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With the establishment of the Tianshan Province, on the basis of the original Ming Dynasty, Daqin now has six more provinces, namely Luzon, Jinghai, Liaoning, Gansu, Ningxia and Tianshan, becoming three capitals and eighteen provinces.
Wei Yuan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, proposed to set up a Qinghai-Tibet Province and a Mongolian Province, but Qin Mu temporarily rejected the proposal.
Although the Qin army has a good control over the southern desert and Qinghai-Tibet, it has just entered the area and many problems have not been sorted out. Immediately setting up provinces is a bit hasty and may backfire.
And even if he wanted to set up a province, Qin Mu would never use the word "Mongolia".
Because this will subconsciously remind people that this place belongs to the Mongolians.
This may seem insignificant, but in fact it artificially divides the country along regional and racial lines, which is not conducive to the unity of the country as a whole.
Although the leaders of the Mongolian and Tibetan tribes have now been formally conferred the title of commander-in-chief, they still retain their hereditary and autonomous rights. This will have to change sooner or later.
Sima An said: "Your Majesty, I think we should follow the example of the chieftains in the southwest and first send assistants to these tribes, then gradually increase the intensity of conscription over a few years, and when the time is right, we can set up provinces and change the chieftains into officials."
"Okay, then the Ministry of Personnel will select officials and send a commander to each of the Mongolian and Tibetan tribes, with one to twenty subordinate officials to assist the commanders of each tribe in managing tribal affairs."
Li Yuan was a little doubtful: "Your Majesty, should we take it a little longer? If we act too hastily, it might cause a backlash from the tribes."
"Who dares?" Qin Mu said in a deep voice, "I am now allowing them to inherit and govern themselves, which is already a special favor."
The hunting in Hetao has formed a huge deterrent effect on the leaders of various tribes. Sima An also believes that now is the time to send out auxiliary officials, and the leaders of various tribes should not have much backlash at this time.
Qin Mu continued, "If anyone dares to refuse to send an assistant, I will punish him. There is no need to be timid about this matter. Let the Ministry of Personnel select officials immediately."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Qin Mu spread out a map, drawing a line from the Ural Mountains to the Aral Sea, and then from the Amu Darya River (called Wuhu River in the Tang Dynasty) south of the Aral Sea as the boundary, all the way to the Pamir Mountains.
Sima An and others looked at each other in surprise.
During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the territory nominally reached the Transoxiana region, but the area under effective management only extended to the area around Suiye City (Tokmok City, Kyrgyzstan).
If we follow the borders drawn by Qin Mu, not only will the western territories of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty be included in the territory of the Qin Dynasty, but a large area of territory will also be added to the northwest, extending from the Aral Sea to the Ural Mountains and then all the way to the Arctic Ocean. The entire empire looks huge.
Qin Mu said calmly: "Don't worry, ministers. Apart from the trouble in the Central Asian region, the vast area north of the Aral Sea and east of the Ural Mountains is currently sparsely populated, with only a few towns established by a small number of Russian troops. As long as we defeat Russia and make it dare not cross the Ural Mountains again, this large area in the north will belong to our Great Qin.
At present, this large area has little value. However, if you do not plan for the overall situation, you will not be able to plan for a region. If you do not plan for eternity, you will not be able to plan for this life. With the continuous growth of the population of Daqin and the continuous development of science and technology, the great value of these places will gradually be reflected.
Now, if Daqin wants to occupy these places, it only needs to spend a small price to do it. As far as I know, the Russian Empire has occupied Eastern Siberia with only a few thousand troops. This price is nothing to Daqin. Opportunities are rare and will never come back. If we don't take it now, it may not be so easy to take it in the future.
I would rather turn these places into uninhabited desolate areas than let Russia occupy them. For more than 2,000 years, the greatest threat to our Central Plains dynasty has always come from the north. I want to completely solve this problem for future generations. Turn this large area into the back garden of our Great Qin."
Sima An pointed to the Transoxiana region (the area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya was called the Transoxiana region in the Tang Dynasty) and said, "Your Majesty, there are many nomadic tribes in these areas. It is not easy to conquer them. Moreover, these places currently believe in the Muslim religion."
"Faith can be changed with swords and guns." Qin Mu's words were chilling.
Indeed, the religious expansion of this era was mostly accomplished through bloody swords and guns. During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the power of the Tang Dynasty radiated to the area around Hezhong. At that time, there was no Muslim religion in the sphere of influence of the Tang Dynasty.
