Chapter 74: A little ahead of the times, pull out more coquettishness

It is said that Danil, Duke of Moscow, personally conquered Liang Zan and quickly destroyed him while Grand Duke of Liangzan was unable to destroy it. Zhao Jin, the king of Yanhan, personally led troops to fight against the Kazan coalition led by Shermyan, the general of the Duchy of Novgorod. Zhao Jin adopted the broad and willing plan of the guerrilla general. Li Huazhen, a brave and good general, also went deep into the enemy's rear and mobilized many enslaved Tatars and Chuvash, causing a fire in the backyard of the Kazan leaders and a raging fire! The Kazan army retreated in panic and was chased all the way by the Han army, annihilating most of them. Later, the Han army besieged Kazan for more than a month, and finally captured Shemiyang with the plan of Li Baozhao, a cavalry general, and conquered Kazan, and completely controlled the leaders of Kazan.

The Kazan area belongs to the hinterland of the mainland, with a cold climate and a long period of ice, snow and frost every year. However, due to the flat and vast terrain, with a large area of fertile black soil and the nourishment of large rivers such as the Volga River and its tributary Kamal River, it is very suitable for farming and grazing. There are only about 100,000 people left in this area after several massacres and wars, mainly Kazan Tatar (the fusion race of Mongolians and Bulgarians), Chuvash (a branch of the Bulgarians), and other local minorities.

It is not only suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry, but also has rich fishery resources, which produce a large number of fat fish every year. There are also primitive forests near rivers, which not only have huge timber reserves, but also go down the water after cutting, which can be easily transported to Lianchengfu for shipbuilding.

Yan Han is not going to give up such a good land since he knocked it down. But it is not easy to keep it. After consideration, Zhao Jin decided to set up a separate town north governor's office militarily, named the northern Xinjiang area in the administrative * Kazan area, with Kazan as Kazhou and Bulgarian as Baozhou, and migrated from the Fuxi region to explore this side. Northern Xinjiang will be committed to agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and forestry to provide basic resources for the country.

Because the northern Xinjiang area is thousands of miles away and vulnerable to attack, Yan Han must be prepared to take root here. Kazan was originally a riverside fortress, which was the border defense of the ancient Bulgarian Khanate. The Northern Governor's Office of Yanhan Town will station troops in Kashgar on the east bank of the Volga River and set up 20 fortresses along the west bank of the Volga River, with 100 garrisons in each castle. The garrison selected from the uprising Tataris and Chuvash, half soldiers and half peasants, with their families, horses, cattle and sheep. They usually scattered outside the fort to graze and graze. When they met small bandits, they entered the fort to hold on. When they met big bandits, they could consider crossing the river to flee to Kazhou.

From Kazhou to Zanzhou, the Volga River, the golden waterway, will provide convenient water transportation conditions for Yanhan. Water transportation is extremely important in the era of transportation difficulties. Therefore, Yanhan will vigorously develop sailors to ensure control of the Volga River, Europe's largest river, and the world's largest lake, the Sea. Zhao Jin divided the navy into three branches, Baifang Yuandu as General Fubo, stationed in Liancheng Prefecture; Bai Meng Shixiao as General Henghai, stationed in Zanzhou; Bai Meng Shixin as General Hengchuan, stationed in Kazhou.

General Fubo and General Henghai are all generals of the ancient Han Dynasty, which is also very appropriate for Yan Han. However, there is considerable criticism between the imperial court and the army about the exceptional promotion of Fang Yuandu, Meng Shixiao and Meng Shixin. Zhao Jin could only put on a dictatorial face and suppress the public discussion with the monarch's unquestionable authority: "I know the merit of Yuandu. I am also familiar with the talents of the Meng brothers. If there is incompetent, the responsibility lies with me. Nowadays, when the country employs people, you can stop gossiping!"

In the ancient Han Dynasty, Chen Ping, as the confidant counselor of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was often a very critical conspiracy, and only Liu Bang knew about it. Later, Chen Ping was awarded the title of Marquis, and the generals were very unconvinced. Liu Bang said, "I know Chen Ping's work!" Don't allow people to talk nonsense anymore. Only with such a dictatorship can the full use of outstanding talents. Chen Ping's strategy does not have to be revealed to let everyone know - if everyone knows it, the plot will be ineffective!

"Democracy is used in peacetime, allowing everyone to be addicted to deliberation and decision-making; in times of war, it must be autocratic by strong people! Now that there are many fights, what can I do if I am not autocratic? Zhao Jin thought so and didn't mind other people's comments. Whether it is meritocracy or nepotism, for a monarch, in fact, only sages and relatives are easy to use.

