Chapter 348 Good things come in pairs
After conquering Baiyue, part of the Qin army was stationed there. Now, in order to pacify the Xiongnu, Ying Zheng had to redeploy troops north.
Fortunately, after the Qin Straight Road was completed, it became much easier to transport soldiers and food to the border.
More than 100,000 Qin soldiers quickly assembled and rushed to the border. In less than three months, they completely drove the Huns back deep into the grassland.
The Xiongnu's Chanyu was beaten and fled in panic. Meng Tian successfully took over most of the Xiongnu's territory, but how to deal with these territories became a problem that the Qin State had to solve.
The grassland was not the place where the Qin people relied on for survival. Even if these territories were taken, a large number of troops would be required to garrison them. So they could only retreat to Yunzhong County and continue to guard the Great Wall.
To the Qin Empire, the Huns were just a group of bandits. When they chased them and fought them, they would run away. When they stopped chasing them and retreated back to the Great Wall, the Huns that had been chased away would come back again.
It is not difficult to defeat the Huns on the grasslands, but the difficult part is to govern this place after defeating them.
After Zhao Yuanxi heard what Ying Zheng said, she did think of a solution. "Do you know what it means to reform the natives and return them to the common people?"
In order to deal with the Tusi problem in the border areas during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the central government implemented a political reform in the local areas: abolishing the hereditary Tusi and local officials, and replacing them with "floating officials" directly appointed by the central government and rotated regularly to govern.
Tusi were often active in the southwest and southeast regions, but for the Xiongnu outside the Great Wall, another way to convert the Tusi into Han people was to change the feudal system into provinces, settle down the nomadic herdsmen, and fix the boundaries of the loose large tribes according to the region, so that the large tribes could no longer unite and restrain each other, and the leaders of the large tribes were also appointed by the government.
At the same time, military garrisons were set up in strategic locations to firmly control the people on the grasslands.
"Now that Qin has conquered a large area of Xiongnu territory, we should seize the opportunity to pursue the Xiongnu and completely destroy the Xiongnu royal court. As for the grassland issue, let the grassland people follow the rules we set. From now on, there will be no Chanyu in the grassland, only county governors sent by the central government."
Military force is the first step to take over the grassland, political system is the second step to occupy the grassland, and economic reform is the last step to integrate the grassland into agricultural civilization. Of course, the premise of all this is that the central dynasty has absolute control over the local area.
The Qin State is not strong enough now, so it is inevitable to send troops to local areas. Although this puts more pressure on the national treasury, it is a necessary payment.
The Qin State established the Mongolian County on the Xiongnu grasslands, with the former location of the Xiongnu royal court as its seat of government. The prefect of this county was Meng Tian. Jang Geum was appointed as a colonel because of his considerable military achievements in the process of eliminating the Xiongnu.
When I received another letter from Jang Geum, it contained a small flower growing on the grassland.
The small purple flowers have dried up, but still have a faint fragrance.
Seeing the Queen Mother smiling so happily, You couldn't help but come closer to take a look. After seeing the words clearly, she exclaimed in surprise, "Jang Geum and General Meng are getting married!"
Zhao Yuanxi pinched the small flower, feeling a little regretful. "It's a pity that the seat of Mongolian Commandery is too far from Xianyang. I'm afraid we won't be able to see their wedding."
The Qin Straight Road only reached Yunzhong County, but it would take at least ten days to travel from Yunzhong County to the seat of Menggu County.
"Even though the Queen Mother cannot go, we can still send gifts."
Zhao Yuanxi immediately ordered the storeroom to be opened, and dragged You to look for something inside. "This box of Dongzhu is nice, Jang Geum will probably like it. Also, take these silks. There's not enough food and cloth on the grassland, and Jang Geum must have not bought new clothes for a long time. And there are two swords..."
After spending half a day organizing, I finally finished filling out the gift list.
You looked at the several carts of things piled up and couldn't help but say, "Queen Dowager, are you giving me a gift or a dowry for Jang Geum? Ordinary families wouldn't prepare so many things for their daughters' weddings!"
Zhao Yuanxi explained, "Jang Geum's family has no elders, so I am naturally her elder. She is going to get married, so I naturally have to prepare more for her."
Although Zhao Yuanxi knew that Meng Tian would not bully Jang Geum and Jang Geum was not someone who would allow others to bully her, he still wanted to support Jang Geum and did not want others to think that Jang Geum was marrying above her station in the Meng family.
Yuzu's eyes reddened, "Jang Geum will definitely be very happy if she knows what the Queen Mother is thinking!"
Zhao Yuanxi's eyes curved as he jokingly said, "Do you have someone you like? If you have a crush on someone, I can help you decide. You can have a share of what Jang Geum has."
"You are making fun of me again, Queen Mother. I have promised you that I will follow you for the rest of my life."
Having said that, in a few years, You will be almost 30 years old, and Zhao Yuanxi has to consider her future.
But since there's no one she likes, she has to choose.
Zhao Yuanxi looked at many young students and was not very satisfied with any of them. Some were too frivolous, while others were too old-fashioned. She felt unhappy when she thought about Youwei being with this group of people in the future.
Ling Yin came to pay his respects to the Queen Mother as usual, and also gave her a copy of the magazine recently published by the magazine.
He ran over cheerfully, but the Queen Mother kept him in the palace for quite some time. He had already drunk a large pot of tea, and Ling Yin felt that he could not hold it any longer. "Queen Mother, is there anything else you need?"
Zhao Yuanxi smiled lovingly and looked him over. "How old are you this year?"
Ling Yin felt a chill on his back. "My humble servant, I am already 28 years old."
He is two years older than You, which is suitable.
"Are you married? Do you have a wife or concubine at home?"
Although she knew that Ling Yin was not married yet, she still had to go through the necessary procedures. In case he had someone in his heart, she would not force him.
Ling Yin swallowed hard, and guessed what the Queen Mother wanted to do. Although his father had written to urge him several times, Ling Yin was really not interested in getting married, so he refused several times, "I have no intention of getting married now."
"Are you single?"
Ling Yin looked puzzled.
Zhao Yuanxi explained, "Do you want to be alone for the rest of your life?"
"No, it's just that I haven't met someone I like yet."
"So, do you like grapefruit?"
"The Empress Dowager?" Ling Yin opened his mouth slightly, a little surprised. He thought that the Queen Dowager was asked by his father to come and persuade him, but he didn't expect it was for the Empress Dowager. Thinking of her appearance, Ling Yin couldn't help but blush slightly.
He stammered, "I have nothing, no official title, and I'm afraid I'll humiliate the Pomelo Maid."
"Don't talk about all this nonsense, just one word, are you willing or not?"
Things like this isn't okay, that isn't enough, those are all excuses.
"I'm afraid the Pomelo Maid won't agree."
Zhao Yuanxi waved his hand, "Alright, I understand, you can go back first!"
"Ah! Is that it?" Ling Yin's jaw almost dropped. The Queen Mother asked him to give a definite answer, but the Queen Mother didn't give him a definite answer! Does he have a wife now, or not?
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