golden scales

It was hard for Gerdan to understand why the kind-hearted Ming emperor suddenly became an enemy.It is even more incomprehensible why the Han people and the Heshuote people can decide the ownership of the Tianshan North and South Roads without the presence of the Junggar people.This is the cruelty of politics, and they will not show mercy just because of politeness.

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

Firstly, the price of land in the north is low, and secondly, due to the influence of the weather, more land in the north is idle, which is suitable for the overall strategic deployment of the country.

From a long-term point of view, there is no single enemy in the south of Ming Dynasty, and at most there will be some local unrest.With the expansion of the north, the enemy will be a grammatical country that is on the rise, or is about to enter the rise, and needs to mobilize more powerful forces to fight against it.

Artillery is one of them.

Now the only thing that can hit the cavalry two miles away is artillery.

In October of the fifth year of Longjing, the Ming court established the Northwest Artillery Bureau in Lanzhou, responsible for the manufacture of artillery, mainly for the Northern Expedition troops to equip.At the same time as the establishment of the Northwest Artillery Bureau, the new ministers of the Western Regions also took office.

An old man who was over seventy years old and fully qualified to serve as an official rode a donkey and leisurely entered the gate of Lanzhou City.He is Zhang Shiqi, the former governor of Sichuan and now the governor of Gansu and Tianshan provinces.

Zhang Shiqi's experience may be comparable to Jiang Ziya's.Before he was 64 years old, he had always been a mediocre scribe. Suddenly, one day, he became an official of the Eastern Palace, and then began his own legendary story of prosperity.From the county magistrate to the magistrate, and then to participate in politics and governor.Finally sat in the governor's seat.

And they are still the two most powerful provinces.

After the Northern Expedition entered the fourth stage, Monan was completely pacified, the Khalkha tribes surrendered, and the northern border of the Ming Dynasty no longer had any enemies.The Qin and Jin provinces also shifted from the state of combat readiness to the stage of governance and development.Only Gansu, because the Northern Expedition turned into a Western Expedition, became an important military center of the Ming Dynasty.

Plus the Tianshan Chief Secretary announced in September.These two provinces can be regarded as frontier positions.

In particular, the Chief Secretary of Tianshan is still in a state of occupation, the main force of the Ming army has not yet left the customs, and the province's organizational system is temporarily placed in Lanzhou.

Lanzhou was Jincheng County in the Han Dynasty. Because of Gaolan Mountain in the south of the city, it was named Lanzhou in the third year of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, and it was set up as the general manager's office.In the second year of Taizu Hongwu, the Ming army defeated the Yuan army and captured Lanzhou.In the following year, Lanzhou Guard was established, and in the fifth year of Hongwu, Zhuang Langwei was established.

In the first year of Emperor Jianwen, Su Wang Zhu Xi led the guards of Ganzhou to Lanzhou, Lanzhou, and defended the city with three points of soldiers and seven points of soldiers to farm fields. In addition, immigrants from southeastern provinces continued to move to Lanzhou to build water conservancy projects and promote economic development. .The population increased, and in Chenghua, Lanzhou was "inside and outside the city walls. There are no less than ten thousand military and civilian dwellings."

At the time of the national change, although Sufan and Lanzhou civil and military guards intended to resist, they were easily defeated in the end, and all the clan members died.The original Su Wang Mansion became Zhang Shiqi's Governor Xingyuan.

Zhang Shiqi rode a donkey, like a Mr. Dong Hong who came to the west to make a living, and went to the Chengguan.It can be seen that there are many restaurants and tea shops on both sides, and some people even put up wine flags, which is quite eye-catching when the prohibition on alcohol has not been lifted.Seeing that Xingyuan was close in front of him, Zhang Shiqi was not in a hurry, and Shi Shiran went to a restaurant.He jumped off the donkey briskly, and threw the rein to Xiao Er who came out to meet him.

"Is there wine here?" Zhang Shiqi entered the restaurant, and said aloud: "Bring a catty, and then some food to go with the wine."

The shopkeeper came out to greet him with a blank expression, obviously he didn't think Zhang Shiqi was a distinguished guest.

"Old man, the store sells fruit wine." The storekeeper explained.

Zhang Shiqi was slightly disappointed, pouted his lips, and said, "Whatever it is, let's quench our thirst with a pot first. Oh, no sugar cane wine."...

