In the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang, even though the Manchu Qing Dynasty continued to drain people, after the Cossacks came, they were still amazed at the wealth here.

Because they saw that there were farmland in many places on both sides of the Heilongjiang River, and occasionally they could see the cities (villages) of the Daur people. This is like a paradise in the desolate and cold Siberia, mainly because it can be cultivated and reproduced.

However, in history, when the noble generals of Tsarist Russia came to raise (plunder) the food and grass of the army, they were shocked by the scene in front of them. On both sides of the middle and lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, all the farmland has been destroyed, the villages are all dilapidated, and it has reached the point where there is no food to grab.

Due to the early arrival of the Datong army, the situation here was much better.

Zhang Tingxun took a boat to the Heilongjiang River valley and found that some farmland had been restored. According to the local transliteration of each tribe, it is compiled as "so-and-so village", and the leader is appointed as the village head, and if the leader is dead, they are asked to elect the village head.

For the time being, there will be no town-level units to prevent a certain department from taking the opportunity to become bigger!

Hou Rusong pointed to the farmland along the river and said: "In another year or two, when these villages have recovered their strength, they will be able to collect land taxes." Those who can farm will be taxed on grain, and those who can't farm will be taxed on fur. After a few years, when there was enough food, there was no need to send all the military rations from far and wide. ”

Zhang Tingxun asked: "I see that you can farm everywhere here, why don't you have more immigrants to settle down?" ”

Hou Rusong explained: "Rice should be eaten bite by bite, and the focus of immigration in Northeast China today is the administrative office of the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate (Harbin) and its surroundings. Even there, serious immigrants were reluctant to go, and they were forcibly driven away at the beginning, and there was a small mess, and the court could only throw the criminals here. Is Nanjing a fierce gambler? ”

Zhang Tingxun nodded: "Last year, I often caught gambling, and the casino owners, shopkeepers, and thugs were all sentenced to exile, and their wives and children were also exiled together." ”

"That's right, Li Duhu (Li Zheng) requested," Hou Rusong said with a smile, "arresting people everywhere in the country and escorting exiles to Heilongjiang in batches, and it will take 30,000 or 40,000 people to do it in three years." When the population of the prefecture was full, the exiles were placed near the post station. The construction of Han villages around the post stations along the river, and the upgrading of villages and towns in the future, will definitely be able to deter and subdue the surrounding natives. This is the imperial court's plan to open up the northeast, don't be in a hurry, take your time, we are all here to fight the front station. Those postmen you meet, as long as they don't freeze to death and die of illness, they will definitely be able to become mayors in the future. Not only did he govern the Han people, but he also had to rule over the surrounding tribes of the town. ”

The Northeast is not a colony, it is developed as a homeland.

"Thank you, General Hou, for your doubts." Zhang Tingxun arched his hand.

These are all arranged by Li Zheng, so that Zhang Tingxun can familiarize himself with the situation along the way, and let Hou Rusong explain anything he doesn't understand.

Hou Rusong continued: "As long as it's not a Rakshasa ghost, the people you meet here can basically ask them to help. In case of emergency, go to the nearest indigenous tribe, whether it is the Daur or any other tribe, they are willing to gather troops to help, because they all have a blood feud with the Rakshasa ghosts. ”

"Understood." Zhang Tingxun nodded.

Historically, the Daurs were bullied so badly by the Manchus, but when faced with the Cossack bandits, they all felt that the Manchus were their own people.

Without him, the Cossacks were too murderous!

Hou Rusong pointed to the shore in front of him: "There used to be a big village there, and there were still relatives of the emperor of Jianzhou Tartar. The Rakshasa ghost took advantage of the owner of the village to go out to eat and drink, and attacked and captured the walled city, and those who didn't have time to escape were killed, and the village was burned down afterwards. The tribesmen died of cold and starvation in winter. Nowadays, with the remnants of the village, a post station has been built, which is named 'Aihui Station' according to the local dialect. This is the nearest post station to Hailan Pao, and it is Hailan Pao that continues sixty miles to the north. ”

The land around Aihui Station is fertile, and it is next to the strategic Hailan Pao, which will definitely focus on the development of villages in the future, and it is estimated that it will become Aihui Town in another 20 years.

It was getting late, and the grain transport team chose to rest on the shore.

Only two or three hundred of the Daur people who had originally settled in Aihui returned one after another, and many of them died due to lack of food and clothing. They lived around the post station, regarded the post man and the post guard as protectors, and took the initiative to help unload the goods when they saw the grain convoy coming.

After a lot of chatter, Zhang Tingxun asked the military guide: "What are they talking about?" ”

The guide explained: "These Daur people are asking the merchants when they will bring salt. The salt stored in the post station was not enough, and there was no trade to them, and now they are all looking forward to the Han merchants. ”

"What salt did they eat before?" Zhang Tingxun asked.

The guide replied, "Some tribes eat pond salt, and some tribes eat earth salt, which tastes bad, is bitter, and it is difficult to get it." A batch was shipped last year, and these people tasted the sweetness and waited to exchange their furs for salt. ”

Hou Rusong called Zhang Tingxun over and whispered: "If you deliberately don't give enough, let them taste some sweetness first, and then keep hanging their appetite, and you have to deal with the natives like this." You went to the northern border of Shanshan, and the practice there was similar. Not only the amount of salt is controlled, but also the amount of tea is controlled. If Mongolians don't have tea to eat, strange problems will pop up, and tea is the lifeblood of Mongolians. ”

Zhang Tingxun asked curiously: "How to prevent Shang Jia from transporting tea?" ”

"The Great Wall," Hou Rusong explained in detail, "has many places on the Great Wall, but only low side walls have been built, and those side walls cannot prevent the army. It is nothing more than two functions, one is to delay the Mongol cavalry, so that the beacon tower can spread the news; Second, in order to prevent smuggling by merchants, merchants did not dare to destroy the side walls, and the convoy could not pass at all. ”

The main purpose of the low and fragile Great Wall was really to guard against merchants, and it could only play a sluggish role in the Mongols!

