Hami, known as Kunmo, Kunwu and Yizhou in ancient times, is the gateway to the interior of the Western Regions, was an important town on the ancient "Silk Road", and is also the "East Gate" to enter the Western Regions.

The rise and fall of the former Hami Kingdom is also the history of the ruling family of the Hami royal family from Buddhism to conversion to true God. During the Yongle period, the former Ming Dynasty also built Hami Guards in its place, and appointed commanders, thousands of households, hundreds of households and other town guard officials. At that time, most of the Hami royal family and its residents still believed in Buddhism, and the residents under his rule included Hui Hui (those who believed in the true god religion), Vultures, and Ha Thorn Gray (that is, the ancient Tatars), and each tribe had a leader and leader, and they did not belong to each other.

However, in the twenty-fourth year of Jiajing in the former Ming Dynasty (1545), the Turpan Khanate Sudan Mansu's younger brother Ma Heima captured Hami, and then stood on his own, also known as Sudan, so that the Hami royal family began to achieve greenery, and expanded to the people, and the Hami kingdom also ended.

In 1680, after the destruction of Yarkand by the Dzungar Khanate, with strong force, it once suppressed the expansion of the True God Religion in the Hami region, greatly promoted the Yellow Religion, promoted the political status of the Ha Thorn Gray (Mongols), and drove those Hui and Wu'er who believed in the True God Religion into cannon fodder, degraded and enslaved, and oppressed them to the extreme.

When Great Qin launched the war against Dzungaria, these suppressed and enslaved Green Cultists really played a significant role, defecting to the battle, refusing to pay taxes and provide food to the Dzungars, and even gathering troops to attack the lone Dzungar cavalry.

In the seventeenth year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1699), the Qin army successfully conquered Hami. In the nineteenth year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1701), 600 households of the Han people were moved, and the Acropolis of Hami was repaired, which was named Yizhou City. In the twenty-second year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1704), the imperial court set up Anxi Prefecture Tongzhi, stationed in Yizhou City, since then there has been a formal local administrative organ of Daqin, and Anxi Tongzhi is under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province.

After more than 20 years of development, the entire Hami area has built two acropolis, more than 30 colonized forts, and 47,000 residents, including more than 5,600 Han immigrants from the mainland.

In view of the important geographical location of Hami, the Great Qin military specially stationed more than 3,000 soldiers here, and in the entire Western Regions, the number of troops was second only to Luntai, the garrison of the Beiting Governor's Mansion. It stands to reason that the existence of such a powerful military force is enough to deter all the surrounding forces, so that any potential resistance forces will not dare to act rashly.

However, on the last day of February, a warning message came from Zhenxibao (present-day Balikun County), more than 100 kilometers away from Yizhou City, that thousands of nearby Wu'er and Huihui rioted and attacked the salt factory in Puzihai (present-day Balikun Lake), killing more than 100 stewards, craftsmen and salt workers inside, robbing them of their firearms, and then besieging Zhenxibao.

After hearing the report, Luo Liangrong, the same governor of Anxi Prefecture, was furious and ordered Yang Yonglin, the deputy general of Yizhou Town, to immediately lead troops to suppress it.

You must know that Zhenxibao not only has a salt factory, but also a military horse farm in the valley area more than 40 kilometers east of it, where more than 4,000 war horses are raised. If the riotous Vultures captured them and stole their horses, it would not only make them more mobile and difficult to control, but also make the cavalry (including dragoons) in Beiting and Gansu may have a huge shortage of horses.

If the imperial court blames you, in addition to punishing you for the felony of unappeasement and rebellion in a place, you may also be charged with the crime of killing your head for delaying the military plane.

