69. Chapter 69
"none"
In the following days, Sabsu was very enthusiastic and took the initiative to stay with Qiyou, helping him to settle the relocated Khalkha people and secretly learning from him.
Changde also came after leading his men to store the food. Sabusu took him with him, and the father and son whispered to each other from time to time.
One asked, the other taught. If they didn't understand something, they would ponder it with each other. If they didn't understand something, they would go to Qi You for advice.
Qi You told him everything without hiding anything.
For example, when the Khalkha people arrived, Qi You dispersed them. Just like the Han people's Zhuangzi, he divided all the people into about six settlements, with each village having about 200 people.
They seemed to have a good relationship and were gathered together, but Qi You inadvertently broke them all up.
After they were dispersed, they were settled not too far away to prevent them from becoming too dissatisfied and causing a disturbance.
Sabusu often led troops in battles, and he also saw the key to it and secretly admired it.
If these people gather together to cause trouble, Qi You will not be able to calm them down even with guards.
Break them up and insert unfamiliar people in the group, and they will check each other and the hidden dangers will be much smaller.
Chang De was younger, so he didn't understand what was happening. He asked quietly, "Father, look at their expressions. They're obviously not happy with this arrangement. Why haven't they said anything?"
Sabusu asked, "Didn't you see what the Seventh Prince did first when they arrived?"
Chang De said in a daze, "Get some hot mixed noodle buns and a big bowl of hot soup."
Qi Youxian did not reclaim the wasteland or do anything else. He directed everyone to set up a big stove, knead dough, dig wild vegetables, steam buns and cook wild vegetable soup in full swing.
Sabusu said, "Don't underestimate the mixed noodle buns and wild vegetable soup. After a hard journey, a hot meal will calm people down. The other half is still uneasy because of the previous life-saving grace. In addition, they are greeted by a prince with a smile, and greeted with concern, and ate mixed noodle buns and wild vegetable soup with them. Any dissatisfaction they may have had after parting will disappear. By the way, you need to learn more Mongolian. You see, when the Seventh Prince speaks Mongolian to them, he immediately becomes friendly. Even if you don't learn it as well as the Seventh Prince, you should at least understand most of it."
Chang De suddenly felt miserable. It was already very difficult for him to learn Chinese from Wu Zhaoqian. Now, with his original Manchu language skills, and Mongolian as well, his speech became confusing.
Besides, his youngest son is already studying, and he, as a father, still has to continue studying. It makes him feel nervous just thinking about it.
Sabusu naturally understood his son very well. When he saw his lips pursed, he knew he was unhappy. His face suddenly turned serious and he said in a deep voice, "Why, I'm teaching you a lesson, and you dare to be so arrogant and disobedient?"
Chang De quickly forced a smile and apologized: "Father, how dare I do that? Father, you taught me right, I will learn, I will learn."
Sabusu's expression improved a little. He had high hopes for his son and hoped that Changde could take over his position in the future.
After the imperial court established Heilongjiang Prefecture and built the city, the position of the General of Heilongjiang Prefecture became more and more important, and more people coveted it.
In addition, an agreement has been signed with the Rakshasa Kingdom, so there will be fewer wars in the future. Even in a cold and bitter place, it can be considered a very good and lucrative job.
Sabusu sighed and said earnestly, "Look at what the Seventh Prince does. He goes to the battlefield to fight. He's too weak to charge, so he commands from behind. He's a first-rate commander. He presided over the signing of the agreement with the Rakshasa Kingdom. Could you possibly do that?"
Changde often followed Sabsu to fight, and the one he fought the most against was of course the Rakshasa Kingdom.
Including the Oroqen tribe, all the people at the border hated these bandits to the core. Qi You was a vent for them, and Chang De was naturally convinced.
But Qi You's arrival brought new problems. Chang De pondered for a moment, looked around, and saw Qi You squatting with Lin Daniu and the others, looking at the dirt on the ground.
Changde came close to Sabusu and whispered, "Father, this piece of land is very fertile. Why are you so generous to give it to me?"
Sabusu raised his hand and slammed Changde on the head without any courtesy, saying with a stern face, "The whole world belongs to the king!"
Changde gritted his teeth in pain, rubbing his head and not daring to resist. Sabsu squinted at him, angrily saying, "There's wasteland everywhere, and places like this are everywhere. If you keep it, will there be anyone to cultivate it?"
The north was sparsely populated, so they could reclaim as much land as they wanted, and whatever they could reclaim was theirs. The key point was that even after the land was reclaimed, there was a lack of manpower to cultivate it.
