Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 496
The winter cold wind roars southward from Siberia, accumulates again after passing through the Mongolian plateau, and will continue to sweep across the northern land after gaining momentum.At this time, the prairie by the Tula River was withered and yellow, and the biting cold was wrapped in the bitter north wind, blowing the inside and outside of Kulun City into a desolate place.On both sides of the narrow, winding, dirty and muddy roads in the city, there is nothing but rows of rustling wind horse flags and prayer wheels blown by the wind.

Kulun, called "Bogda Kulun" in Mongolian, means Bogda's living circle.Originally, it did not specifically refer to a fixed location, as long as it is the location of the mobile monastery of "Zhebtsundamba Hutuktu", it can be called Kulun.

In the 22nd year of Qianlong, the second Jebtsundamba Hutuktu passed away shortly after arriving at the Tula River and never migrated again. city.

There are many monks in the place where the living Buddha resides, and there is an endless stream of Mongolians from various tribes who come here to worship, and then handicraftsmen and businessmen continue to gather, making the agricultural and animal husbandry products that were originally only in the natural economic state become commodities.The emergence of temple fairs and bazaars also made Kulun the most populous city in Mongolia in the middle and early Qing Dynasty, with more than 3 residents.

In addition, Uliasutai, Duolunnuoer, and Guihua City were also large towns with a population of more than [-] in Mongolia in the Qing Dynasty.

However, rather than a city, Kulun might as well be called a big town, and it is not a city in the strict sense.Decades of development have made the entire city look like a large settlement composed of three fortresses.

The garrison city where the government office is located is called "Urban Kulun", and the "Temple Kulun" is composed of temple courtyards. In addition, there is a trading city full of merchants, all of which are surrounded by high wooden fences.The nomadic habits of the Mongols made them continue to live in yurts even if they settled in cities.

At dusk, as the wind gradually weakened, the flow of people on the streets and in the city began to increase.Suddenly, as the sound of the horse bell was getting closer, a fast horse carrying a messenger rushed into the city from the post road in the north, rolling black and icy soil, and came straight to the gate of the wooden fence of the garrison city. .

The clattering of the horse bells woke up the soldiers on duty inside and outside the gate. However, when they saw the tightly-packed courier in livery on the horse, no one dared to stop him, and let him go straight into the garrison city until he was in Kulun. It stopped in front of the office of the minister of affairs.After the soldiers at the door checked the opponent's waist card and pass defense, they finally found the letter package handed over by the opponent, and then quickly sent it into the mansion.

In the warm study room, the 38-year-old Kulun Minister Songyun was writing a memorial at his desk.When he had almost finished typing the draft, checked it was correct, and was about to copy it into the notebook, he heard Geshha outside the door: "My lord, there is an urgent report from Qiaktu."

Songyun put down the pen, rubbed her swollen temples, and said in a deep voice, "Bring it in."

After Ghoshha put the wooden box containing the official letter on the table and withdrew it, he took out the statement inside and read it.This official document was jointly sent by Dai Peng, the garrison officer of the Qiaktu Trading City, and Wu Yi, the secretary of the Lifan Academy. However, Songyun only read half of it, and his face became serious. After he finished reading the document, a few drops Beads of sweat emerged from his forehead and dripped down his cheeks.

In the 49th year of Qianlong, a certain Kulun merchant was robbed by Buryats belonging to Tsarist Russia when he was selling goods on the Sino-Russian border.On the one hand, Le Bao, the minister in charge of Cullen, sent people to investigate the criminals according to the report of the victim, and on the other hand, he notified the Russian side to assist in the arrest of the robbers.After the Russian side seized the thieves, they sent people to escort them to Kyakta. After a joint trial by both parties, they sentenced a criminal to pay ten times the goods to the victim.

However, before the case was finally concluded, the officers sent by the Russian side to escort the prisoner actually violated the relevant provisions of the "Khakhta Treaty", arbitrarily sentenced the criminal to flogging, and then exiled him to Siberia.

Now Qianlong was annoyed.In order to punish Russia for violating the "Khakhta Treaty" and disrespecting the sovereignty of the Qing court in this case, Qianlong ordered to suspend the Kyakhta trade.

In order to resolve the dispute as soon as possible, in the 50th year of Qianlong, Song Yun, a cabinet bachelor, was sent to handle negotiation affairs.The reason why Qianlong chose the 34-year-old Songba as the important task was that his ability was appreciated first.Secondly, Songyun was born in Zhenglan Banner Mongolia, proficient in Manchu and Mongolian, and also has a high level of Chinese, so he is fully capable.

However, the unexpected appearance of Beihai Town led to Tsarist Russia's invasion of Heilongjiang, which disrupted Songyun's hard work in the past three years since he took office.Not only did the Qing-Russian trade not reopen, the Russians even lost Irkutsk, and a group of rebels became targets of border trade.