Gao Xianzhi's defeat in the Battle of Talas changed the situation in the Western Regions and marked the beginning of the retreat of Eastern civilization. The Islamic civilization represented by the Muslim sect continued to expand eastward. The entire process of eastward expansion was accompanied by countless bloodshed.
In the West, the expansion of fundamentalism was accompanied by the countless bloodshed of the Crusades.
If you don't use knives or guns to solve problems when you can, you will never have such an opportunity in the future.
“The Hezhong region must be controlled. Even if the Qin Empire does not govern it directly, we must foster a non-Tianfang religious force as a buffer zone. This is very important.
The conflict between civilizations and beliefs will never be eliminated. Don't expect different cultures to coexist harmoniously. When resources are sufficient, everyone will be happy. But once resources are insufficient, conflicts between different civilizations are bound to occur.
If Batur is obedient and helps my Great Qin solve the religious problem in the Western Regions, I may be able to let him go and let him go to Hezhong as a buffer for my Great Qin."
Gu Jun'en said: "Your Majesty, if this is the case, why not add a Dusi in the Moxi grassland."
Gu Junen's words hit the nail on the head. It was difficult to cultivate the land in the western part of the desert, so Qin Mu transferred 30,000 young and strong Tibetans there. In addition to grazing, he mainly wanted to use them to continue expanding westwards.
This is similar to Li Ding's 50,000 Mongolian troops. The Qin Dynasty does not need to spend anything to allow these 30,000 Tibetan troops to expand westward step by step and eventually conquer all the territories designated by Qin Mu.
Since it is a military expansion, it would be inappropriate to use civilian management. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to set up a Dusi in Moxi and implement militarized management.
The 30,000 young Tibetans were both soldiers and herdsmen, just like the nomadic peoples over there, they continued to expand in a nomadic manner;
During this expansion process, Buddhism and Taoism were allowed to follow the army to preach, giving the tribes there two choices: convert to Buddhism or Taoism, or accept the war.
As I said, if they win, Qin will gain a large amount of territory.
It doesn't matter if we lose. The Qin Dynasty won't lose anything anyway and can just continue to recruit people from Mongolia and Tubo.
A few thousand Russians could occupy the entire East and Siberia. With tens of thousands of Mongolian and Tibetan troops, plus the Qin army's advanced flintlock rifles and rockets, Qin Mu did not believe that he could not take these places.
As for future management, it would be sufficient to build a few cities in several fertile areas on the western border, relocate some of the people and garrison one or two thousand troops.
After Russia occupied Eastern and Siberia, what kind of management could it have? In the 21st century, many places were still uninhabited.
As long as you don't allow powerful countries to emerge around Daqin and you keep your technology advanced, who would dare to touch the cheese in your bowl
The expansion method that Qin Mu is currently adopting is different from that of previous generations;
Throughout the ages, armies of hundreds of thousands were often mobilized for expeditions.
Qin Mu's approach was to recruit men from Mongolia and Tubo to form an army.
On the one hand, it can weaken Mongolia and Tubo and make them unable to launch a rebellion.
Secondly, it can save the imperial court from spending huge amounts of military money, and the people's livelihood will not be affected by such expansion.
After discussing with his ministers, Qin Mu decided to set up a Beiting Military Command in Moxi and send Su Jin to take charge of military affairs for a period of three years, with generals replaced regularly.
In addition to 30,000 young and strong Tibetans, two thousand well-equipped Qin troops were sent to take charge.
After making these important decisions in Shangqiu, Qin Mu continued his journey south.
It was May now, the sun was scorching hot in the sky, and the scene in Huaibei was completely different from that during the Northern Expedition.
During the Northern Expedition, what was seen was a scene of bones exposed in the wild and no crowing of roosters for thousands of miles.
Now, rice and wheat are growing well on both sides of the road. Businessmen and travelers are constantly on the road, and men and women are working in the fields, their faces full of hope for a good harvest. Everywhere is full of vitality.
When the imperial carriage arrived in Huai'an, Huang Lianshan came to report: "Your Majesty, Mu Tianbo retreated to Yongchang Prefecture and suddenly raised the banner of Zhu Cihuan, the son of Chongzhen."
"What, Prince Zhu San?"
*************************(To be continued...)
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