Armored slaves were not often available, and we couldn't ask the court to send more prisoners to Ningguta to use as slaves.
Moreover, most of those who were exiled here were civil officials who had committed serious crimes, and very few of them knew how to farm.
Sabusu snorted and said calmly, "Seventh Prince brought some people with him this time, so things are finally getting a bit more lively here. Liveliness is good. Once we achieve results, more and more people will come. Let's just wait and see."
Changde figured this out and agreed repeatedly: "Our place is just wasteland everywhere. We don't see any human habitation for half a day. It's so boring."
Sabusu looked at the bustling scene in the distance and said, "Once it gets lively, it will become a hot commodity. There are so many dignitaries in the capital, even if I were there, I wouldn't be able to help. Alas, you need to hang around the Seventh Prince more often, don't act on your own, watch more, and learn humbly."
Chang De responded respectfully, "Don't worry, Father. I will study hard and not cause you any trouble. But Father, these Mongols don't know how to farm. I see that many of them are unwilling to stay and they definitely want to leave. Father, what do you think the Seventh Prince will do to them?"
Sabusu didn't know either, so he just went to ask Qi You.
Qi You answered readily, "It's okay to leave. You can't force a cow to drink water. Oh, by the way, Galdan will probably attack again. If they go back, it will be a good opportunity to go fight and avenge their grievances."
Sabsu widened his eyes. They had all forgotten about Galdan!
Having been kidnapped once, no one would be foolish enough to seek death a second time. Living well here, leading a peaceful life, with a family to support, who would seek death for no reason?
Qi You assigned tasks to all those who seemed to be leaders and who stood up to make decisions. He promoted them to junior lieutenants and let them take charge of all the miscellaneous affairs in each village.
For example, they distributed food rations, arranged for men to work, and followed the armored men who knew how to repair houses from Shunyi Zhuangzi and Sabusu to learn from them how to build walls, repair houses, and build kangs to keep warm in winter.
The women cooked and mowed the wasteland, while the children grazed the sheep.
Everything is in order, and everywhere is filled with enthusiasm to build their new home.
However, there was a group of people who were different from the others. They did not do any work or farm the land. Led by Xu Risheng, they took various instruments and surveyed everywhere.
Changde looked curious and asked, "Ama, what are they doing?"
Sabusu didn't understand either, so he repeated Qi You's words to him verbatim: "Seventh Prince said that a school will be built in the future so that everyone can study."
Chang De did not feel looked down upon for not studying with the armored men. After all, his previous teacher was an armored slave, even worse than an armored man.
Hearing that women could also go to school, Chang De also had some doubts and said, "Father, when women reach a certain age, they have to be selected and married. It's useless for them to study!"
Sabusu pondered for a moment and said, "We are a long way from the capital, and the girls in the banner haven't been there many times since the selection. Since she is the Seventh Prince's person, he will definitely be able to handle the selection. You don't need to worry about it."
Chang De thought so too. Rules are rules, and there are always room for change. If they were to send a girl from the banner to Beijing for the selection, it would take several months, and the round trip would take nearly half a year.
In the past, they had found some excuses to report it, and the court didn't need girls like them, so they just turned a blind eye and let it go.
Sabusu thought differently. He stared at Changde with burning eyes and said in a deep voice, "Our daughter is so precious, it would be a pity to just marry her off."
Chang De was stunned for a moment, but he quickly understood what Sabsu meant.
Their family was considered powerful and influential here, and the marriage between a general at the border and a powerful official in the capital might cause displeasure and suspicion from Emperor Kangxi.
If she marries another general, it would be a marriage of lower status, which is really not cost-effective.
If they could also learn some skills and become talents of the Qing Dynasty as Qi You said, the glory they would bring to the family in the future would be a hundred times greater than a marriage.
Sabusu stared at the distant sky, his sleeves folded, and said casually, "The day before yesterday, I received news that the imperial court was planning to build ships and establish a navy on the Heilongjiang River. This is a huge event!"
Chang De had also heard about this. He paused and asked in confusion, "What does Ama mean?"
Sabusu's face turned serious. "We were born and raised here. This is our homeland. We will never allow the Luosha Kingdom to invade! This is a rare good deed done by the imperial court. I heard this was the Seventh Prince's idea. For this reason alone, he is our benefactor!"
Changde thought about the poverty and desolation of his hometown, which was largely due to the instability of the border and frequent wars.
