hurry, and Shi Shiran went to a restaurant. Jumping off the donkey briskly, he threw the reins to the little two who came out.

"There's wine here?" Zhang Shiqi entered the wine shop and said loudly: "Hit a catty, and then have some food to eat." ”

The shopkeeper greeted him with an expressionless face, obviously not thinking that Zhang Shiqi was a distinguished guest.

"Uncle, the shop sells fruit wine." The store explained.

Zhang Shiqi was slightly disappointed, pouted, and said, "No matter what, let's have a pot to quench your thirst first." Oh, and sugar cane wine is not needed. ”

Zhang Shiqi drank sugarcane wine when he was in Chengdu, and he didn't like to see him. Fortunately, Longxi is rich in fruits, but there is no tropical crop such as sugarcane. This liquor store also sells wine and cider, and the taste is quite good. However, the cheap beef that can be eaten in Sichuan is not good in Gansu.

Because of the barriers between regions, and the Sichuan Tusi habitually raising cattle, there are so many cattle that they can be eaten, but the cattle in Gansu are still very valuable means of production, and only the cattle that occasionally meet the end of life or die in an accident can be cooked.

Although Zhang Shiqi is old, he has good teeth, and his eating habits have not changed much from when he was young. When he took office in Sichuan, his greatest enjoyment was probably eating beef.

"Is there any meat?" Zhang Shiqi said and took out a banknote and smoothed it on the table.

The shopkeeper's eyes narrowed, and he naturally changed to a flattering expression, and said, "Old man, the small shop has big meat, chicken, and fish." The fish is only caught today and is guaranteed to be fresh. ”

"How big is the fish?" Zhang Shiqi asked.

"It's over three pounds, the big one." The boss boasted.

Zhang Shiqi swallowed in Sichuan, shook his head and said, "It's too big." The only thing that can be beaten here is the Yellow River carp, and the carp will be old after a catty. Let's cut the chicken. ”

The boss sneered: You are particular about winter baking! He was afraid that this old winter would ask the hen's birthday, tall, short, fat and thin, so he hurriedly retreated to the back kitchen to arrange for the chicken to be killed.

Zhang Shiqi is not very picky about chicken, he glanced at the guests in the wine shop, and saw a few Han feudal figures with long knives sitting together, also drinking wine, but there was no wine and food on the table, and he whispered, which was not as rude as ordinary Jianghu guests.

When the store brought the wine, Zhang Shiqi asked in a low voice, "Who are those?" ”

Although his voice was soft, it still alarmed the guests, and they all looked back at him.

The shopkeeper didn't care, and said, "It's just some idlers, with some work in their hands, and they want to go to the west to get some benefits." ”

"What's in it for the west?" Zhang Shiqi asked.

"Oh, old man, you're a newcomer, I haven't heard of it." The shopkeeper stood aside, looked at the smoothed banknote on the table, and said: "In the past, the governor of Gao had documents to pass through the province, recruiting strong men and women to escort grain and grass to Jiayuguan. If horse thieves and bandits are killed along the way, land will be allocated to them as a reward in the pass. Therefore, the idlers of Long Province went to Lanzhou to wait for the convoy, and once they were recruited, they were looking forward to encountering horse thieves. ”

"Wouldn't it be a ......loss if there were three long and two short" Zhang Shiqi's voice didn't fall, and he saw someone over there couldn't help but scold: "Unlucky! ”

Zhang Shiqi hurriedly got up and arched his hand, and said, "Strong man." Old and young, speak freely, don't take it to heart. "I saw that he was still polite, and he didn't bother with a half-cut person who was in the ground, and he pulled down steadily.

The shopkeeper apparently has some reason not to take these people seriously. Just to defend his distinguished guests, he said: "The old gentleman doesn't have to talk to them, if he really has the ambition not to join the army?" ”

Those people listened to the shopkeeper's words, but they really didn't make a mistake, and they sipped their heads and sipped wine.

"Is it so strict to recruit people in the army?" Zhang Shiqi himself presided over the civil affairs of Sichuan, and he was quite touched by the compulsory military service system, but he didn't know that it was not so easy to join the army in Longxi. "Look at them, they're all athletes." Zhang Shi said strangely.

"An athlete is an athlete, no matter what, he doesn't lose his physical strength." The shopkeeper didn't reply, saying, "But do they have an identity?" ”

Zhang Shiqi was even more strange. Said: "As long as you have a place to live, don't you have an identity?" ”

"Longxi is different from the mainland, and many people who have committed crimes have left their hometowns and have no fixed residence, but it is not easy to get a hukou." Shopkeeper Road.

Zhang Shiqi let out a long "oh", which was meaningful.

Indeed, these are the most headache for the Ming Dynasty. In the interior, especially in the Jingshi and Jiangnan provinces, such people have become almost extinct. As long as the police spot a suspicious person on the road. You have the right to check your account credentials. If it is found that he or she does not have his or her household registration documents with him, he or she can be detained.

If it is verified, this person does not have a household registration. Then it will inevitably be assigned to work in mines, or in Haixi, Taiwan and other places.

This is Daming's initiative to fully sort out the idle human resources of society.

Violent, but effective.

