Master Yuan, start!

Regardless of whether he is a Yellow Sect lama or a hereditary prince, within the framework of the republican government, he has only one identity: an ordinary citizen!

Mongolia. Hearing this somewhat unfamiliar yet familiar name, Yang Changjun's brows showed worry.

"If I remember correctly, the word 'Mo Nan' that the President mentioned just now was taken from the Zasak Mongols in the south of the desert.

The central government's establishment of a province south of the desert is beneficial to the country and a great achievement. After Xinjiang was established as a province more than ten years ago, the Qing Dynasty sent officials to govern it, which was very effective.

But more haste, less speed, Mr. President.

Even though the Qing Dynasty established a province in Xinjiang, it did not sever the hereditary privileges of the Hui Khojas and Beks.

The President is acting so violently in Mo Nan. If it triggers a riot, wouldn't it be…"

"Riots! The National Revolutionary Army is eager for riots!" Yuan Xiangcheng snorted coldly and said disdainfully, "The Jindan Dao riot near Korqin outside the Great Wall back then was enough to show how perverse these grassland nobles are and how unpopular they are.

Later they were not dealt with, not because these people had reformed, but because the Republican government was busy opposing the Manchus, resisting the Russians, and unifying the north and the south, and did not take them into consideration.

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Now that the overall situation in the world has been determined, if they still hold on to the idea that the Manchus and Mongols share the world, it will be impossible for them to obtain privileges from the republican government and the Red Confucian Society after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.

If you are unwilling to obey, then you will all be taken to Datong to mine, no matter which branch of the Golden Family their ancestors came from!

Yuan Shikai still remembers that the group of Eight Banners rebels in the capital who assassinated Emperor Guangxu included the Eight Banners of Mongolia.

Moreover, they colluded with the Russians and wanted to split the steppe with the help of external forces.

If it weren't for the crucial victory in the war against Russia, which reduced Russia's military strength in the Far East, and the Red Search Bureau's secret lines among the Outer Mongolian rebels.

I'm afraid that when the National Revolutionary Army marches south to fight the Huai Army, those confused Outer Mongolian princes and living Buddhas will use the power of the Russians to stab them in the back.

After Yuan Xiangcheng finished speaking, the other senior leaders of the Red Confucian Society present not only did not speak out to ease the situation, but instead added fuel to the fire.

Duan Qirui, who came from a military background, stood up and said in a very firm tone: "The era of the Mongols' horseback archery is long gone. Our National Revolutionary Army was able to defeat the Hunan Army, the Huai Army, and the French Army. We don't even take the small grassland cavalry seriously. If they are unwilling to obey, they will only face catastrophic disaster.

I want to see which is faster: the cavalry on the steppes or the Maxim bullets!"

"That's right!"

Prime Minister Xu Shichang also nodded and agreed: "After the opening of the railway inside and outside the customs, all major ports along the Bohai Sea coast have been incorporated into the unified management system of the Republican government.

Whether it is the three leagues of Jirim, Zhaowuda and Zhuosuotu in the east, or the leagues of Yikezhao, Chahar and Ulanqab in the west.

The transportation and sale of goods on the grasslands are inseparable from the railways inside and outside the Great Wall.

If the high-ranking nobles wanted to rebel, they could simply impose a railway embargo. Then the herders under them would face the risk of not being able to sell their furs, beef, and mutton.

If such a situation occurs, I think that no matter how pure the bloodline of the Golden Family is, no matter how many lamas on the grassland claim to be the reincarnations of gods and Buddhas, those grassroots herdsmen will always see through it.

Not to mention, the number of Han people in the Hetao area has long far exceeded that of local herdsmen.

It’s hard to say who owns this grassland!

Yuan Shikai was not sure when the Russians would take action against the northwestern border, but he knew that once they did, it would definitely not involve only Xinjiang.

The entire Mongolian Plateau may become a place where the Russians can use their troops.

Once the Second Sino-Russian War, which would spread over thousands of kilometers, breaks out, the Republican government's current weakness in its control over the northwest will be fully exposed.

In this new Sino-Russian war, the combat conditions of both sides will be completely reversed.

The last time, Yuan Shikai used the two provinces of Fengtian and Korea outside the Great Wall as supply bases, allowing the National Revolutionary Army to fight against the Russian army that came from afar in Heilongjiang.