Sabusu had been fighting for years, leaving him with a body full of ailments. He, too, felt ill and said solemnly, "If the navy can be established, the Rakshasa soldiers will not dare to attack casually in the future, saving the people from bloodshed. Father will no longer have to fight wars and can enjoy his old age in peace."
Sabusu glared at him and said, "Nonsense! I'm still in good health, how can I just rest? I can help with things like shipbuilding and naval construction, so of course I have to contribute my efforts."
Chang De was extremely smart at this time. He grinned and said, "Ama is really... I understand everything."
Sabusu glanced at Changde, and though he snorted, a smile remained on his face, indicating his satisfaction with Changde's reaction. He finally understood the painstaking efforts of his father, who had been thinking of Changde and paving the way for him.
Although the father and son had their own little thoughts and calculations, they worked hard without any complaints.
With their help, Qi You not only saved a lot of effort, but also avoided many detours.
After nearly two weeks of hard work, everything was finally back on track. The thatched house with mud walls gradually took shape, and the soil that had once been overgrown with weeds and thorns was now exposed.
The land is plowed with oxen, and after being dried in the sun, vegetables such as cabbage and radishes are sown.
Despite this, Qi You still encountered many difficulties.
First of all, this group of Khalkha people were complete novices. Even if someone taught them, they were still very slow in doing things.
The second is to rely on manpower. It is not difficult to deal with weeds, but if you encounter thorns or tree roots, it will be time-consuming and laborious to dig out the roots.
Fortunately, Qi You had not planned to have a harvest this year from the beginning, so he had some food in stock and was not worried, so he could take it slow.
Qi You still lived in the tent. He first cultivated a piece of land around the tent and asked Lin Daniu to try planting wheat and cabbage.
Every morning when he wakes up, Qi You always goes to the fields to check on them and wait for the seeds to germinate.
Hard work pays off. One day, Qi You saw some tender leaf tips poking out from the cabbage field and was immediately overjoyed.
He stretched out his hand, wanting to touch it, but was afraid of damaging it, so he squatted there and looked at it for a long time, almost unable to take his eyes off it.
De Gaohou was standing behind Qi You and saw the tender sprouts in the ground. He had also sown seeds in this field and put in a lot of effort, so he was very happy.
At this time, a big field mouse ran past Qi You quickly and went in through the tent door.
Degao jumped in shock and immediately turned and ran back to the tent. There were so many field mice in the field, and they couldn't be killed. They actually dared to run into the tent. He was so angry that he shouted to Guihe, "Come and catch the field mice!"
Gui He was squatting outside the tent cooking porridge. When he heard the shouting, he dropped the firewood in his hand and ran into the tent.
The tent was not big, and the two worked together and finally caught the vole. They wrapped the dying vole in brown paper and prepared to dig a hole to bury it.
Degao was cleaning up the tent while muttering, "How could anyone eat something this disgusting?"
Gui He rolled his eyes at him and said, "When people are hungry, they can eat grass roots and tree bark. This thing at least has some oil in it, so why can't we eat it?"
Degao was unconvinced and yelled back at Guihe, "That was in the past. How can it be the same now? Besides, it's Seventh Master's tent, and there are actually field mice running around! I didn't have to endure such hardships when I was in the palace!"
Gui He was too lazy to argue with De Gao, as he also had to make sure the porridge in the pot did not spill out. He walked out of the tent and involuntarily looked up at Qi You.
Qi You was wearing a half-worn cloth shirt and squatting on the ground. He looked no different from the local people.
Gui He scooped up some water to wash his hands, then lifted the lid and gently stirred the pot. The breakfast in the pot was white porridge, cooked with some diced wild vegetables and a dish of pickles, and that was Qi You's breakfast.
In the past, people would beat an egg and make egg drop porridge. After eating the egg, they would eat white porridge with wild vegetables.
Not to mention the palace, even in Shunyi, there were at least a few side dishes in the morning, and milk and eggs were indispensable.
Degao buried the field mouse and came over to draw water from the bucket to wash his hands. Guihe glanced at his still sad face, then sighed and said, "Yes, Master Qi's life is really hard."
Qi You couldn't help laughing when he heard the two people whispering behind him.
Is it bitter? Of course it is.
Needless to say, the hard work of opening up new land is immense.
People of his age have long been counted as adult labor force.
Qi You thought he was quite strong, so he tried to pull out the thorns. He grabbed them with both hands and pulled hard, but nothing happened. He sat down on the ground, and felt numb for a long time.