"This trip to quell the rebellion should be a thunderbolt to deter the mob." When the troops were about to set off, Luo Liangrong solemnly instructed the deputy general Yang Yonglin: "Back then, when my Great Qin took over the land of Yizhou, I only expelled the Dzungar Montar forces, and carried out a soft policy towards the local tribes such as the Wu'er and Huihui, and even kept the tribes living in them as they were, and never separated them. In recent years, these tribes have been constantly fighting and killing each other because of their different sects and beliefs, and even repeatedly affecting the local Han immigrants to colonize the forts, which has become the biggest factor affecting the stability of our state. Therefore, when the general goes, he needs to let his generation know that the prestige of my Great Qin cannot be provoked, and the legal laws and regulations of the imperial court cannot be taken lightly. ”

"Dajuncheng, and relax, the end will be provincial." Yang Yonglin clenched his fists and promised: "This time to pacify the local mob, we should use thunderous means to suppress it. If these local tribes do not convince them and defeat their cruel and murderous nature, I am afraid that they will cause endless harm in the future. Those who are not of my race will have different hearts, and they will take advantage of this riot to kill them all and make room for the Han people who have moved from the interior. ”

"Uh......"

Luo Liangrong looked at the murderous appearance of Qiu Ba in front of him, and suddenly hesitated, this killing is too heavy, will it affect his official reputation and future?

After all, only the benevolent can be a good person, and a wicked person can be evil.

"General Yang's suppression of the rebellion this time can be a killer for those who advocate the alliance with the first evil. But those ignorant and chaotic people who have been coerced and bewitched still have some leeway, and do not kill them all. The people of their generation are also the people under the rule of my Great Qin. ”

"Huh?" Yang Yonglin was stunned for a moment, the corners of his mouth twitched, and then he replied: "...... Oh, the last general wrote it down. ”

Damn, these civil officials are full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, but they don't know how to deter the mob if they don't show the prestige of our Great Qin in this place where the miscellaneous people live in the Western Regions, so that those True God Sect believers who chant scriptures and worship the Buddha can honestly be obedient people, grow grain for our government, raise livestock, and pay taxes.

Nima's, these religious rebels, who once helped Daqin to capture Hami, thought that they had great merit, and also had local intertwined forces, they have always put on an unruly appearance, and they have repeatedly opposed the government's collection of taxes and donations.

Moreover, these Wu'er and Hui tribes, taking advantage of the defeat of the Dzungar Mongol forces, occupied all the most fertile arable land and pastures in Hami, so that the Han immigrants who came later could not share any decent good land at all, and could only establish some colonies on the edge of some oases, whether it was to reclaim wasteland or build corresponding water conservancy facilities, it cost a huge price.

Although these religious tribes have been deeply influenced by Sinicization in the past 20 years, and have gradually accepted some Han culture, and even a small number of people bear Han surnames, speak Han dialect, and wear Han clothes, they do not want to mix with Han people, insist on living in separate villages and communities, have their own neighbors, follow their own religious leaders, pray and chant scriptures, and do not eat pork.

These parishioners were even more unique because they had their own specialized professions, they were mainly engaged in livestock breeding, dominated the camel, donkey and horse transport industries, and were active in the caravan trade with Central Asia. However, they resisted the taxation of the local government of Anxi Prefecture and did not fulfill the obligations of a submissive citizen, which really caused the government a bit of a headache.

What is even more alarming for local governments is that some religious leaders with strong influence have demanded local autonomy to govern their tribes, villages, towns, and communities, and to allow them to obtain a certain amount of armed self-defense forces.

Don't they know that all the whole world is the king's land, and within the four seas, all are kings' ministers?

What do you true God people dare to think like this, and dare to do this?

For more than 20 years, we have been in the Western Regions for more than 20 years, and although there has been great development in various places, the number of taxpayers registered in it is still very small compared with other border areas in the interior that are constantly developing. This led to the fact that the expenses of the imperial court in the Western Regions, especially the Northern Ting Governor's Mansion, have always exceeded the income-—— in fact, there is not much income, mainly a pitiful business tax and local military grain output income, which requires the imperial court to give a large amount of financial subsidies every year. The heavy burden of supplying the army in this region fell on the two northwestern provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi, which were also extremely financially difficult, and the more than 10 million people in the two provinces carried a heavy economic burden.

Therefore, whether it is His Majesty the Emperor or the cabinet government, every year it is emphasized that the Western Regions, including Yizhou, should increase local development efforts, strengthen their own hematopoietic function, and reduce the financial pressure on the central government and Shaanxi and Gansu.

