While the two women were worried about their lovers, Li Wufeng was still stuck in extremely busy work.
It should be said that during this rare period of rest, the situation on the Tengger Grassland has been basically brought under control. With the cooperation of some personnel sent by the Northwest Army and the Luobei people, hundreds of thousands of Luobei herdsmen who had fled their homes and fled were helping the elderly. Driving the herd with their children, they return to their hometown and prepare for the next season.
The taste of living under the shelter of others makes these people who have been in peace for a long time, especially those who have never tasted the taste of war on the land, fully realize how beautiful peace is. For hundreds of years, their ancestors have never been affected by war, and they are suddenly affected by the war from the east. The defeat of the nation was unbearable for many people, but when the reality fell on them, they discovered how happy their original lives were. War requires paying a price. Choosing war means choosing bloodshed and sacrifice. However, in the hearts of ordinary herdsmen, herding and passing on the family line are the most important. As for external wars and plundering, no one is willing to make such a move unless they can't survive. choices, especially when the neighbors who were at the mercy of others in the past showed extraordinary strength, and even began to actively challenge the former victors, and defeated themselves without any suspense. This made the herdsmen living here While they were panic-stricken, they also began to have some fear of their neighbors, especially when even Wulanji was controlled by the Tanghe garrison.
Fortunately, although the Tanghe people were conquerors, they did not have much impact on their lives. If anything, it can only be said that there were many more Tanghe people entering this area. In addition to soldiers, more of them were businessmen. . Businessmen who encourage people to make money by raising sheep, especially sheep with particularly long wool, are wandering around the grasslands centered on Wulanji, and their numbers are even greater than the number of wolves on the grasslands. . Many businessmen even ignored the ban and went into the depths of the grasslands two hundred miles west of Wulanji to carry out incitement and propaganda, calling on the vast number of herdsmen to invest in sheep raising and making big profits, so that the Luobei Border Patrol Army had to Send these merchant gifts to Wulanji and hand them over to the northwest garrison for processing.
Wulanji quickly became a new investment hotspot. In fact, as early as the end of the war, many northwest businessmen came to Wulanji to set up camp and prepare to do something big. The long-term inertia has made these businessmen accustomed to it. Wherever the Northwest Army goes, it will become Lord Li's new territory. Even though Lulong was taken back by the Taiping Rebellion, wouldn't it return to Lord Li's hands in the end? The good natural environment here is naturally a treasure land for grazing, and Ulan Lake provides abundant drinking water. As long as the herdsmen can be encouraged to abandon their past grazing habits and instead raise long-haired sheep, the rich wool resources will be endless. , even if only a small number of people change, it is enough to support countless wool textile workshops.
Although the Mote army all withdrew from this land (except Qingchuan Haizi), according to the agreement, a division of troops was still retained in the northwest to maintain influence on this land, while the Luobei army completely withdrew. They arrived two hundred miles west of Wulanji, but at this time, the Luobi people did not have much military power to deploy here. The pressure from the Chidi people in the west had already made them overwhelmed. Only a few border patrol teams came to prove it. their existence.
Although this wave of sheep-raising trend has not swept the entire East Tengger Grassland, it has caused quite a stir in the area centered on Wulanji. Many simple herdsmen were moved by the words of the businessmen and their minds were active. They stood up and thought that if raising long-haired sheep could make more profits than raising other types of sheep such as cattle, horses and meat-based sheep, then of course they would be more willing to choose this unprecedented method of using sheared wool as the main source of income. attempt.
This is a method painstakingly designed and researched by Xiao Tang, Su Minshun and others. Although the Wulanji area has not been administratively included in the northwest management for various reasons, the northwest can fully adopt economic control methods to gradually bring this area into the northwest. To integrate a region into the northwest to facilitate future development, vigorously encouraging the entry of the wool textile and tanning industries is one method. When the majority of herdsmen discovered that they could get greater profits from using wool and gradually adapted to this model, they were actually firmly tied to the economy dominated by northwest merchants. Without the northwest merchants to acquire these products, they were of great value in the eyes of the herdsmen. If they don't have big things, their income will drop sharply. If they want to obtain stable and generous income, they can only maintain the current peaceful business environment and keep the trade routes smooth, and war will become unacceptable.
The small and medium-sized nobles also welcome this economic form, so that they can no longer pay the herdsmen in kind such as cattle, sheep and horses, but directly collect cash from the herdsmen as tribute, eliminating the troublesome buying and selling procedures, and it has slowly penetrated into The nobles of the Tanghe civilization in various parts of the Tengger Grassland are more eager to enjoy life in a civilized way. Silk, sea beads, porcelain, glassware, green tea, spices, books, artworks, etc., in their opinion, are All kinds of unattainable luxuries have also begun to enter the homes of small and medium-sized nobles. Although it is just the beginning, it is a good start after all. Small and medium-sized nobles also look forward to a better life in the future.