Songyun is still negotiating, it is impossible for the court to open the door to do business with Beihai Town.

So in the past two years, his main task has been to suppress border smuggling, cooperate with General Uliasutai, supervise the preparations for the two armies of Tushetu Khan and Chechen Khan, and at the same time closely monitor whether anyone in the two departments has privately communicated with the North Navy.

"One hundred thousand beat ten thousand, and they lost again. They are really a group of wine bags and rice bags." Muttering a few words to himself, Songyun called Geshha outside the door to come in, and said in a deep voice: "Take my invitation card and go invite Ka Deputy General Erka came to the office to discuss, it's about urgent military affairs!"

"Whoo!"

The deputy general of Khalkha mentioned by Songyun is the king of Khalkha Zhasak Doro, Borzigit Chedendorji.As the deputy general of Khalkha, his main responsibilities are to guard Kulun, manage the Temple Ding of Hutuktu—that is, the upper-level lamas of Mongolia and the subjects of the temple, and assist Songyun in handling border affairs with Tsarist Russia .

After more than an hour, Che Dengdorji arrived, and Song Yun had already changed in advance and waited at the gate for a long time.Seeing the chubby prince get off the carriage under the service of his servants, Songyun hurriedly stepped forward to bow to him.

"The next official pays homage to the prince!"

Although Songyun is a first-rank imperial envoy, Chedendorji is not only a county king, but also has a noble status. The 58-year-old Tushetu Khan is also the 25th grandson of Genghis Khan.

Che Dengdorji didn't dare to win in front of Songyun, because the other party was an imperial envoy no matter what.So he hurriedly stretched out his hand to support them, and after some humility, the two of them entered the office and sat down in the signing room.

After the tea was served, Che Dengdorji said with a smile: "Xiangpu, it's late at night, what's the hurry to find me?"

Songyun handed the report from Chakhtu to the other party, and said solemnly: "My lord, the Russians have lost again this time. This is an urgent report sent to the trading city by the spies we placed among the Buryats before. .”

"Ah!" Cheden Dolji's complexion changed, and he took it and read it carefully, and his back was sweating coldly, thinking that he didn't listen to that Marshal Fu's plan to send troops without authorization, otherwise he would rely on his own people He also wanted to steal chicken, but in the eyes of Bei Haijun, he might not even be able to get a plate of food.

He looked at Songyun in astonishment and said, "Xiangpu, they have 10 people! It's impossible to lose so quickly with [-] pigs in just one day! Those Luocha soldiers are all musketeers!"

Songyun remained silent, thinking that don't mention any muskets, the North Sea Pirates used a fast gun, which could fire several times in a flash; that cannon could really destroy tens of miles with one shot.The 10,000+ army of the imperial court was beaten all over the ground several times, and they had no power to fight back, let alone a mere [-] Rakshasa soldiers.

He frowned and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, as the Minister of State, I, Song Xiangpu, have the responsibility to guard the land. Even if the city of Kulun falls, at worst, I will die to repay the king's kindness. But there are tens of thousands of people in the city. What is the surname He Gu? Chechen Khan and Tushetu Khan have hundreds of thousands of people who are Gu?"

"Xiangpu, why are you here?" Che Dengdorji was silent for a while, before explaining: "It's winter now, even if the North Sea Pirates defeat Rakshasa, it is impossible to attack Kulun City against the severe cold. According to this king, Luocha is also a big country with thousands of miles away, how can it swallow this breath. Zhao Ni has stabbed a hornet's nest this time, let them fight with Luocha to die together, you and I sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and strictly guard the border."

In fact, this Tuxietu Khan was also terrified to death, but he was old and cunning, and on the surface he pretended to be as stable as Mount Tai.

At present, the total strength of the Tushetu Khan Department is 7800, and there are no more soldiers to be recruited; even if the Chechen Khan Department next door is added, the total strength is only [-] troops.It took the Northern Sea Pirates a day to fight [-] Rakshasa soldiers, and they are gone in a blink of an eye?
Songyun said: "My lord, let alone the other three tribes, can the Tuxietuhan tribe recruit another [-] soldiers?"

Che Dengdorji trembled when he heard this, and sighed: "At most 1 people is the limit."

When Songyun heard that only 2000 more people could be recruited, she thought that this was not enough, and then sighed in distress.

Speaking of the management of Khalkha Mongolia by the Manchus in the Qing Dynasty, various rumors are flying in the sky in another time and space.What is it like to reduce men, let Mongolian families send men to be lamas, what they say seems to be true.A certain novelist with the Cao Mansion as the background even made a big show of saying that the Manchus were suppressing the Mongols.

Pooh!Pure nonsense!

