Chapter 971 Colonial Era
"Xiao Zheng, Duke Wei is coming."
Outside the city of Shibang, under the B watchtower, Huo Changyan Shizhu came over excitedly, and said to Zheng Enyang.
Zheng Enyang was eating with a big big bowl, a bowl full of rice, covered with a layer of big pork slices, beans and eggplant, etc., it was delicious. These days, he has to fight wits and bravery with the barbarians, and also has to scramble to harvest rice. Even at night, he has to light a fire and work overtime.
Sleeping only for two hours a day, the more energy and consumption, the larger the appetite. Fortunately, Lao Yan was very generous and killed all the fattened pigs. Anyway, the barbarians came, and there was no chance to drive them out to graze.
"Did Duke Wei lead his troops to destroy the barbarians?"
"Well, it should be. The order just passed down by Cheng Dudu is to make all the castles and garrisons along the way ready to meet. Duke Wei may pass by our Shiping."
"possible?"
"Of course it is possible. Wei Gong's travel route is also kept secret. We can only say that it is possible to pass by our side."
Zheng Enyang thought for a while, "Our side is not the main road leading to Haicheng, I think the possibility of passing by is extremely small."
"Not necessarily."
"Then what are we going to do?"
While thinking about it, Lao Yan's gaze fell on Zheng Enyang's rice bowl, and he stretched out his hand like lightning, picked up a large piece of fatty meat and threw it into his mouth.
"Strengthen the vigilance and send more patrols. Didn't Lao Liu say yesterday that he found a group of thieves fleeing nearby and hid in the mountains? If it turns out that we can just keep an eye on it and ignore it, but since Wei Gong may come, let's just ignore it." We can't let them stay there any longer, call the brothers to get ready, and go fuck them at night."
"There are hundreds of barbarians." Zheng Enyang reminded.
"I know, so we contacted several other nearby bunkers to act together."
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The news of Qin Lang's west tour quickly spread, and the morale of the soldiers at Tonghai Mansion was naturally high. When Wei Gong came, those barbarian thieves would be wiped out?
At the beginning, everyone followed Wei Gong all the way from the east, and now they are all following Wei Gong's order to take root here, and even everyone's good life today is thanks to Wei Gong.
And Wei Gong's prestige is known all over the world.
These damn thieves harass us all the time, making everyone very impatient, and now they are finally going to be cleaned up.
Some people are asking how many soldiers and horses Wei Gong brought over, while others are asking when Tonghai will gather all kinds of troops to accompany Wei Gongman.
Before the person arrives, the name arrives first.
Qin Lang's westward journey did not actually mobilize many troops.
Yuan Zhulin, the naval envoy of Guangzhou Town, dispatched a thousand elite soldiers to accompany him, while Qin Cunxiao, the commander of the Yamen of the Jinglue Mansion, accompanied him with a thousand soldiers.
In addition, Niu Jianhu of the Nanyang Navy also mobilized two thousand sailors to escort.
Feng Zhidai, Feng Zhichen, Feng You, Xian Zhichen, Chen Jiyuan, Ning Chun, Ning Ju and other disciples of the local kings of the south of the Ling River also followed along, and each summoned three to five hundred disciples.
These people were all descendants of several great powers in Lingnan. After Qin Lang transferred Feng An, Chen Longshu, Yang Shilue and other old guys to the central government or the Central Plains to serve in the Central Plains, he took advantage of the situation and appointed their sons as governors.
Through methods such as merging prefectures and counties, coupled with the abolition of hereditary native officials and the dispatch of exile officials, the current situation in Lingnan has been greatly changed, especially the establishment of a large number of imperial military offices, which has made these native kings powerless to resist.
This time Qin Lang was going on a westward tour, and with an order, all the brothers of the earth prince who were still sitting in the governor's seat responded one after another, and none of them dared to refuse.
Qin Lang's westbound route is publicly known as going south to Jiaozhou along the coastal road, and then passing through the Red River to Tonghai. But in fact, he went back from Guangzhou along the waterway of the Xijiang River, all the way to Guiping, Xunzhou, and then entered Rongshui, a tributary of the Xijiang River, and went north to Xiangzhou, Liu, Rong, and Yizhou.
This northwest corner of Guangxi Road has always been a weakly controlled area. When Qin Lang made a big fuss in Yongzhou, he didn't move much here.
Therefore, Xidongman still maintains a relatively complete strength. In the past two years, the rebellion and rebellion have never stopped.
The Jinglue Mansion has never made a big move against them, but has been building roads, post stations, bunkers, and fortresses in the northwest mountainous area. It has adopted a gradual approach to expand into the mountainous area.
The key point is to establish several lines of communication that go directly to the depths of the mountains, so that it is easy to separate the stream cave barbarians in the mountains.
This time Qin Lang intends to visit by the way, to beat those creek caves that are still rebellious, and he doesn't even mind destroying the cottage directly, beheading its leaders, and then moving all the rest of the chaotic people away .
Qin Lang's army of about 8,000 people was not large in number, but it was elite enough. Even the servants of Feng Xian's family were the real elites of each family, soldiers of all battles.
His own Jinglueya soldiers and Guangzhou Zhenhai soldiers are all old soldiers from the Central Plains.
Traveling on the waterway of the Xijiang River on a warship of the Nanyang Navy, boats come and go on the wide and flat river. This waterway is now a golden waterway in Lingnan, and it is extremely busy.
There is an endless stream of people who transport food, minerals, and goods.