According to the annex to the signed treaty, the Northwest Department of Culture, Education and Health established the first Tang-style school in Wulanji, enrolling children of Luobi aristocrats. It also recruited some children of ordinary Luobi herdsmen who were recognized as having made outstanding contributions to the northwest. This also caused a sensation among the Luobei people in the East Tengger Grassland. Many Luobei nobles living in the area west of Wulanji even traveled thousands of miles to send their children to this school to study. Although this method has been implemented by the Mote people, because the Mote people have more interactions with the Tanghe people in the southeast and the Xisluo people in the east, the impact on the Tengger Grassland is not significant. Very big. However, the influence of this school in Wulanji is extremely far-reaching. Even many knowledgeable people in the countries of the Western Continent believe that this is a heavy blow to the Ranian civilization by the Tanghe civilization in order to compete for the influence of the mainland civilization. While they were still worrying about the annual raids by the Chidi people, the Tanghe Empire had already taken a solid step forward on the Tengger Grassland that spanned three continents. Of course, many people did not know that the masters of the northwest were closely related to the Tang Dynasty. The masters of the River Empire are not exactly affiliated.
Under Xiao Tang's instruction, the northwest internal affairs department even sent some staff to Wulanji to help the Luobei people's management agency establish a security department and trial agency similar to the Huohuaji Police Station and the tribunal to take charge of Wulanji. The daily social security and civil business disputes in the surrounding areas are actually equivalent to a replica of the Mote people. Only in name, this land still belongs to the Luobi people, and these management agencies are also composed of the Luobi people themselves. However, They all received simple training from their counterparts in the northwest before taking up their posts.
If the Luobi people, centered on Wulanji, still maintained a fig leaf on the surface in their conquest of the east, the Tubu people had made thorough reforms in internal affairs, completely imitating the internal affairs structure of the Mote people, and the aristocracy Although the council is entirely composed of pro-Northwestern nobles, Wufeng still limits the deliberative power of these nobles. Even if the internal affairs of the Tubu people are approved by the noble council, they still need to be reported to the Northwest Administrative Office for filing. If the Northwest Administrative Office If it is deemed inappropriate, it may be ordered to renegotiate. As for the economic structure, the policy of encouraging the development of sheep farming has also been adopted. However, in order to maintain an adequate supply of military horses in the northwest, the Northwest Administrative Agency and the Northwest War Readiness Administration jointly made requirements for the Motte and Tubu people, requiring them to each Administrative means are used to ensure that there are no less than 30,000 military horses in stock every year to supply the military needs at any time. Of course, the northwest military will also ensure the purchase of a certain number of military horses every year.
While settling the various tribes in the Tengger Grassland, Wufeng also began to purge the interior of the governments under his actual control in the northwest and neighboring Guanxi Heshuo. A large number of corrupt officials who violated the law used powerful methods under the new director of the Supervision Office, Mi Feng. They were dismissed one after another. This is because Wufeng specially appointed Mi Feng, who had done a great job as the Northwest Military Justice Director, to concurrently hold this position in order to strengthen the Supervision Office, which had been performing poorly. Mi Feng fully fulfilled his duties as the Northwest Military Justice Director. The responsibilities of the army not only effectively suppressed the rising trend of factional forces brought about by the expansion of the Northwest Army, but also caused the military discipline problems that arose with the rapid expansion of military strength to receive what can be called a harsh purge. Many officers even They jointly wrote a letter to sue Mi Feng directly to Wu Feng in the name of severe punishment and brutal torture. However, Wu Feng sternly rejected all of them in the name of the Military Law Office's independent execution of official duties. At this point, he would rather starve to death than eat rice. Feng), this motto spread like wildfire among the Northwest Army.
Mi Feng's appointment as the director of the Northwest Supervision Bureau also brought a "crying wolf" whirlwind to the northwest officialdom, especially in the six prefectures of Yinchuan, Taixuan, Lulong, Longdong, Xikang and Tianshui. In order to maintain the stability of the local situation after taking control of these six prefectures, Feng did not take large-scale clean-up and replacement operations. Many officials in non-key departments were allowed to remain in office as long as they made no obvious mistakes. However, no one in China was spared. A large number of officials were isolated and examined by supervisory department personnel. Many officials simply resigned and abandoned their posts. Everyone in the northwest official circles was in danger. Taking this opportunity, Xiao Tang also took the opportunity to appoint officials with both political integrity and talent from the four old northwest prefectures (Qingyang, Jinzhou, Guide, and Bonan) to various official positions in the remaining six prefectures, and students from Northwest University gradually became The backbone of administrative agencies at all levels in the northwest region.