This time, the supply line of the National Revolutionary Army was stretched by at least a thousand kilometers, and there were no railways along these thousands of kilometers, so they could only rely on traditional livestock transportation.

Instead, the Russians could rely on their railways in Central Asia and Western Siberia to transport supplies.

Therefore, Yuan Shikai believed that he had to complete the unification of the area south of the desert before the Russian invasion, or at least before invading the Mongolian Plateau.

Since the Tianshan Mountains are out of reach, the Ma family army can temporarily rely on religious power to fight against them.

The Mongolian desert is so close, and we must take control of part of it as soon as possible.

Yuan Xiangcheng did not believe that the nine princes would give up the privileges they had enjoyed for generations, so he did not even think about establishing any preferential treatment regulations or using courtesy first and force later.

Directly propose a condition that they cannot accept, so that they will rebel on their own initiative, thus giving you a legitimate reason to suppress the rebellion.

Hearing the harsh words from Yuan Shikai and a number of high-ranking officials of the Republican government and the National Revolutionary Army, all the non-Red Confucianists in the Zizhulin meeting hall gasped.

For this group of Mongolian nobles, without even asking any questions, they simply skipped the step of giving them sweet dates and just started with the big stick?

Is this killing the chicken to scare the monkey?

Zhang Zhidong, who was smiling just now, suddenly changed his expression and couldn't help but start recalling things in his mind.

"If I had not ordered Hubei to change its flag, had not gone north to become the president of the Bi De Yuan, but had chosen to resist to the end, what would be the outcome now?"

Zhang Zhidong, who had already surrendered, was deeply shocked, and Yang Changjun, who had not yet surrendered, was also greatly shocked.

“Let me be the governor of Mo Nan Province, but the central government’s decision-making in Mo Nan seems murderous.

Doesn't that mean that the Chu faction will become a knife in the hands of the Central Government? "

In fact, Yang Changjun was right. Pushing the Chu faction to the front to compete with the Mongolian forces was a strategy that killed two birds with one stone.

It can not only consume the strength of the Chu faction to some extent, but also strike at the separatist forces of the Mongolian faction on the grassland.

As for the precious National Revolutionary Army, Yuan Xiangcheng believed that it could not be used in this low-intensity security offensive and defensive battle, as they had to face the upcoming Russians.

"Mr. Quan, the Republican government can no longer tolerate the emergence of people who are superior to others and a country within a country on the land of China."

Yuan Xiangcheng pointed at the Republican government officials present and said, "Otherwise, why would we have gone to so much trouble to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish a republic?"

"That's right!" Xu Shichang added, "If we talk about merit, who in the world can compare to Wei Ting's?

But even though he had made great contributions, Wei Ting did not choose to be the emperor of the Yuan family, but instead became the president of the republican government.

Where do these nobles, who rely on the legacy of their ancestors from more than a thousand years ago and live a life of idleness on horseback, get the confidence to ride roughshod over the people and act tyrannically?

The grace of a gentleman will be cut off after five generations. From the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty to the current Republican period, it is probably 50 generations.

If the clan lands that have been passed down for a thousand years by the Han people inside the Great Wall can be divided up, why should the princes and nobles of the 6 leagues and 49 banners outside the Great Wall be treated any differently?

Yuan Xiangcheng nodded, agreeing with Xu Shichang's words.

Indeed, up to now, few influential grassland princes have sent envoys to contact the central government, and most of them are waiting for a price.

Faced with this phenomenon, Yuan Xiangcheng had already thought it through.

The situation where it is better to revolutionize later than earlier and it is worse to revolutionize later than to conduct counter-revolution will never happen to the Red Confucian Society.

This is a sentence that was widely circulated during the revolutionary journey of the previous life.

Why should the soldiers who sacrificed their lives and shed their blood only get a few medals and a little compensation in return?

And those traitors who were regarded as enemies during the war years were able to transform themselves into guests of honor of the new government in the end?

Zhang Zhidong exchanged Hubei for the position of President of the Court of Virtue, and Yang Changjun exchanged the Northwest for the position of Governor of Mobei Province.

However, the fact that both of them were able to have a place in the republican government was not simply because of their surrender.

Zhang Zhidong's Hubei Army had no blood debts against the National Revolutionary Army; the Chu faction had long cooperated with the central government in allowing the Manchus to reclaim wasteland.

