Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 432: Eternal Achievements (Special thanks to book friend 2022…0972 for two monthly tickets!)
"You only know one side of the story!

I heard that when Xingxing people marry off their daughters, they must give a considerable dowry. If the dowry from the father's family is too little, almost no man will marry his daughter!
After all, apart from giving birth to children, women can only do some light work. When they go to their husband's house, they have to rely on their husbands for food and clothing!"

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately aroused heated discussions among the people around. After confirming this custom, many young people immediately expressed that as long as His Majesty ordered immigration, they would go and sign up immediately.

After listening to the detailed report of the Kesaman Dynasty from the eunuch supervising the army in the Huangji Hall, Chai Zongxun issued an edict to reward the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions during this expedition with him.

In total, seven people were conferred the title of Duke, twenty-six were given the title of Marquis, and sixty-five were given the title of Earl, Viscount, and Baron.

The eunuchs accompanying the emperor and the eunuchs supervising the Longxiang Army were rewarded with at least 100 taels of silver each. Xue Ke was rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver for his contribution in rescuing Princess Jialuo, and his two sons were allowed to study at the Imperial Academy.

Each soldier was promoted three levels and received a reward of fifty taels of silver.

Chai Zongxun selected more than 60 of the more than 3,000 beauties from the harem of the Samanid Dynasty as concubines. He also rewarded the married Crown Prince, Prince of Song and seven other princes with 30 concubines each.

Each of the three imperial brothers was rewarded with ten beauties, and the remaining two thousand beauties were all rewarded to ministers in the court and meritorious soldiers. Centurions and even soldiers were rewarded with beauties according to their military merits.

On the sixth day of February in the thirty-second year of Kaixi, the emperor and his ministers discussed and determined the policy guidelines and details for the Samanid Dynasty at the morning court.

The Prime Minister Li Hang came out and said:
“Your Majesty, although the imperial court has followed your Majesty’s order and sent officials and two Dragon-Xiong Army regiments to establish rule in the Ghazni and Samanid territories, the people in both places are almost all Arabs who believe in the Star Religion, and there are almost no Chinese people in the area.

I think that for the sake of long-term stability, the court should follow the policy of governing the Karakhanid Khanate and transfer a sufficient number of Han people from the populous states in the interior to the lands of Ghazni and Samanid to consolidate your majesty's rule there."

Chai Zongxun said:

"Lord Li, this proposal is feasible.

"Those who are not of my race must have different hearts." In order to consolidate our rule in the Central, Western and West Asian regions that have been incorporated into the territory of our Great Zhou, and to implement new policies such as agriculture, industry and commerce, the system of local elites, and the jury system, we Chinese Han people must become the mainstream population there!

When thinking about Persia, the local people also believed in Zoroastrianism and Shamanism. For hundreds of years, they were forced to convert to other religions by the Star Cult using bloody means.

If we want to civilize this place, we must make the Chinese tradition the mainstream."

The emperor made the decision immediately, and the ministers in the palace discussed the number of immigrants and the rewards.

There are two final solutions:
One was proposed by a group of court officials headed by the Minister of Revenue Wang Dan and the newly appointed Minister of War Li Fang, who proposed to immigrate tens of millions of Han people from the mainland to the country, reward each family with ten taels of silver, and grant them one hundred acres of local land or pastures.

One was proposed by a group headed by Minister of Rites Kou Zhun and Minister of Punishments Lü Duan, who proposed to immigrate 20 million Han people there, reward each family with 20 taels of silver, grant 100 acres of land or pasture, and give each family two captured Star Religion servants.

The two factions expressed their own opinions and argued fiercely.

Wang Dan said:
“Although our Great Zhou is now certain to win, the Star Sect world still has three major enemy countries: the Black Caliphate, Khwarezm, and the Green Caliphate, and there are more than ten small countries.

These remaining enemy countries have a population of over 30 million, and can mobilize a maximum of 3 million troops. We must not underestimate the enemy.

If our Great Zhou wants to completely defeat the Star Cult world, it will still take several years of war and consume countless financial resources! Therefore, I think that in order to save financial expenditures, 10 million inland immigrants and 10 taels of silver as a reward will be enough. "

Kou Zhun said:
“Your Majesty, I was once sent as an envoy to the Roman Empire by Your Majesty’s imperial decree, passing through many Star Religious countries.

He knew that the Star Religion's good deeds could deceive the people and make them firmly believe that they were killing and aggressing for the sake of justice and doctrine.

If there were no 20 million Han Chinese immigrants, the local rule would be difficult to stabilize.

In order to vigorously combat and weaken the local Xingxing Sect, promote Chinese civilization, and implement the policy of freedom of religious belief, we must rely on the immigrant people and the Longxiang garrison to quickly suppress the local Xingxing Sect members who dare to rebel.

Therefore, I think that each immigrant household should be given two captives of the Star Religion as slaves, which will help suppress and divide the local Star Religious followers. "

Chai Zongxun knew that the Xingxing Sect was good at controlling the minds of the people and had a very strong brainwashing ability, so it was extremely difficult to eliminate its influence.

In the history of the previous life, only Spain was successful. After hundreds of years of decline, Spain finally recovered. In order to quickly eliminate the influence of starization, the Kingdom of Spain adopted a series of compulsory policies:
First, they enthusiastically promoted the Nestorian faith and built a large number of Catholic churches across the country.
This made Spain one of the most devout Nestorian countries in Europe at that time;

Secondly, force the Star Christians to convert to Nestorianism and ensure religious unity through coercive means.

Both the Arabs and the Spaniards expelled the Nestorians who were unwilling to believe in Nestorianism.

Chai Zongxun pondered for a long time and said:
"Minister Kou and other ministers have more realistic views.

Only when there are enough Han immigrants and their power is strong enough can we quickly stabilize the local situation.

In the past few years, with the development of domestic industry and commerce, and the opening and prosperity of sea trade to India, Daqin, and Mishir, the tax revenue of our Great Zhou treasury has exceeded 1 billion taels of silver. Even though this year we have spent more than 100 million taels of silver on the battlefield against the Star Sect, there is still an annual surplus of 120 million taels in the treasury.

Since we want to completely conquer the land of the Star Religion and make it the eternal foundation of our Great Zhou Empire, there is no need to worry about saving a little money. We can use all our strength to accomplish this great cause that will last for thousands of years!

Then follow the advice of Mr. Kou and other ministers!"

Misir refers to the Egypt and North Africa in Chai Zongxun's previous life. In recent years, as more and more merchants from the Great Zhou Dynasty have gone there for the great voyages, they have begun to have some understanding of the North African region.

The local people in North Africa call themselves Misr, which is transliterated into Chinese as “Misir”.

After the imperial edict was issued, the people of the Great Zhou saw that the immigration conditions were so generous, including one hundred acres of fertile land or pasture, twenty taels of "immigration silver", and two Xingxing church members as slaves. As a result, a large number of people signed up to go, especially those in mountainous areas that had no geographical advantages and had slow economic development.

They only needed to immigrate to the vast and sparsely populated territories of the Great Zhou Dynasty that they had newly occupied in Central and West Asia. These people could immediately become landlords and rich people by reclaiming the wasteland for a few years. The temptation was indeed great.

After more than five months of mobilization by the state governments, more than three million households and 20 million Han immigrants were recruited. In early July of the 32nd year of Kaixi, they set out for the Samanid Empire and Ghazni under the escort of the Longxiang Army.

(End of this chapter)