The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 62: The Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty
As early as 1776, when John Adams visited the Ming Dynasty, he arranged for his entourage to visit the Qing Dynasty.

The envoy explained to the Qing Dynasty that America would be independent from Britain and invited the Qing Dynasty to support America's intention.

At that time, the Qing Dynasty ignored America, but slightly adjusted its own American plan based on the situation in America.

Between going south to Mexico and entering the Great Plains, the more determined choice is to make the latter the main goal.

Emperor Qianlong ordered Fu Kang'an to lead two thousand mixed Manchu, Han and Mongolian soldiers to take the North Pacific route to the Qing Dynasty's colonies in North America.

The border area between the United States and Canada in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, the Putnam Bay where Seattle and Vancouver are located, is now called the American Gulf by the Qing Dynasty.

America Bay was the Qing Dynasty’s ruling center and exploration base in North America, also known as the North American Camp.

Fu Kang'an worked in America for more than three years and returned to Shuntianfu, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, in the summer of 1780.

Brought back information about the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of North America, as well as several Native American people.

The 1780th year of Emperor Xianning’s reign in the Ming Dynasty, May 6th of the 17th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, and June th of in the Western calendar.

In the Western Garden of the Imperial City of Shuntian Prefecture in the Qing capital, several Qing civil and military officials met with Emperor Qianlong to report specifically on the actions in North America in the past few years.

Fu Kang'an, who was just 25 years old, spread a map on the imperial desk in front of Qianlong:
"Your Majesty, look here. In the past three years or so, we have found three roads that cross the Rocky Mountains: north, middle and south.

“I think that the southernmost route is the longest, but it is the easiest to travel.

“Although this is the widest of the three areas, there is a fairly large flat plateau inside the mountains, and a large river runs through the plateau.

“As long as you follow this big river south of the American Gulf, you can enter the plateau inside the mountains from the river valley.

“Go southeast through the plateau and you’ll find the source of the big river south of the camp, in the deepest part of the Rocky Mountains.

"Just north of the source of the river, at the other end of this narrow valley, is the source of the Mississippi River, which is also the source of the Missouri River.

“We just had to float down the Missouri River and leave the river valley and enter the Great Plains of North America.

“The source of these two rivers is less than a hundred kilometers apart.

"I brought back some Shoshone people who live near the source of the two rivers. I can report more specific information about the local area."

Qianlong looked at the road pointed out by Fu Kangan:

"That's a good job, but what about the Great Plains? Maybe grazing? Maybe farming?"

Fu Kangan continued:

"Your Majesty, the Great Plains of North America are grasslands. The grass there is taller and more lush than in Mongolia, but it is not suitable for nomadic life like in Mongolia.

"In the winter, the Great Plains has extremely strong winds and heavy snow, covering the sky and the earth, and everything is covered tightly. According to Mongolian standards, there is a snowstorm almost every year.

"If there are only ordinary tents and no brick and stone houses to keep warm, people and livestock will not be able to withstand the heavy snow and severe cold in winter.

“But if the snow covers the field for the whole winter, the withered grass in the autumn will automatically turn into compost, and the snow water in the spring will also moisten the soil.

“No one farms on the Great Plains, so over thousands of years, the soil beneath the snow is rich black soil.

“It’s similar to our Northeastern wilderness, but there aren’t many swamps on the North American Great Plains. Most of it is flat, good farmland.

“As long as you build a solid house to survive the winter, and plant wheat in the spring after the snow melts, you will have a good harvest in the fall.

“It just so happens that there are many large rivers on the Great Plains. We can build houses and reclaim wasteland along the rivers and divert water for irrigation.

"I've been watching the servants working on the land for a year, and by the standards of our Central Plains, it's definitely a bumper harvest.

“There are also herds of bison on the prairie, which are bigger than the horses we raise.

“However, the bison have very violent temperaments and cannot be raised to plow the fields, so they can only be hunted and killed for meat.

“Moreover, the Mississippi River flows from north to south, and the temperature gets warmer as you go south. I heard from the locals that it is summer all year round in the southernmost part, which is warmer than the south of the Yangtze River.

"The only problem now is that the Spanish in Europe have already claimed both sides of the Mississippi River as their land.

"But there aren't many Spanish people in North America, so just fight them if you meet them."