The busy waterway transportation has even led to the rapid development of several major inland river ports planned a few years ago, and they have become water and land commercial ports, which are very prosperous.
Many rural fairs along the river also became lively. Standing on the deck, you even feel as if you are walking in the Central Plains.
"Since Zhenguan, the number of people from the Central Plains south to Lingnan has exceeded one million. The number of newly registered households in Lingnan is even larger, and a large number of Xidong Liaoman in the original mountainous area have gradually registered as householders, and have even been mobilized to move to There are still many people entering the city in the flat area under the mountain."
Jia Wuben has been in Lingnan for many years. He used to be a transshipment envoy, but now he is an observation envoy of Canton Road. As the chief executive of Canton Road, he is very clear about these changes. These changes are all visible to the naked eye.
Indeed, many barbarians went down the mountain, and even entered the city.
The barbarians who entered the city were mainly those with craftsmanship. Among the barbarians, there were also many exquisite manual techniques. For example, because there were many mines in Lingnan, the barbarians in Lingnan had already mastered high-level mining and smelting since the time of the Baiyue people in the pre-Qin period. technology, especially their level of copper smelting and copper ware.
In addition, the level of making silverware and goldware is also unique, such as the silverware of Hengshan, Yongzhou, which is famous all over the world.
In addition, Lingnan is also rich in earthen cloth and earthen brocade, especially earthen brocade, which is so exquisite that it can even be compared with Shu brocade.
In Lingnan, ivory, rhinoceros, spices, etc. are also processed, and the technology in these areas is also relatively advanced, and even things such as pearl fishing and pottery are also at a good level.
In the previous era of the Baiman tribes in Lingnan, each tribe mastered some crafts, passed them down from generation to generation, and bartered with other tribes.
Now that the industry and commerce in Lingnan is booming, the government also mobilizes these craftsmen to enter the city, and even provides them with loans to encourage them to open their own shops and build workshops.
These skilled barbarians are very popular in Lingnan now. After going down the mountain, the treatment is very good. Compared with before on the mountain, the income has increased several times or even dozens of times. They also started to buy houses in the city, wear long gowns and silk, Even buying horses and carts, buying slaves to serve, and sending children to government schools or private schools in the city.
This kind of change is very attractive to the barbarians in the mountains, so in recent years, more and more barbarians have gone down the mountain.
Those with skills go down the mountain to exchange their skills for money, and those without skills can also exchange their strength for money.
In the past, the territory between the various tribes was fought by the ancestors from generation to generation, and no one should easily cross the border, otherwise it would be a war.
But now, under the unified planning of the Jinglue Mansion, the prefectures are set up as counties, and the townships are set up as ri. Work together to fix the canal.
These organizational and mobilization capabilities are what the previous tribes were able to do. Especially when it comes to the territories of other tribes, and now with the presence of the government, many things can be negotiated, traded, and finally resolved.
Many barbarians in the south of the Five Ridges are now breaking the previous geographical boundaries and gradually no longer distinguishing tribes so strictly. Now they are replaced by the official administrative divisions of the court such as prefectures, counties, townships, and ri.
Although many barbarian leaders have transformed into county assistants, county historians, township chiefs, Lizhengs, Baochangs, etc., they have become members of the imperial court and local government organizations, instead of standing on the opposite side.
The closer to the traffic lines, the flat land, the cities, and the fortresses, the less and less the division of tribes these days. In those cities and townships, people from various tribes in the mountains gathered together. Everyone exchanged native products and purchased commercial goods.
They were even employed in workshops, mines, shops, caravans, and fleets in exchange for silver coins and copper coins.
There are fewer and fewer conflicts between tribes, and the traditional survival mode in Lingnan is changing.
Just like on this West River, there are many sailors who run boats, they are from tribes, most of them are those tribal people who used to be close to the river, and they themselves are familiar with water, and now they come to run boats, and their income is much higher than that of fishing at home It is even easier to keep the harvest in drought and flood.
Many of the pig farmers, cattle herders, and even shipbuilders and blacksmiths who made jewelry along the coast were also originally tribal barbarians.
Jia Wuben sighed very much, thinking that this was the contribution of the Central Plains' enlightenment.
Qin Lang chuckled in his heart, this is obviously the power of money.
If Lingnan didn't make great efforts to promote industry and commerce, but took other paths, only relying on force to conquer, then you see whether the barbarians would still live and work in peace and contentment as they do now.
No matter what dynasty, no matter what Huayi, the key is to let people live a better life, so that others will support you.
Otherwise, if you conquer by force, then the money, food, and Yao will be collected, which will be a much heavier burden than before, so who would like it?
Force can only smash the old ruling class and system, but to really win the hearts of the people, you still have to rely on money. To put it bluntly, you have to feed and feed people. This is the minimum, so that others will sincerely accept your support. you.
Why are those barbarians in the mountains in the northwest still making trouble? The most important thing is that they failed to smash the old barbarian rulers. Their control and influence are still there, and they still threaten those ordinary people. Barbarians, one more thing, Datang has indeed not brought a new model to those mountainous areas. Those barbarians still live in a traditional way of life, and they can't feel the huge changes outside, nor enjoy the benefits brought about by these changes. benefit.
This time when Qin Lang went to Yunnan, he deliberately took a long detour through the Yirong area, that is, to smash the rule of those stubborn barbarian chiefs, break the cage, lift the manhole cover, and let the barbarians there really see the outside world, so that they can know the benefits that the new world can bring to them.