The Han dynasty dealt with the nomads, and one of the big killers was economic sanctions. Trade with each other was stopped, and the export of salt, tea, ironware, and grain was prohibited, and the Great Wall was a supporting facility for the embargo. As long as the border forces do not leave a back door for smuggling, this embargo can drive the nomads crazy.

It's a pity that in the middle and late stages of the dynasty, every time the imperial court ordered an embargo, it was giving the border army an opportunity to make a fortune.

Zhang Tingxun came to his senses in an instant, patted his head and said: "I remember, the strategy chapter of "On War" talks about this, and the types of embargoed goods are still a must. ”

The next day, we continued to move forward, traveled 60 miles, and finally arrived at Hailan Pao.

It is noticeably much more lively, and the garrison has grown to 1,500 people. After the defeat of Yaksa, 1,000 people will be stationed there, and Yaksa will be the real strategic location.

A tributary of the Yaksa to the north and south, it is controlled by the indigenous tribes deep in the Great Khingan Mountains. To the southwest of the tributary, you can row straight to the Hulunbuir steppe, Mobei Mongolia is in front of you. To the west, the river leads to Nebuchu, which is already very close to Lake Baikal.

There was still a long way to go from Hailan Bubble, and Zhang Tingxun saw a lot of smoke rising.

"It's not like wolf smoke." Zhang Tingxun wondered.

Hou Rusong explained: "This is roasting bacon, although it is generally not hunted in spring, leaving time for wild animals to reproduce. But this year, troops must be dispatched, so there are not so many, and the nearby Daur people, as long as they hunt meat, can bring Hailan to exchange cotton cloth. What we brought here was not only ordinary grain, but also baked marching rations. ”

Zhang Tingxun nodded and said: "The soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, I understand this." By the way, is the grain convoy going to stay? ”

Hou Rusong said with a smile: "We are a naval army, since we want to fight Yaksa, of course, we need a naval army to transport troops and food, and we have to fight a water war with the Rakshasa ghost at a critical time." ”

Wang Fuchen had already ridden to the riverside, and looked at many boats: "All the Andong sailors are here?" ”

Hou Rusong replied: "I left three warships, and the rest are all to you, and I will bring an additional twenty troop carriers." The troop carriers were all newly built, and the timber did not have time to dry in the shade, and it was all protected by pine resin, dry ash and tung oil. You're in a hurry here, and you can only make do with shipbuilding. ”

The warships of the Anton Navy were transported from Liaoning, and many shipbuilders and apprentices were recruited.

And many of these troop carriers were built by cutting down trees in the lower reaches of Harbin, and the timber was directly started after half a month of dry drying. After using it for a few months, it will definitely leak, and it must be repaired at any time, and it will be declared scrapped if it cannot be repaired.

This is a manifestation of the strength of a large country, and if it is replaced by a small country, it will drag on for several years just to build a ship.

At the beginning, when Jin conquered the Daur people, he could only raise a large number of canoes.

"This is Captain Zhang Tingxun from Nanjing Military Academy." Hou Rusong introduced.

Zhang Tingxun hurriedly stepped forward and stood up and saluted: "Zhang Tingxun came to report and asked General Wang to arrange the task!" ”

Wang Fuchen was a little puzzled, and when he saw Hou Rusong winking at him, he immediately understood that Zhang Tingxun's identity was not simple, and immediately praised: "Good boy, quite majestic, you have worked all the way, go to the castle to rest first." ”

sent someone to get Zhang Tingxun away, and Wang Fuchen asked, "What is the origin of this person?" ”

Hou Rusong said: "The son of the Zhang Dudu family has to come to the front line to fight. is not bad, not a gentleman, and can share weal and woe with the soldiers along the way. ”

Wang Fuchen had a headache: "How should I serve?" Do you want him to stay in Hailan Bubble? ”

Hou Rusong said: "Du Hu means that you will be brought with you in battle." Except for particularly dangerous battles, which he was resolutely not allowed to participate in, he was called as an ordinary sergeant at other times. To put it mildly, if this can be killed, then he can only blame himself for his bad luck. ”

"Understood." Wang Fuchen immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Hou Rusong asked, "When will the troops be dispatched?" ”

Wang Fuchen said: "Just wait for your ship, as long as you come, you can send troops at any time, I have been preparing for a full year." ”

"What's wrong with Yaksa?" Hou Rusong asked.

Wang Fuchen said: "The last time I caught that Khabarov and destroyed many Rakshasa ghosts, another Rakshasa ghost moved to Yaksa, and he was still desperately stockpiling grain to build a castle. Last year, another group of Rakshasa ghosts came, and the spies came back and said that six more artillery pieces were installed on the city wall. ”

"That's not a good fight." Hou Rusong was a little worried.

Wang Fuchen said with a smile: "Don't worry, no matter how you build the city, the Rakshasa ghost doesn't have a few manpower available, and a few more cannons can knock down the city wall." The Rakshasa Ghost cannons are really pitifully small, about the same size as the Tiger Squat Cannon. If it weren't for the lack of ships to transport troops, I would have gone to fight myself, and how could you have a chance to fight? ”

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