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

Because of the barriers between regions, and Sichuan chieftains used to raise cattle, there are so many cattle that can be eaten, but the cattle in Gansu are still very valuable means of production, and only the cattle that have died of accidents or accidents can be cooked in the kitchen.

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 as he took out a banknote and smoothed it on the table.

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes, and naturally put on a flattering expression, and said, "Old man, the small shop has big meat, chicken, and fish. The fish is just harvested today, so freshness is guaranteed."

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

"Over three catties, big one." The boss boasted.

Zhang Shiqi ate his mouth in Sichuan, shook his head and said: "It's too big. The only thing you can hunt here is the Yellow River carp. Carp will grow old after a catty. Let's cut a plate of chicken."

The boss slandered: You are very particular about Dongba!He was also afraid that the old Dong 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 slaughtered.

Zhang Shiqi is not very picky about chicken, so he glanced around at the guests in the restaurant, and saw a few Han characters with long knives sitting in the same place, also drinking wine, but there were no food and wine on the table, whispering in low voices, which is not unusual The quacks are so rude.

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

Although his voice was soft, it still alarmed the guests, and they all turned their heads to look at him.

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

"What's good about fishing in the west?" Zhang Shiqi asked.

"Oh, old man, you are new here, maybe you haven't heard of it." The shopkeeper stood aside, looked at the smoothed banknote on the table, and said: "The previous high governor used to have paperwork to travel across the province to recruit strong men. Escort grain and grass to Jiayuguan. If horse thieves and horse thieves are killed along the way, land will be allocated as a reward in the pass. Therefore, idlers in Long Province have gone to Lanzhou to wait for the convoy.

"Wouldn't it be a loss if something goes wrong..." Before Zhang Shiqi could finish his sentence, someone over there couldn't help swearing: "Unlucky!"

Zhang Shiqi hurriedly got up and cupped his hands, saying: "Strong man, young and old, don't take it to heart when you speak freely." Seeing him over there, he is quite polite, and he doesn't care about a half-destroyed person, so he is stable drop down.

The store owner obviously has some confidence and doesn't take these people seriously.He just defended his honored guests and said, "You don't need to talk to them, old man. If you really have the ambition, don't join the army?"

Those people really didn't make a mistake after listening to the shopkeeper's words, and sipped their wine sullenly.

"How strict is it to recruit people in the army?" Zhang Shiqi presided over the Sichuan Civil Affairs Bureau himself, and he was quite impressed with the compulsory military service system, but he didn't know that it was not so easy to join the army in Longxi. "Look, they are all athletes." Zhang Shi said strangely.

"A gymnast is a gymnast, no matter how you say it's not a loss of physical strength." The shopkeeper said without looking back, "But do they have status?"

Zhang Shiqi was even more strange.Said: "As long as you have a residence, don't you have a status?"

"Longxi is different from the mainland. Many people who committed crimes have left their homes and have no fixed residence. It is not easy to obtain a household registration." The shopkeeper said.

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

Indeed, these are the most troublesome refugees in Ming Dynasty.In the interior, especially in the capital and Jiangnan provinces, such people have almost disappeared.As long as the police find suspicious people on the road.You have the right to check account credentials.Once it is found that they do not carry their account certificates with them, they can be detained.

If it is verified that this person does not have an account.Then they will inevitably be sent to work in mines, or to work in Haixi, Taiwan and other places.

This is Daming's move to fully sort out idle human resources in society.

Violent, but effective.

However, this is not the case in the three provinces of Qin, Jin and Long.These three provinces are all adjacent to the border, and one person and one horse can travel between Han and Mongol tribes.Especially in the north of the Qin and Jin Dynasties, within the sphere of influence of the Mongols there was also Bansheng, where Han and Mongolia lived together.This undoubtedly brought great trouble to the account verification.

What's more, the folk customs in these three provinces are quite tough, and in the interior it is the police who arrest refugees.Occasionally, the inspection department needs help, but in these three provinces, it is likely to be the other way around.

The police are not fools, they dare not check the household registration certificates of these armed refugees.

Zhang Shiqi has also encountered this situation in Sichuan, and he also knows that many officials elsewhere believe in the strategy of killing and killing.But people tend to soften their hearts when they get old. Look at some of these young men as old as their grandchildren.I can't bear to make such an iron-blooded decision.