To put it bluntly, it is hoped that the Western Regions can achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency, and after decades of Dzungar wars, there are still thousands of miles of material supply lines, and the imperial court really can't support it.

In the Western Regions, including Yizhou, military expenditures, administrative expenditures, food supplies, war horses and livestock supplies, and other material supplies all rely on the hundreds of thousands of Han immigrants, which is tantamount to a drop in the bucket.

Besides, in order to stabilize the hearts and minds of the Han people, the government should not squeeze too much, otherwise, the people would directly take the bucket and flee back to the interior, wouldn't it be a waste of the imperial court's move to emigrate to the real side, and the political and economic losses would be even greater.

In this case, the people of the various ethnic groups in the Western Regions who were included in the rule had to bear certain tax and donation obligations.

I, Daqin, will protect your safety and save you from the brutal rule of the Dzungar Mongols, so I can't pay too much tax, right?

Receiving a little food from you is also a proper promise, right?

Or is it right that you should bring your own rations, and prepare your horses and weapons, and drive the king?

But now, you believers who do not obey the king's transformation do not want to share the worries of our Great Qin, but you want to give birth to a rebellion. Then, don't blame the imperial court army for thunderbolting methods!

The bitter cold in the Western Regions, as the town army guarding Yizhou, had no oil and water, and had to blow wind and snow, eat sand, and fight with some horse bandits who could not be traced all day long, making all the officers and soldiers miserable.

The believers of Zhenxi Fort rioted, and they had no chance to kill them, so as to vent the bitterness accumulated in their chests and loot the traitor's belongings. Furthermore, my Great Qin's military exploits all inherited the model of the Ming Dynasty, and they were calculated by beheading, and they didn't cut off a few heads, how could they make their brothers get promoted and make a fortune?

Of course, the heads of these rebel mobs are not as valuable as the heads of the Dzungar Montars, but as long as there are enough of them, they can also reap the merits that can be transferred.

As for which of those mobs were "coerced and bewitched" and how to "leave leeway" in the process of quelling the turmoil, it was not up to Yang Yonglin, as the commander of the troops, to make a decision on the spot and at his discretion on the battlefield.

——

"Old and young masters, it's time to eat! …… Come up and take a breath! ”

On March 18, near Tuntian, a few hundred meters west of Huangshabao (now Hami Erbao Town), several strong women put down their burdens and shouted loudly at a shaft.

At the woman's shout, one by one, the peasants covered in mud climbed out of the shaft with their baskets and fished, and when they climbed to the ground, they slapped the dirt on their bodies vigorously.

"How's it going today?" A tun chief scooped a ladle of water from a bucket and handed it to a farmer in his forties.

"Today's progress is a little slower than yesterday's." Liu Ergen took the water scoop, took a few sips, rinsed the sand in his mouth, and then drank the rest of the water, "There are several supports that have collapsed and loosened, and it took a lot of effort to re-fix them." However, at the current pace, the diversion well can be dug before spring planting. ”

"Oh." Tun Changsun Weibao nodded and said, "If this diversion well is dug through, then this year we can open up an additional 100 acres of land and harvest more grain." At the end of the year, the old and young masters on the tun can also be relaxed. Alas, dog's day, this war is fought endlessly, and the grain handed in is increasing year by year. These days, it's not much better with Longxi! ”

"It's already good." Liu Ergen took the coarse steamed bun from a woman and took a bite hard, "At least, the government has left enough rations for us in the past few years, and no one has starved to death." ”

"Hehe......" Sun Weibao smiled, "yes, no one starved to death." If the government had starved to death for us Han people who had moved in, how would they support the food supply for the army? Just by those fearful children who chant the scriptures and pray, can they collect taxes when they return? …… , occupy good land, can't grow anything, and still come to us to buy food! ”

"Shhhh......hhh

"Damn, what's there to be afraid of." Sun Weibao said in his mouth, but his voice was lowered a lot, "They didn't help us dig a well for free, but gave them five bags of wheat." Hmph, look, when the army of Yizhou City slaughters the rebellious believers in Zhenxibao, these people will definitely be honest and dare not come to us again to find fault. Mother, if you give them a good place, is the water in the ground also theirs? ”

The "digging wells" they are talking about are not ordinary drinking water wells for mainland residents, but qanats, an underground water conservancy project dug by local people in the Western Regions on oases.