According to the archives kept by the Zhasaktu Khan’s palace, starting from the Kangxi period, the Qing court set up flag editors in the Mongolian region, each with 150 arrows, of which 50 were active soldiers, 100 were reserve soldiers, and less than 150 were called soldiers. Yu Ding or Banzuo.From the middle of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the total number of assistant leaders of the four tribes of Khalkha basically remained at about 140, and the total number of arrows was about 2.1.Zasak Banner, as a military organization, became the basis for the Qing government to implement the military service system, recruit arrows, and allocate military service in the area.

Historically, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties hardly had many troops stationed in Mobei, and all frontier defense tasks were completed by the four Khalkha Mongols.The four ministries undertook a wide variety of court duties. In addition to going out in wartime, they also had to undertake post stations, military platforms, Karen, border patrols, official animal husbandry factories, and farms in peacetime, and assigned Uliasutai and Khobdo , Kulun, Kyakta, etc. are all kinds of miscellaneous servants in the imperial court or local military and political institutions.At the same time, they had to provide the Qing court with some physical objects such as riding camels, edible livestock, felt bags, etc. that the Qing court needed on the border of Mobei, or they would convert them into silver and apportion them.He even had to be sent by the Qing court to other regions other than Mobei to take on various duties.

Because the leader of the alliance who failed to complete the tasks of the servants would be punished by the Qing court, and even the hereditary titles would be revoked, which led to the frequent recruitment of the children of Jianding and the temple servants of the temple by the four ministries.

It is true that the four tribes of Khalkha Tushetu Khan, Zasaktu Khan, Chechen Khan, and Sanyin Nuoyan guarded the northern border for the Manchu Qing Dynasty and took on all kinds of heavy tasks. They were severely squeezed by the Qing court. The people are also very poor, but unless the Qing Dynasty doesn't want the territory of Mobei, why are they going crazy? !
Furthermore, the Manchu and Qing dynasties had strict restrictions on the number of monks who became monks from the four tribes of Khalkha Mongolia.If the number of adult men in each ministry is not enough, it is impossible to complete the heavy task of the Qing court.That is to say, in the late Qing Dynasty, the Qing government's control over Mobei was almost invalid, which led to the skyrocketing number of monks in the temple.

The situation in which a family with many children chooses one son to inherit the family business, and the rest become monks, is because the Mongolians were too poor to survive, so they could only become monks to seek food and clothing.

According to the "Kalka Right-wing Banner Zasak Yamen Archives", during the Qianlong period, the entire Khalkha Right-wing Banner only issued no more than [-] certificates, and another [-] temple quotas.

You must know that the ancient Mongolian and Tibetan monasteries were also a powerful class, and the upper lamas ate more and took more, and they were no worse than those princes and nobles.Taking the Bailing Temple as an example, the number of livestock reached [-] at its peak during the Guangxu period, and more than half of the right-wing herdsmen in the entire Khalkha grazing for the temple.

It is a matter of the Jin Dynasty to reduce the means, so don't be so nonsense.The lies fabricated by the Japanese and Russians to create divisive facts have been passed on from generation to generation, and the hearsay records of General Feng are often used as serious historical materials, which is really ridiculous!
An imperial envoy and a prince spent a long time discussing in a sad city, but there was no result in the end.Seeing that it was getting late, Chedendorji got up and said goodbye.But when he got home, he called his son Eyidobudorji over.

"Ama, do you have something to do with your son?" Eyidobudorji was smoking a small cigarette in the house before, drinking a small wine, and was suddenly summoned by his father, feeling unhappy.

Looking at his son, who was blushing from drinking, Chedendorji first turned away, and then asked his cronies to watch outside the yurt, "How many cigarettes did you bring back this time?"

"One hundred boxes."

Che Dengdorji calculated in his mind, one carton is [-] boxes, and based on the calculation that four boxes can earn a sheep, this trip will cost tens of thousands of sheep, which is really a good deal with huge profits.

"Let Jiangbula go back and make friends with them more. Except that people can't give them, they can sell cattle, sheep and horses."

"Horse?" Eyidobudorji's eyes widened, and he said worriedly: "If Songyun finds out about this, it will be a big trouble!"

A trace of disdain appeared at the corner of Chedendorji's mouth, he beckoned his son to come closer, and said in a low voice, "What do you know! To tell you the truth, Rakshasa lost again this time, losing a full 10 people!"

"Ah! What about us?"

"Remember what I said, the court can't beat those people at all, and the change of dynasty is a matter of one or two years. I want us Mongolians to block their guns for them, don't dream!"

　In the history of another time and space, it is precisely because of Songyun's continuous efforts to negotiate border affairs with Russia in a polite manner, and finally reopened the Kyakta trade in the 57th year of Qianlong.In addition to his outstanding ability to handle border trade, this man was also a rare honest official in the Qianjia period.Historically, when Songyun was serving as General Yili, he wanted to take his wife over and collected 50 taels of silver as travel expenses, but lost it. Later, his son borrowed another 50 taels from someone, and then sent his wife there.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)