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

The shopkeeper was taken aback.This was originally what he planned to show off in the next step, but who knew that this old Dong Hong would actually say it out loud, it seems that scholars are really different.

"However, this old man is a little strange. Why does Governor Gao insist on escorting these people to send military supplies first?" Zhang Shiqi asked.

"It's a certificate of honor." A man stood up over there and answered him loudly.

Zhang Shiqi curiously said: "This is not to let people fall into the grass, what is it called a certificate of honor?"

The man was obviously quite clear about this approach, and said: "The escort of the military funds is of course also the court soldiers. Why do we need me to wait for the grassroots to deal with the horse thieves? As long as we finish the trip, even if it is the internal response of the horse thieves and horse bandits, they will take the land. He became a good citizen, and there was no turning back."

As for horse thieves and horse thieves who dared to rob military resources, there were not none, but they almost disappeared after a few blows.After all, no one wants to gnaw hard bones, not to mention what if the things you risk your life to grab are not food and grass, but cement, wouldn't it be a loss of money!

Zhang Shiqi shook his head with a smile when he heard the words, and said, "I don't know if this method will work or not, but it's really too petty."

Everyone looked at this strange Dong Hen one after another.

"The imperial court should be more generous in doing things. As long as the people are loyal to Daming, no matter what he did before? There are always difficulties. So what if you give him a piece of land? As long as they register their household registration, maybe these good men will serve the emperor in the army. En!" Zhang Shiqi said.

The big man who stood up was moved when he heard the words, obviously his mind was touched.

Another idler with sharp ears and monkey cheeks laughed strangely and said, "You gave away the land of the emperor's house? It's so interesting."

"The new governor is not a stingy person, and everyone will see what he does." Zhang Shiqi said leisurely.

Seeing Zhang Shiqi's extraordinary export, the shopkeeper asked in a low voice, "Is the old gentleman an aide of the ministry?"

Zhang Shiqi smiled and said nothing, pretending to be profound.

On the eighth day of October in the fifth year of Longjing, Xingyuan, governor of Longjing and Tianzhou provinces, issued an announcement stating that all ordinary people who are willing to buy a property and settle down can obtain a thousand acres of land outside Jiayuguan regardless of their status.

The only requirement is that people cannot leave the ground.If there is no family to live in ten days away from the land, the land will be returned to the court.If someone lives in a certain place for three consecutive months and the landlord fails to raise an objection, the place belongs to the resident.

Outside Jiayuguan is the Gobi Desert, but it is not completely devoid of water.Several glaciers originating from the Qilian Mountains nourish this barren and dry land.Although it cannot be compared with the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, it is enough to encourage people to live here.

Some people are moved by the number of "thousand acres" that they never dared to think about, some people want to go out to make a career for themselves because they have many children in their families, and some people just come here for their household registration and don't care how much land they have. .

All kinds of people flocked to the governor's yamen, which shocked the Lanzhou government into emergency martial law, closed the city gates, and mobilized the inspection department to deal with possible turmoil.

Zhang Shiqi certainly has the confidence to solve this problem.Wearing casual clothes, he still looked like Mr. Dong Hen, leading a young and bold clerk out of the side door of the Governor's Mansion and mixed into the crowd.

"Is sir looking for someone?" The clerk was a little nervous, seeing Zhang Shiqi looking around as if nothing had happened, he couldn't help asking.

"Yes, find an idle guy with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks." Zhang Shiqi said casually.

The clerk subconsciously searched for it, but he looked like everyone, but he didn't look like anyone when he looked closely, and he had no clue.

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

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

"It's you." Zhang Shiqi laughed, and stepped forward to grab the idler's arm.

The idle man was worried that he would hurt the old man Dongxiang, so he had to let him grab him and asked, "Why are you arresting me!"

The two asked and answered, which already attracted the attention of the people around them, and actually created a small circle.

"Why are you looking for him?" The burly man from the day before yesterday also squeezed over, not sure if he knew this person or was just out of righteousness.

"Do you know who I am?" Zhang Shiqi grabbed the idler's arm and said loudly, "This old man is Zhang Shiqi, Governor of Longtian."

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

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