A large amount of rainwater, glacier and snow meltwater seeping into the ground in spring and summer can be used to draw the natural slope of the mountain out of the ground for irrigation, so as to meet the production and domestic water needs of deserts and areas lacking surface runoff.

There is no regular surface river near the Huangsha Fort colony, and the rain that falls every year is even more pitiful. However, beneath the surface of the colony, there is abundant groundwater. Therefore, in the late winter, when the soil begins to thaw, according to the location of the wasteland to be reclaimed, the local officials and the people dig qanats to guide them to the cultivated farmland.

Depending on the nature of the soil layer that could be crossed, and the suitable longitudinal slope of the culvert was considered, the settlers dug the culvert under the guidance of several experienced locals. They started downstream, digging the first section of the nullah and the mouth of the qanats, and then arranging the shafts upstream. Each time a shaft is dug, the culvert is dug from the bottom of the shaft to the upstream or downstream in one or two directions, and finally the longitudinal slope of the culvert is corrected from beginning to end.

When unearthed, a basket is used to lift from the shaft using a roller, which is generally pulled by manpower, and the shaft is pulled by oxen in the deeper shafts upstream. In order to prevent windy sand from blowing into the qanats and to avoid freezing damage in winter, the entrance to the shaft is covered with treetops, straw and soil layers.

When digging the culvert, because the working face is narrow, only one person can dig in one place, and groping in the dark, only relying on oil lamps for lighting, it is still very difficult, and the personnel need to be constantly rotated. The orientation method is mainly to hang two oil lamps in the shaft, and from the direction and height of these two lamps, the direction and longitudinal slope of the culvert can be corrected. During the excavation in the summer, the solar mirror will also be used for orientation and illumination. Generally, the bottom of the culvert is dug first, and then the top is dug later. When digging, you should also take turns to cross dig with both hands to prevent the digging from being deviated. An excavation section generally requires 3 to 5 people, and when encountering a loose sand layer, it must be supported locally with a plate to avoid collapse and prevent future water flow from brushing.

In addition to the extremely bad weather, they can always get a good harvest, so that many Han immigrants are very hot, so they invited experienced well diggers to guide them to dig their own qanats in various colonies.

With the perseverance and hard-working spirit of the Han people, the desert on the edge of the former oasis gradually turned into fertile fields, and agricultural output increased dramatically, so that the price of grain in Yizhou fell by more than 40% compared with 20 years ago, and strongly supported the government's rule over the vast area of Hami.

With the basic plate of Han immigrants and the gradual abundance of materials, the Yizhou government had the confidence to forcefully collect the taxes "owed" over the years from many tribes under its jurisdiction, but unexpectedly triggered their rebellion and broke out in Zhenxibao.

"The riot in Zhenxi Fort has been quelled, the officers and soldiers have beheaded 2,000, and the rest have surrendered!"

Just as the villagers were having lunch and sitting together to rest and chat, a tunding ran from Huangsha Fort and shouted loudly.

"Ha ......, if you kill more than 2,000 people, you can't let those believers break their courage and dare not make another incident."

"Isn't that right? You said those people had a good life, but what a fuss! is to collect a little tax from them, and dare to raise troops to rebel! ”

"Most of them think that they have lived here for hundreds of years, and they are the masters of this place, and everything should be theirs, and they can be exempted from this tax with a few fuss, and maybe they can also occupy the land we cultivate, and rob the factories we built."

"When the Mongolian Tartars came, why didn't they dare to make a fuss casually?"

"That's not because the Tartars dare to kill."

"Hehe, our officers and soldiers of Daqin also dare to kill. …… And hey, muskets are more powerful than swords! ”

“……”

The two Hui Hui, who had been invited to guide the excavation of the qanats, heard the villagers' eager discussions, and their faces turned unusually pale.

Haven't the Han people always behaved meekly and deferentially?

Why, with firearms, it's not the same as before?!

(End of chapter)