Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 358 Why Not Settle Down the Army?

Just as Liu Ye was about to answer Shi Ying, Sun Yuanhua interjected, "Expanding the army is certainly important, but organizing refugees to reclaim wasteland is equally important. Otherwise, even if we manage to collect the grain taxes from the three counties and store some grain, we can't just sit around and eat it all up!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye agreed. Expanding the army was necessary, and it was one of the most important purposes of the immigration program. However, the problem of food supply had to be solved first. With the current grain reserves in Qiongzhou Camp, feeding two or three thousand full-time soldiers was no problem, but expanding that number to tens of thousands would be unsustainable. Therefore, organizing refugees to reclaim wasteland and achieve self-sufficiency was the correct path to a virtuous cycle.

While they were hesitating whether to expand the army or reclaim wasteland first, Yan Guang suggested, "Why not combine the two and develop military settlements?"

Liu Ye was taken aback: "Military settlement?"

Yan Guang replied, "That's right. After selecting strong young men, we will organize them into the Qiongzhou Camp, and then we will organize them to reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land. The cultivation areas will be divided according to the company and battalion organization. We will use farming as training, and we can also conduct basic drills in our spare time. After the grain is harvested, we will go to the military camp for formal training. We can cultivate the land and train the army at the same time."

Sun Yuanhua hesitated and said, "But the imperial garrison and agricultural settlements are already in a state of disrepair. If we pick up this system again, won't we be ruining our future?"

Yan Guang retorted, "The reason why the imperial guard posts are in such a state of disarray is because officers have been seizing fertile land for their own use, turning soldiers into tenant farmers. With insufficient food and clothing, many have deserted, leading to the current predicament. Our land reclamation is merely a temporary measure. Once the land is cultivated and the grain produced is sufficient to feed the soldiers, we can return to the barracks, and the land can be leased to others. How can this be considered jeopardizing our future?"

Liu Ye interjected, “Let’s all express our opinions, but let’s avoid arguments. I think this method is quite good. Although the imperial garrison system is declining and practically defunct, our land reclamation is different. We can give it a try. Otherwise, it would be a waste for all the refugees we’ve painstakingly recruited to farm. While land and food are the foundation, the army is the core of the Qiongzhou Camp. Ultimately, we’re still focused on expanding our army; land reclamation is just a means to an end. Mr. Yan’s method combines land reclamation and army expansion, thus solving this problem. While these people are reclaiming land and farming, they can receive basic training. They become farmers when they pick up a hoe, and soldiers when they enter the barracks. The problem of food and clothing is solved, and the problem of army expansion is also solved.”

Sun Yuanhua asked, “In that case, let’s implement military settlements. But once the first batch of soldiers enters the camp, who will farm the land next year? Zhongda (Yan Guang’s courtesy name) said to let others rent the land, but where will Qiongzhou Prefecture get so many laborers?” Qiongzhou is sparsely populated. If there is enough local labor, there is no need for immigration.

Liu Ye replied, "This is not a big problem. Once the first batch of garrison troops become full-time soldiers, the next batch will naturally take over. After we control the Dengzhou-Laizhou region through Inspector Xie—oh, I guess by then it will be Governor Xie—the refugees in Shandong can be continuously transported to Lingao by sea through Dengzhou."

Li Ergou, whose ancestors had all lived in Lingao and who had never left the island, couldn't contain his curiosity and asked, "General, is there really so many people in Shandong that they can't be transported all of them? Are there more homeless refugees than the entire population of Qiongzhou Prefecture?"

Liang Xiaoming, a native of Shandong, and Sun Yuanhua, who had served as an official in Shandong, both laughed. Liu Ye also laughed: "Li Ergou, to be honest, although I don't know the exact number, it's a certainty that the number of refugees caused by the mutiny is more than the entire population of Qiongzhou Prefecture."

Liu Ye also knew that in the eleventh year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign alone, the Qing army bypassed Qingkou Mountain in Hebei and Qiangziling in Miyun, Beijing, to enter the pass, and the number of people abducted from Tongzhou, Jinan and other places reached more than 40, most of whom were from Shandong. The number of people abducted alone was several times that of the entire population of Qiongzhou Prefecture.

He said to Li Ergou, "I need to call on you because I have something to tell you. You've always been in charge of the land tenancy and collecting taxes, and you'll be in charge of arranging the military settlements this time as well. Leave the selection and training of soldiers to Hansheng, and you can focus on arranging the location and area of ​​the land reclamation."

Li Ergou said, "I will do my utmost to fulfill the general's orders. However, there isn't enough land left to reclaim in Lingao, so we must expand outwards, which may involve neighboring Chengmai County and the Li people's settlements... Dealing with the officials in Chengmai is easy, but dealing with the Li people is a bit tricky; those barbarians don't recognize the government..."

In recent years, the Qiongzhou Camp has risen rapidly. From the prefectural government to various prefectures and counties, all have submitted to the military might of the Qiongzhou Camp and dare not disobey in the slightest. However, it has little interaction with the Li people deep in the Wuzhi Mountains.

Qiongzhou Prefecture's terrain is high in the center and low around the edges, with the highest mountain range in the center being Wuzhi Mountain. Cultivable land is concentrated on the outer perimeter, mostly occupied by Han Chinese and the Li people, while the Li people, who primarily hunt, live around Wuzhi Mountain. If one wants to find wasteland suitable for settlement and cultivation, it is necessary to expand towards Wuzhi Mountain, making interaction with the Li people unavoidable.

Liu Ye asked Lin San, "If Han people were to cultivate the land and enter the territory of the Li people, how would they react?"

Lin San replied, "Except for a few villages with too few people and too weak strength, most will launch an attack—they generally see this as an invasion. In their eyes, the place where their ancestors have lived for generations, from the clouds in the sky to the soil on the ground, belongs to them."

Liu Ye thought for a moment and said, "As we expand, controlling these areas inhabited by the Li people is only a matter of time. We want to control the entire Qiongzhou Prefecture, let alone these uncivilized Li people. To clear obstacles to our settlement and farming, Lin San, you take men and sweep through the area two hundred li south of Lingao, clearing out all the Li villages." When refugees from Shandong come here to settle and farm, they will be newcomers and unaccustomed to the mixed mountainous and hilly terrain and subtropical climate near Wuzhi Mountain. In the event of conflict, they may not be able to defeat the native Li people who are familiar with the terrain and surrounding environment. To avoid unnecessary population loss, it is necessary to clear a "no-man's land" beforehand.

Lin San asked, "General, how should we deal with this? Should we expel them or just kill them outright?"

Liu Ye did not answer directly, but continued to ask Lin San: "Are these Li people easy to tame? Can they be used to strengthen the army?"

Lin San shook his head: "Most of the raw Li people can't even speak Han language. It's difficult for us familiar Li people to communicate with them, let alone Han people. Moreover, these people basically don't farm and rely entirely on herding dogs (for hunting) for a living. They are used to being free and unrestrained. It would be very difficult to keep them in the military camp for training day after day."