In March of the fourth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1631), Hong Chengchou finally started his long-planned operation east of Beihu Lake.
After several months of contact with Buryat, two soldiers of the Ming army have been fluent in Buryat. Under the influence of Hong Chengchou, Li Qianqian is also fluent in some Chinese.
Now that the two sides can communicate, Hong Chengchou feels that it is time for a showdown with the big boss.
This morning, Hong Chengchou served as the host to entertain the chieftain. It was his daughter Li Qianqian who accompanied the chieftain to the banquet. And Hong Chengchou, because there were no women in the army, the two soldiers who were fluent in Buryat Attended the banquet as a waiter.
Li Qianqian has a special status and was placed by Hong Chengchou next to the chief, and also serves as the chief's interpreter.
Hong Chengchou filled the chieftain with a glass of wine. "Great chief, what about the distilled spirits of Ming?"
"Da Ming Distilled Liquor, this." The leader gave Hong Chengchou a thumbs up.
"Big Chief, Daming has a wealth of products. There are too many products like distilled liquor. There are only unexpected things to eat, wear, and use. There is nothing impossible." Hong Chengchou saw the big chief drink the distilled liquor in the cup. It's done, and fill him with another glass.
"Really? Daming what else?" The chief had seen the distilled spirits, fire folds, flintlocks, saddles, etc. of the Ming army. He didn't doubt how much water Hong Chengchou's words were.
"For example, for food," Hong Chengchou asked his attendant to bring two white flour buns to the chief. "Like this kind of buns, Da Ming has a strong man who can produce enough food for ten people by doing farm work for half a year each year.
"Half a year? Ten people?" The chief leader asked several times. After repeated explanations by the soldiers and Li Qianqian, he was convinced that he had not misheard, "Then the other nine people don't need to work and have food?"
"The women of Daming never have to work. They are men. They farm the land alone and feed the whole family. The rest of them can go to work elsewhere and save change. Therefore, the people of Daming are relatively wealthy, and they have food in their homes. , You can eat for three years without working.” Hong Chengchou pointed to the buns in the hands of the big leader.
"What kind of crop is this? Can we also plant it?" The chief figured out that if we really want to plant these crops, we don't have to go to the river to fish every day, especially in the long winter, when fish are hard to catch, and people are starving. It is common to be frozen.
"It's okay to plant, but..." Hong Chengchou paused for a while. "This is Daming's state secret. Non-Daming people are not allowed to spread the cultivation technology, otherwise, they will be severely punished by the Ming court."
The chief doesn't seem to understand Hong Chengchou's words: "What exactly will you do to teach us planting techniques?"
Hong Chengchou was secretly pleased, but his face remained silent, "Unless...unless the clansmen of the big leader, all join the Da Ming and become the people of Da Ming."
"Join Daming? What counts as joining Daming?" The chieftain obviously hadn't figured out what Hong Chengchou meant.
Hong Chengchou knows that he has to get to the point. This is something that must be resolved sooner or later. It is better to come early. If he cannot be naturalized peacefully, he is ready for a military solution. "Like Qianqian, he uses his Chinese name and speaks Chinese. , Accept the jurisdiction of Daming."
"..." The big leader frowned. He could use a Chinese name and speak Chinese, but he was under the jurisdiction of Ming. Isn't his big leader the same as an ordinary fisherman
"Once you join Da Ming, Da Ming will make your lives better," Hong Chengchou saw that the chief did not directly object, knowing that he was making a choice, "what conditions did the chief find unacceptable?"
"It's okay to use a Chinese name, but it's not a short time to learn how to speak Chinese. As for accepting Da Ming's jurisdiction..."
"The big leader doesn't know anything about speaking Chinese, Daming will send someone to teach, and it doesn't take a short time to learn completely. Take your time, as long as you have the sincerity to learn, you can accept things under the jurisdiction of Daming..."
"What counts as accepting Da Ming's jurisdiction?" This is the question that the chief is most concerned about.
"Naturally, it is managed according to the way of Daming. The big leader now leads these people. Once naturalized in Daming, the Ming court will definitely give the big leader a half-office position. From then on, there is no need to go in the wind and rain. There is a fixed supply of food every month, and the chief leader only needs to assist the court to take care of these subordinates."
Hearing such good conditions, the leader was moved for a while, "Who supplies the food?"
"Of course it is provided by the court. Just like us, we don't work at all. The court will distribute food. Otherwise, what do we eat?"
"Will the court have so much food?"
"The people planted so much grain that they couldn't eat it. Naturally, they had to sell it to the court. The court got the grain and distributed it to officials and soldiers everywhere. As for the people, they sold the grain and got the money to buy clothes and build houses."
"Is there really too much food for Daming?" The leader is still not quite sure, this is beyond his imagination.