However, this is not the case in the three provinces of Qin, Jin, and Long. All three provinces are border-border, and one person and one horse can travel between the Han and Mongol tribes. Especially in the north of the Qin and Jin dynasties, the Mongols also had Bansheng, where Han and Mongolia lived together, in their sphere of influence. This has undoubtedly brought great trouble to the verification of the household registration.

What's more, the folk customs of these three provinces are quite strong, and in the hinterland, it is the police who arrest the displaced people. Occasionally, the help of the Inspection Department is needed, but in these three provinces it is likely to be the other way around.

The police are not stupid, and they dare not check the household registration credentials of these armed displaced people.

Zhang Shiqi has also encountered this situation in Sichuan, and he also knows that many officials elsewhere believe in a strategy of repression. However, people tend to soften their hearts as they get older, and look at some of these young men who are as old as their grandchildren. I can't bear to make this kind of iron-blooded decision.

"Governor Gao is a good official." Zhang Shiqi said: "In this way, these people will have a hukou if they have land, and the country will live in peace." ”

The shopkeeper was stunned. This was originally what he planned to do next, but who knew that this old winter baking would be broken in one word, it seems that the reader is really different.

"But the old man is a little strange, why does Governor Gao have to escort these people to the military funds first?" Zhang Shiqi asked.

"It's a vote." A man stood up over there and answered him in a loud voice.

Zhang Shiqi said curiously: "This is not to make people fall into the grass, what is it called." ”

The man was obviously quite clear about this way, and said: "Naturally, there are also imperial court soldiers who escort military funds, where do we need to wait for grass people to deal with horse thieves?" As long as you finish a trip, even if you are a horse thief and a bandit, you will become a good citizen after taking the land, and you will never be able to go back. ”

As for the horse thieves and bandits who dared to rob military funds, it was not nothing, but after a few blows, they were almost extinct. In the end, no one wants to gnaw hard bones, not to mention that if the thing that is grabbed at the risk of risking their lives is not grain and grass, but cement, it will be a loss of blood!

Zhang Shiqi shook his head with a smile when he heard this, and said, "I don't know if this method will work, but it's too stingy." ”

Everyone looked at this strange winter bake.

"The court should be generous, as long as the people are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, what did he do before? There are always those who suffer. What about giving him a piece of land? As long as the household registration is registered, maybe these good men will join the army to serve the emperor! Zhang Shiqi said.

The big man who stood up was moved when he heard this, obviously touched by something.

Another pointy-eared monkey-cheeked idler laughed and said, "The emperor's land is what you say you will give away?" It's interesting. ”

"The new governor is not a stingy person, and everyone will be able to see what measures he has at that time." Zhang Shiqi said leisurely.

Seeing Zhang Shiqi's extraordinary appearance, the shopkeeper asked in a low voice: "The old gentleman is a guest of the ministry?" ”

Zhang Shiqi smiled but did not speak, pretending to be profound.

On the eighth day of October in the fifth year of Longjing, the governor of Longxi and Tian provinces issued an announcement that all the people who are willing to buy a house and settle down can obtain a thousand acres of land outside Jiayu Pass regardless of their identity.

The only requirement is that people cannot leave the ground. If there is no family living in the land for ten days, the land will be returned to the imperial court. If a person has lived in a place for three consecutive months and the landlord fails to raise an objection, the place belongs to the occupant.

Outside Jiayu Pass is the Gobi, but it is not completely devoid of water. Meltwater from several glaciers originating in the Qilian Mountains nourishes this barren and parched land. Although it cannot be compared with the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, it is enough for people to encourage people to live here.

Some people are moved by the number of "1,000 acres", which they once dared not imagine, some people want to go out and have a future by themselves because they have many children in the family, and some people just come to the hukou and don't care how much land there is.

People of all kinds flocked to the governor's yamen, shocking the Lanzhou government to impose martial law, close the city gates, and mobilize the inspection department to deal with possible turmoil.

Zhang Shiqi certainly has the confidence to solve this problem. Dressed in civilian clothes, he still looked like a winter roaster, and a young and bold scribe came out through the side door of the governor's palace and blended into the crowd.

"Is the gentleman looking for someone?" The scribe was a little nervous, and when he saw that Zhang Shiqi was fine, he couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, find an idler with a sharp-beaked monkey cheek." Zhang Shiqi said casually.

The scribe subconsciously followed and looked for it, but he looked like everyone else, and if he looked closely, he didn't look like it, and he didn't have a clue.

"That's him!" Zhang Shiqi finally found his target in the crowd, beckoned to the scribe, and the two squeezed towards the idler together.

Not long after the days passed, there were few people in the west, and the idle man actually had a lot of impression of Zhang Shiqi, looking at him with a pair of small eyes.

"That's you." Zhang Shiqi laughed and stepped forward to grab the idle man's arm.

The idler was worried that he would hurt the old man in winter if he struggled, so he had to let him hold it and asked, "What are you doing with me!" ”

The two of them asked and answered, which had already attracted the attention of the people around them, and they had unexpectedly vacated a small circle.

"What do you want him to do?" The strong man also squeezed over the day before yesterday, I don't know if he knew this person, or if he was just righteous.

"Do you know who I am?" Zhang Shiqi grabbed the idle man's arm and said loudly: "The old man is Zhang Shiqi, the governor of Long and Tian. (To be continued......)

PS: Tomorrow will be closed as usual on the weekend, and the chapter owed on Wednesday will be made up on Sunday.