After hearing this, Qianlong laughed:
"Sleeping on the kang in winter, working in the fields in spring, and going out hunting during the slack season, isn't this the life that the old Eight Bannermen are most familiar with?
"Draft an imperial decree to organize immigrants in various provinces to enter the Great Plains of North America and open up wasteland and cultivate land along the Missouri River." Now the American rebels in Britain, together with the Southern Ming, Xishun, France, and Spain, are fighting the British.

"Our Qing dynasty took advantage of the chaos to occupy the land of the American Great Plains.

"As for the various tribes in America, they were all subdued and reorganized, and the organization was modeled after the Han army flags, called the Eight Banners of the Qing Army."

After Qianlong finished speaking, he looked at a young man kneeling in front of the table:
"You look similar to the people of our Great Qing Dynasty, and even the people of our Great Qing Dynasty have pigtails, and most of you North American ethnic groups also have pigtails.

"This means that we have been one family for thousands of years. Your ancestors must have fled to America along the old forests in the northeast, while we went south.

"When you return to our homeland, we will take charge of you. You don't have to be afraid of those European white devils."

The Qing Dynasty in this world failed to unify the world, especially since the Ming Dynasty court still existed, which led to the incomplete implementation of the shaving order.

In the end, only officials were required to wear queues and did not need to shave their heads. Later, the Eight Banners of Manchuria also followed suit and only wore queues but did not shave their heads. The Shoshoni youths were not shaved by Fukangan either.

The Shoshone youths originally wore braids, but Fu Kang'an asked them to change their three separate braids into one big braid.

So after hearing what Qianlong said, the Shoshone youth still had some doubts in his heart:
Although we all have braids, we usually have two or three braids, and all three braids have different meanings.

But you all only have one braid, and you didn't tell me what it means specifically.

However, their images are indeed similar, and they are different from the white ghosts from the south. At least they are definitely more trustworthy than the white ghosts.

At least treat yourself as one of the same kind, the white ghosts are the truly vicious ones.

Besides, now that I've come here, there's nothing to worry about anymore. It's too late to run away now.

The Shoshone youth then bowed their heads in thanks according to the etiquette instructed by the Qing officials:

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving us justice!"

After hearing this, Qianlong smiled and named the Shoshone youth Meian, which means stability in America, and gave him the surname Niu Hulu, and incorporated him into the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner.

Shoshone youth Niu Hulu Mei An bowed his head again to express his gratitude:
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

Qianlong was very satisfied with what he heard and continued to ask Mei'an about some details about America, mainly the situation of the Great Plains.

After asking, Qianlong rewarded Fu Kang'an, promoted him to the first-rank imperial guard minister, conferred him the title of third-class Jiayong man, and made him the commander-in-chief of the American Bordered Yellow Banner.

He ordered Fu Kang'an to lead the official immigrants to North America, and together with several other guards and ministers, he was responsible for forming the Eight Banners of the American Army.

The future Qing Dynasty had Manchu, Mongolian, Han, and American flags, a total of 4832 flags.

When the Qing court organized large-scale immigration to the Americas, the British delegation arrived at Tianjin Port on a Portuguese merchant ship.

The Qing emperor received the report from the Honglu Temple three days later.

When Qianlong saw the letter sent by the British, he guessed the British intention without even opening the letter and said directly to Heshen beside him:
"The British are probably no longer able to do this. The Southern Ming, the Western Shun, the French, the Spanish, and the American rebels are all serving him. What a blessing this is.

"Now he probably wants me, the Qing Dynasty, to help him cut off the retreat of the Southern Ming Dynasty..."

Heshen, who was following Qianlong, did not respond immediately, but watched Qianlong open the letter himself.

After taking a quick look at the content, Qianlong said directly:

"It is indeed so. But what virtue and ability do the British have to offer to get my 4832 flags of heavenly soldiers to work for them?"

He Shen then smiled and said:

"Your Majesty is right, the British are used to being domineering at sea.

“I heard that they dared to rob sailboats from any country in the Atlantic before, and now they have incurred public outrage.

“Even Nan Ming couldn’t help it and traveled thousands of miles to America to give them a slap in the face.

"Then do you still want to see this British Lord?"

Qianlong read the letter again:
"We've come all this way, so we might as well meet them and see what terms they can offer."

(End of this chapter)