Use retired military personnel to form construction corps to make up for the lack of national and government strength.
I have to say, this is a brilliant move.
What's even better is that it was not Zuo Mengeng who proposed this method.
This shows that the top leaders of the empire have sufficiently flexible and realistic means and thinking to govern the country well.
However, under this proposal, Zuo Mengeng has more room to play.
Many people only thought of using the Construction Corps to manage the Yellow River and the Northwest, but Zuo Mengeng's eyes instantly moved to the Western Regions.
Because in later generations, that will be the stage where the Construction Corps will shine.
At this time, combined with reality, Zuo Mengeng had to sigh, this method is really good and cannot be better.
Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the Han people have left the Western Regions for more than 800 years.
Over a long period of time, the traces of the Central Plains Dynasty in the Western Regions have been almost completely wiped out.
In other words, this time the empire re-enters the Western Regions, which is no different from opening up an unfamiliar territory.
However, the Western Region is different from the New World.
Although the New World is wider, there are only ignorant and backward indigenous people there who can easily be assimilated by the empire.
The Western Regions have been deeply influenced by Eastern and Western cultures for thousands of years and have always been the center of cultural collision.
This has resulted in the fact that the Western Regions, despite their apparent barrenness, have always nurtured a civilization that is in line with the rest of the world.
Under such a civilization, relatively powerful secular forces will naturally be born.
People here will also unite with each other because of civilization, forming relatively strong tribes one after another.
In other words, from a superficial perspective, there is no room for the Han people to survive in the Western Regions.
If the empire wanted to bring the Western Region back under its rule, in addition to strong force, it would naturally also need a sufficient population to gain a firm foothold on this land.
Some people may have said, wouldn’t it be better to immigrate?
The empire has always implemented immigration policies anyway.
Especially in the northwest, there has to be immigration. Moving all of them to the Western Regions should be considered the best of both worlds, right?
Sorry, this method really doesn't work.
Why?
Because such immigration is not only unhelpful to the empire, but also acts like tyranny to ordinary people.
The Western Region is the land of tigers and wolves!
The vast world and violent climate have made the humans here evolve very powerful and violent.
There is no room for the weak here.
Ordinary Han people would have no way to survive when they came to this place.
After all, the Han people are kind-hearted and good at farming, but not good at hunting.
Pushing them into a fighting environment will only frighten them, and they will either be killed or run away in fear.
But to manage the Western Region, the empire must have a sufficient population as the cornerstone.
Since ordinary people cannot immigrate, of course we must focus on the operation of the Construction Corps.
First of all, the Construction Corps is both a soldier and a civilian.
It is a bit like the imperial soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, and a bit like the military households in the Ming Dynasty.
Although many people criticize and scorn the military household system, this system is not without its advantages.
Especially at the beginning of the founding of the country, the military's combat effectiveness was extremely powerful.
The settlements transformed from such an army are naturally unfavorable.
The stability of the Nine Borders in the early Ming Dynasty was undoubtedly due to this system.
The reason why it later collapsed was, on the one hand, the decline in combat effectiveness of military households over time, and on the other hand, economic reasons.
The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty's army and military households were not distinguished, and as a result, both ends were lost.
But the Construction Corps is different.
Because it has an army establishment, it will definitely have a very complete organization and combat effectiveness.
But besides the construction corps, there is also a strong regular army.
In this way, the Construction Corps is nothing more than a military supplement.
Even if the combat effectiveness is reduced, as long as it can cooperate with the regular army in combat, it will be a great contribution.
The most important thing is that once the Construction Corps gains a firm foothold in the Western Regions, it means that the Empire can penetrate deeply into the people of the Western Regions and have eyes and ears at the grassroots level.
This will undoubtedly have a huge impact on local control.
The center's reply was quickly sent to the northwest, and the content was more detailed.
After Mao Yuanyi and others saw it, they all suddenly became enlightened and their work also had a direction.
Wang Qiaonian immediately went deep into various places in northern Shaanxi and led officials around to move the people trapped here to Qiantao, Houtao and other places.
"Oh my God, why did the imperial court give us to the Mongols?"
Of course, people do not understand national policies, but the gap in misunderstanding is quite large.
"Li Dada, you misunderstood. Now the Hetao is our place, and it is very safe. There are good lands everywhere, but there are no people. After your family passes, we will give you fifty acres of land.
And...there is no tax."
The treacherous and stubborn old Qin people are not so easy to talk to.
"It's such a good thing, can it be our turn?"
Wang Qiaonian had served as an official in Shaanxi and knew how to deal with the people here.
"Then take a look, who else is there from all over the country? Good things don't come cheap to you, and they don't get to others either."
The old Qin people still don’t believe it.
"We have been fighting for so many years, and all of us have been killed. If we want to allocate land to us, there is nothing right in front of us. Why do we have to go to some Loop?"
Wang Qionian is very patient.
He pointed to the bare mountains around him.
"Dad, look at it, can farming in this place be successful? It rains and mud comes, and yellow soup pours into the belly. This mountain, this water, and this land are not finished. They have to be restored. Otherwise, the children of the future will
There will be no way for our descendants to survive.”
Wang Qiaonian did not put on official airs, and what he said was down to earth, so that the people listened.
In fact, these people know very well what the local area is like.
It’s not that they are not diligent, they are not not working, and it’s not that they are not thinking of ways.
But in such a poor place with one pound of soil and half a pound of sand, nothing will grow no matter what you plant!
"My family's ancestors have been here for generations. Now that I leave, can I come back?"
Being unable to leave your homeland is one of the biggest difficulties for immigrants.
Wang Qiaonian still spoke softly.
"The empire does not restrict household registration. You can move wherever you want. Come back in one or twenty years and see if the mountains are green, the water is clear, and the soil is fertile. Wouldn't it be better to resettle here?
"
Having said all this, what else can the people do?
Hundreds of thousands of people in northern Shaanxi, tortured by the loess and sand, began their relocation journey.
They migrated to places not far away.
It's either Qiantao where Yinchuan is located, or Backtao where Guihua City is located.
The reason for this is that these populations seem to be large, but if they are thrown into the two plains, they are still a drop in the bucket.
But the migration of these people immediately stopped the northern Shaanxi Plateau from being destroyed by humans.
The next thing to do is to carry out ecological restoration here.
