All cities must be near water sources. This is an unbreakable rule.
The same goes for Baicheng. If it's summer here, there will be abundant water and grass and crisscrossed rivers.
Unfortunately it is January and the entire ground is covered with ice and snow.
The Abagahan Mountain in the distance stood tall and gray, with no vegetation visible. Tian Zili thought that if it was summer, there would be lush trees and flowers there.
As the team entered the city, Tian Zili was shocked by the magnificence of the city. The south gate was more than three feet wide and nearly ten meters wide.
Although the main city is only one square mile in size, which is only one-fourth the size of the Forbidden City, it is very strong. The city walls are more than eight meters high and ten meters thick, and are made of rammed earth and covered with bricks.
There are also arrow towers at the four corners.
There are urns at the four city gates.
When you enter the city, there are palaces all around.
Plus military camp and craftsman camp.
Entering along the narrow street, there are blacksmith shops and cobbler shops along the way. Wang Gu and Tian Zili were arranged to live in two adjacent small courtyards, both of which were independent courtyards. The people from Wang Gu and Dongchang lived in
In one courtyard, Tian Zili and his new wife live in another courtyard.
Three days later, the Great Khan summoned Tian Zili again.
"Whatever you need, you can ask for it." The Great Khan obviously treated him differently than before. After all, he now had a special relationship with the Great Khan.
"I have brought enough seeds to plant three hundred acres of land. I need you to allocate me three hundred acres of suitable land. It is best to have water sources. The more fertile the land, the better."
Lin Danhan nodded and said it was easy to handle.
"You can choose your own land in the north of the city. But you have to wait until the snow melts. You can't see anything now."
"Okay, there is no rush to choose the land. I need thirty farmers, preferably those who have cultivated the land. The Han people are even better. It is easy for me to communicate with them."
"I will allocate you fifty Han slaves, all of whom will be under your management."
"I also need a blacksmith shop to build some farm tools, especially plowshares, and I also need to allocate some oxen to plow the land. This is all wasteland. To open up wasteland, oxen are needed to pull the plow and dig out the grass roots."
None of this was a problem, everything was implemented quickly.
Tian Zili received fifty Han slaves in the afternoon. These people were all plundered and taken to the grassland.
These people were both men and women, but they all had dull eyes, like zombies. They were all skinny and skinny, and their hair was like tangled grass. They were all turned into felt sheets, and their bodies exuded a foul odor.
The clothes were all in tatters, and the original color could not be seen. The exposed skin was all black.
Tian Zili felt sad. He didn't know how they survived. In the past two years, Mongolian herdsmen have starved to death in large numbers. They don't know what to eat.
"Can you speak?" Tian Zili asked.
These people have not seen their new compatriots for many years. This man seems to be a man of status, and the Mongolians respect him very much. They were assigned to this nobleman of the same race, and they seem to have hope of survival.
Started to cry loudly.
Fortunately, they have not lost their language skills and can still communicate in Chinese. Most of these people are from Xuanfu and Datong.
He was kidnapped when he was a teenager and lived on the grassland for more than ten years.
Among these people were eight women who looked to be in their twenties or seventies. They all had many children. It was unclear whether these children were born to Mongolians or to Han Chinese who were also slaves.
Tian Zili said to the Mongolians who sent them here: "These people are too thin and have no strength to farm. I ask to get them clothes and provide them with some food every day to keep them full before they can work."
These conditions were quickly met, and they were even given a lot of old leather robes and leather boots. This would at least keep them warm.
Tian Zili began to communicate with them one by one, and found that these people were all farmers, and the craftsmen were all moved to workshops. They were all familiar with farming. This made Tian Zili breathe a sigh of relief.
Tian Zili had no way to save them, he could only try his best to teach them skills to improve their status and thus change their living conditions.
Once food is grown, their status will instantly improve, and the Mongols will protect them like treasures.
The cattle were also delivered the next day. Unfortunately, these cattle on the grassland had never learned how to plow the land. The calves in the Han region had learned to plow the land from their mothers since they were young.
Tian Zili had no choice but to take these Han slaves to tame the cattle.
I wish I could wait until spring to open up wasteland.
In the blacksmith's shop, iron was being hammered and sparks were flying.
Tian Zili sent the drawings, including a cow's nose ring, a sickle, a hoe, a guillotine, a shovel, a fork for digging the ground, etc.
The oldest master in the blacksmith shop was a Kazakh from the Western Regions. He was captured by the Jungar people during the war and was gradually resold here. He had the best craftsmanship, so Tian Zili asked him to lead his apprentices in the blacksmith shop.
Making plowshares.
While Tian Zili was busy preparing for land reclamation, a major event happened in the south of the Ming Dynasty.
Just after the Spring Festival in the first year of Chongzhen, and the imperial court had just started its printing business, a letter of impeachment was received.
Jiaxing Gongsheng Qian Jiazheng impeached Wei Zhongxian for ten major crimes:
One is tied with the emperor,
Two despise the queen,
3. Provoking military power,
Four unique ancestors,
Five grams cut off the vassal king and granted him a title,
There is no saint with six eyes,
Seven misdemeanors plus rewards,
Eight covers the side work,
Nine exploits the people,
Ten transportation joints.
Due to Cui Chengxiu's impeachment case a few years ago, the struggle between Donglin and Wei Dugong, which had already eased, was instantly ignited again. The court was in chaos.
At this time, there were four ministers in the cabinet. Among them, Huang Liji was the first assistant, Shi Fenglai, a bachelor of Zhongji Palace and the official secretary, and Zhang Ruitu, a bachelor of Zhongji Palace. They were all from the Wei Zhongxian faction. Only one, Li Guopu, was considered neutral.
Although Chongzhen expelled Madam Feng Sheng and took control of the Forbidden City. He transferred the eunuchs to the palace, replaced Cui Chengxiu, the Minister of War, and re-established an alliance with Xungui.
However, Wei Zhongxian's power is still huge.
The imperial court suddenly fell into the flames of war again.
The Donglin Party was on full fire, and memorials to impeach Wei Zhongxian from both the government and the opposition flew towards the Qianqing Palace like snowflakes.
Wei Zhongxian's people were all staring at Qianqing Palace to watch the further development of the situation.
Chongzhen did not deal with these impeachment memorials and left them all unpublished.
Just as Wei Zhongxian breathed a sigh of relief, the Donglin Party once again launched a bigger impeachment storm. This time, it no longer targeted minions like Cui Chengxiu, but directly targeted Wei Zhongxian.
Chongzhen never came to an end and did not express his position, but this triggered a greater impeachment trend.
At the height of the struggle, Chongzhen did something that no one noticed.
Chongzhen unobtrusively introduced the censors from other places to the court one by one. Because the censors in the court were basically the people of Duke Wei. They could not impeach Duke Wei.
This chapter has been completed!