This is the important reason why the two of them were able to squeeze into the top level.

That group of grassland princes and nobles wish to do nothing and make no preparations, and continue to act tyrannically within the territory of Republican China.

Just four words: wishful thinking!

Chapter 487: The Army Going West

"Mr. President, after the Chu army reaches the Hetao area, they will have to disarm and return to their hometowns. At that time, how will they deal with the local people?" After thinking for a moment, Yang Changjun asked a question that seemed very unnecessary.

When Yuan Xiangcheng heard Yang Changjun emphasize the word "common people", he immediately understood.

The "local people" he referred to were not Han people, but the Manchu bannermen who had moved here a few years ago.

In other words, Yang Changjun was actually asking, if tens of thousands of Chu troops were all transferred to the Hetao area, and there were not enough people after the disarmament, how to deal with the local bannermen.

As early as the beginning of the Guangxu period, the Qing court had already actively or passively begun to implement the "immigration policy"

One direction of immigration to the border is Shengjing, Jilin, Heilongjiang and other places in the Northeast. Because it is located north and east of Shanhaiguan, it is also called "Chuangguandong".

The other place is the direction of the Saibei grassland. Since most of the Saibei area is located west of the passes of the Shanxi and Zhili Great Walls, it is called "Walking West".

The historical movement of crossing Guandong and going west is known as the largest population migration in North China in nearly two hundred years since the mid-Qing Dynasty.

However, in the time and space where Yuan Xiangcheng lived, due to the perfect transportation facilities and the advantages of early development outside the pass, most people only knew to "break through the pass to the east" but did not know to "go to the west".

More than 90% of the people living east of Taihang Mountains will choose to board ships or take trains to ports in Tianjin, Shandong and other places to go to the Northeast.

Compared with the black soil areas such as Fengtian, Heilongjiang, and Jilin that are directly accessible by sea and rail, the grasslands outside the Great Wall are much less attractive. At present, there are more immigrants from the Hetao area and the Loess Plateau area near the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River.

The number of immigrants who have crossed the Guandong Pass has exceeded 1000 million, and the number is still increasing at a rate of 100 million per year.

The number of people who went west was at best a fraction of those who went to Guandong. Since the early years of the Guangxu period, there were only more than 30 people.

The fact is that the real prosperity of going west in history was not until the basic construction of the Hetao Irrigation Canal was completed, which was during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China after the 20th century.

At that time, the world was in chaos, and gradually a large number of people began to flee to the relatively peaceful northern grasslands.

In addition, the subsequent warlord armies, the Central Plains War, the Japanese invasion, and the Yellow River bursting caused more and more people in the Central Plains to flee.

In this time and space, although the Qing Dynasty was divided, the situation was "divided but not bad", and there was no large-scale war in the Central Plains, so there was no craze for going west.

However, this phenomenon has changed significantly after the demise of the Qing Dynasty in this time and space.

Hundreds of thousands of bannermen near the capital were gradually moved westward along the Great Wall from North China, passing through Datong, Shanxi, and to the Hetao area.

The main force that went west changed from the common people in the heartland of the Central Plains to the bannermen at the foot of Yanshan Mountain.

Moreover, because it was a forced migration, the number of people moving westward in these three to four years exceeded the total of the past seven or eight years.

This also led to the Hetao region having a situation where there were more Han people and fewer Manchus and Mongolians.

Due to the population movement since the late Ming Dynasty and the fact that they were the first to move west in the late Qing Dynasty, the Han people have a population advantage here, with a population of about 70, accounting for 7%.

After the large-scale influx of Bannermen in the past two years, their proportion has soared from less than 1% to 3%, or about 30 people.

Although the Mongols are also an indigenous ethnic group in the Hetao region, due to their non-settled pastoral lifestyle and the flourishing of Tibetan Buddhism, about 10% of the men have become monks, resulting in a small population of about 5.

In just a few years, the number of bannermen increased dramatically, which also brought some hidden dangers to the local area.

Therefore, Yang Changjun asked how to treat these bannermen who had lost their power.

He knew that of the one million bannermen in the capital, about half claimed to be Han Chinese, cut off their braids on the spot, and took back their ancestral Han names.

Only the real Manchu bannermen were exiled to the frontier.