"It's true that the chieftain has seen us grow food? The food we eat is distributed by the court. If the chieftain is naturalized as Ming, the court will distribute food to the chieftain just like us."
The chief drank a bit slower, "If I become a naturalized man, how much food will the court give me?"
"It depends on the official position given to the great chief by the court. If the great chief takes the initiative to naturalize the Ming Dynasty, the food given by the court should not be a problem to feed five or six people."
The big leader fell into deep thought, obviously thinking about his own future interests.
As long as the pursuit of profit is enough, Hong Chengchou further said: "If the chief leader serves the Ming Dynasty, the royal court's salary should increase. At that time, even if the chief chief does not have to work himself, holding a teacup around every day, but the chief leader supports his family. Can participate in work and increase the family's surplus wealth... To be honest, how much surplus wealth does the big leader have now?"
The big leader lowered his head and was speechless. He is a big leader, but he doesn't have many privileges. Not to mention having no surplus. Even fishing and hunting every day, he can't fall behind. Otherwise, there will be some people because there is no Enough food starved to death.
The women in the tribe must also engage in gathering activities during the day to increase the tribe’s food, otherwise, they would not implement the marriage system.
The privilege of the big boss is reflected in women. The women in the tribe who will be born and raised have the priority to choose, but the big boss is getting older and the physical energy is not as good as before, and the ability to clean up women is gradually declining. Therefore, he gradually faded away from these things.
Hong Chengchou simply added another fire: "Big Chief, if you are all naturalized in the Ming Dynasty, not only will the Great Chief get the food distributed by the court, if red-haired ghosts come to make trouble in the future, Da Ming's army will also be responsible for protecting you. You will never be hurt by the red-haired ghost again, and your women, never have to worry about being snatched away by the red-haired ghost."
"Red-haired ghost? Did Daming really beat them?" Speaking of the red-haired ghost, the big leader's face suddenly became gloomy. It was obvious that he was very afraid of those with red hair and blue eyes.
"Hasn't the big boss seen this? Not only did we rescue your woman from the red-haired ghost, we also killed all the red-haired people who had attacked you in front of you. Could this be fake? ?"
"Da Ming is really protecting us." The leader seems to be muttering to himself. In fact, he thinks more. When Da Ming eliminated the red-haired ghost, it seemed that no soldier had any casualties. It should be better than the red-haired ghost. A lot of it, but the red-haired ghost is a Buryat with nearly 100 casualties, and has taken many women from Buryat. Obviously, he is stronger than the Buryat. So, if it is a Buryat To Daming... he didn't dare to think about it anymore.
"Of course, since you are naturalized to Daming, Daming naturally wants to protect his people."
The chief hesitated for a while, but after all he asked: "If we refuse to naturalize Daming, will you still protect us in the future?"
There is no free lunch in the world. Don’t think you are my father-in-law, but I, Hong Chengchou, is a soldier of Daming above all. I represent the country instead of myself. "My soldiers and I have protected you twice, but not forever. You, if the big leader refuses to be naturalized in Daming, I am afraid that in the future, Daming will never offend powerful red-haired ghosts for you."
"I understand," the chief nodded, and poured half a cup of distilled wine in the cup. "I am not in charge of this matter alone. After I go back, I will discuss with the five elders. The general waits for good news."
After a long time, it's a green broad bean that can't be planted! Hong Chengchou was a little depressed. However, depending on what the chieftain meant, he should have agreed, "Well, I will be the host tomorrow and entertain the five elders. Let's discuss it in person. What about the chieftain?"
"Okay, you have to prepare a few jars of distilled wine tomorrow."
"That's for sure, the big boss doesn't have to worry about it."
When the chieftain went back obliquely, the sky was too late to help. The sun had already hidden behind the mountain, and only a red glow remained. Li Qianqian stayed. Hong Chengchou sent two other soldiers to send the chieftain back. By the way, He gave him two jars of distilled wine.
At noon the next day, the chief leader brought the five elders to Hong Chengchou's lunch.
It must be another pass of distilled spirits.
At the end of the wine glass, the policy was relaxed.
Besides, this distilled spirit is exclusively supplied by Hong Chengchou.
Speaking of naturalization, four of the five elders had the same attitude as the chief leader. They basically agreed to Hong Chengchou's naturalization proposal, but they wanted Hong Chengchou to come up with a specific plan before making a final decision.
Another elder, who listened to his voice, seemed to be called Hucheng. He firmly disagreed with Hong Chengchou's suggestion and opposed the naturalization of the entire tribe into Han people, thinking that it was the Han people who wanted to eliminate the Buryats.
The Buryats follow the principle of the minority subordinate to the majority. Four of the five elders agreed. The overall situation should be settled. However, Hong Chengchou secretly called the head Wu Xiaozhi to him and whispered to him. , So and so.