The capital was several months away, so he couldn't even think of getting food sent to him. His place of exile was extremely poor, and even money couldn't buy him anything good.
Hunting was not allowed in the spring, so Sabusu often sent some pork to Qi You. The amount of pork he sent was not much, just enough for him to eat.
The aroma of meat filled the air here, but the others were also tired and greedy. It was too much torture for them to smell the meat but not be able to eat it.
Whenever Qi You had meat, he would call Xu Risheng and others to eat together, just to have a taste of meat.
Now Qi Youtosabusu bought some piglets, chickens and ducks to raise. Don’t worry about feeding them food, there is enough grass of all kinds.
Qi You wasn't sure if the chickens and ducks would lay eggs in winter, but he estimated the pigs would barely gain a hundred pounds. In autumn, they could hunt for game and kill a few New Year pigs, so everyone could enjoy a feast.
In addition to physical labor, it is also mental labor.
When there are too many people, it becomes difficult to lead a team.
Ever since they knew they had to reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land, they had been making plans in their minds.
All the captains came to ask Qi You how the land should be distributed in the future.
Qi You didn't let them eat from the same pot, but instead measured out a piece of wasteland and let them cultivate it themselves. Whoever cultivated it owned it.
With fewer people, less power is needed. Qi You suggested that they help each other cultivate the land. However, this also had its problems. For example, some families had men who were sick or injured and couldn't help, or there were no adult laborers in the family. The labor force of each family was different, and those who contributed labor would gossip and be unwilling to do so.
The quarrel was secondary; the main issue was that it delayed the important work. Qi You had to mediate. Simply appealing to their emotions and reasoning with them wasn't enough; he had to give them appropriate rewards and benefits, perhaps a piece of meat or their favorite wine.
There was no shortage of liquor; the Shaodaozi was brewed strong enough. After drinking, the men began to go crazy, weeping, humming Mongolian tunes, homesick.
Even though their tribe had long been destroyed and their hometown no longer existed.
Qi You didn't miss home. He didn't know where it was. Was it the distant past, or the Forbidden City, which was always unfamiliar to him?
This valley, from being deserted to now with curling smoke from cooking fires, has become full of life after people have come to it.
The air I breathe is filled with the scent of earth, grass, and vegetable porridge. In the distance, children are laughing, chickens and ducks are chirping, and cows are mooing.
Qi You looked up and watched the sun slowly breaking through the clouds in the sky. He squinted his eyes slightly and enjoyed the warmth and brightness of the morning sun on his face.
Gui He and De Gao were both wrong. They had followed him for many years, but they still didn't understand him well enough.
In Qi You's opinion, this place is better than the splendor of the Forbidden City. It is also interesting to find joy in adversity, as written in Kobayashi Issa's haiku:
"Long life to all—the flies, fleas, and mosquitoes of this poor village.
Although the rice bag is empty - the cherry blossoms are blooming!
How beautiful! Through the hole in the paper door, I can see the Milky Way from another world. (Note)
The author has something to say:
Note: From Kobayashi Issa's Haiku.
Explain a few words.
It has been written clearly before that Qi You never resorted to head-on confrontation in his reforms because that would lead to quick death.
All he did was to let the powerful see the benefits first and point directly to their pain points.
Fuquan was the actual beneficiary, and after Zhuangzi's reforms, he gained more.
He has a visual impairment and his background is similar to Qi You's.
Fuquan would be more than happy to leave the quagmire of the capital. Now that he has wealth and honor, he wants to be pure.
For him, school is the best way out.
There is also Sabsu, who is just an official in the frontier, and his position may be hereditary or replaced.
He is not a powerful person, he is not up to the task, otherwise he would have gone to the capital long ago and would not have suffered at the border.
He was a good man, knowledgeable, and respectful of both artisans and scholars. He had no strong sense of hierarchy, otherwise he wouldn't have asked Wu Zhaoqian, a slave in armor, to be his son's teacher and allowed them to establish a local poetry club.
When it comes to women, it's all based on habit.
In the face of benefits and interests, these are nothing.
The reason why Qi You has no helpers or team is that he wants to engage in less fighting, stop shouting slogans, and do things first.
Because no one does these things, no one will step forward, they are all just thinking about how to protect themselves.
Besides the differences in concepts, once he has a team and becomes powerful, he will be destroyed. Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2022-11-08 22:01:44 and 2022-11-09 22:08:22~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: 56820503 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 20 bottles of Huaixu Shier;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com