Speaking of democracy, Poland cannot be mentioned. Poland is the first pioneer country in the world to implement a broad-ranging democratic electoral system. Its degree of democracy is hundreds of years ahead of Western Europe, but it is also because of too advanced democracy that it has excessively weakened the royal power, causing the heyday "big wave" to lose cohesion and gradually reduced from a first-class country to a two-third Flowing country. What's more troublesome is that Poland's democratic tradition is deeply rooted. Since then, Polish leaders have always swayed left and right in public opinion differences, focusing only on the people, making it difficult to maintain a sober and long-term strategic vision. Since modern times, under the dangerous situation of Poland with Germany on the left and Russia on the right, foreigners can see it clearly and feel that Poland can only hold one position and cannot make enemies on both sides. However, Poles have mixed opinions. Some want to be friendly with Germany and against Russia; some want to be friendly with Russia and against Germany; and some are simply not friendly and against anyone. The Polish leader, who has no principles and can only swing to conform to the public opinion of many parties, pushed the country step by step into the sinking abyss. And sometimes, what elected leaders do is extremely ridiculous. For example, when the Olympic Games were about to be held in Beijing in 2008, the Polish president was the first leaders in the world to jump out and declare a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, citing China's undemocratic. He also met with the Dalai Lama in a high profile and praised the Dalai Lama's efforts to split China. This series of behavior stunned the Chinese people. Poland is one hundred and eight thousand miles away from China, with no grievances; contemporary China is a powerful country with increasing influence and one of the "five permanent" of the United Nations; what are the benefits of Poland against distant powers? - The Polish president does not consider these. He does not have to seek pragmatic and long-term national interests, as long as he caters to The public opinion in front of us should make the people happy.

Besides, until the 18th century, Catherine the Great, who ruled the Russian Empire, still firmly believed that autocracy was the way to become a powerful country, and declared loudly: "To govern such a vast country as Russia, we can only use an authoritarian monarchy, which is the best solution!" What kind of person is Catherine the Great? Three partitions of Poland, two defeats Turkey, and one defeat of Sweden. Poland, a Central European power, was destroyed alive. Since then, the Turkish Empire, the most powerful country in West Asia, has become a second-class country, and Sweden, a Nordic power that has competed with Russia for hundreds of years, has also tended to decline. Destroy the great powers and make the country more powerful. That's the real emperor!

To learn from the past and the present, the key to governing the country is to "adapt to the status quo and moderately ahead". As long as it is ahead of foreign countries of the same era to a certain extent. Now in the 13th century, most of the surrounding countries are still semi-slave and semi-feudal countries. Yan Han's national policy does not have to pursue too advanced, but makes people in this era unable to adapt to it.

For example, ethnic policy, Yan Han does not have to be advanced to the extent that all ethnic groups in China are equal, let alone to the extent that ethnic minorities have preferential care. In this era, as long as they are generally equal and each has a safe living, it is already very good! Compared with the leading nations of the contemporary world brutally oppressing other nations, that is very advanced. The Yuan Dynasty was already a country with a relatively advanced system among Mongolia's major forces, but it also practiced racial discrimination. Mongolians were first-class, Semu people were second-class, northern Han people and northern ethnic minorities were third-class, and southern Han people and southern ethnic minorities were fourth-class. If the superiors kill the lowly people, they will not pay for their lives. If the lowly people hurt the superiors, they will be executed!

In contrast, Yanhan's ethnic group is not hierarchical, has the same right to live, and is legally equal, which is advanced enough. The difference is only in the "core ethnic group" and the "external ethnic group", and the treatment in the people's livelihood policy is different. That's normal. It's natural for the country to rely on core ethnic contributions and give preferential treatment.

The "core nation" refers to a nation that is loyal enough to the country and can be universally trusted. At present, Han people, Miao people (general names of ethnic minorities in South China), Qiang people (general names of ethnic minorities in North China), people, Khitan people, Jurchen women, etc. In Yanhan, because they do not have their own country, they can generally trust and are the core ethnic groups. These ethnic groups constitute the contemporary "Chinese nation" and are the leading force of the Yanhan regime. In addition, although the northern ethnic groups do not belong to the Chinese nation, they can also be trusted and are also members of the core ethnic group.

The "peripheral ethnic groups" are mainly East Slavs, Mongols, Turks and Westerners. These ethnic groups also belong to the "Chinese nation" in modern China. Among the 56 ethnic groups in modern China, there are Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks and other cross-border ethnic groups, and even Russians. However, the concept of the nation of later generations is not applicable in this era. For Yan Han, these are peripheral nations.

The peripheral peoples are not untrustworthy, but difficult to be universally trusted. For example, if the Haidu Khanate is under Hancheng, the core ethnic group of Yanhan can unswervingly fight against the city, but the Mongolians and Westerners in Yanhan are unpredictable.

In addition, there are a large number of slaves of all ethnic groups bought from foreign countries, mainly female slaves, who also belong to peripheral peoples after being liberated as free people. A small number of Chinese slaves of all ethnic groups who were sold here are still classified as core ethnic groups.

According to Yanhan's current system, the preferential treatment of core ethnic groups is: preferential taxes, slightly less taxes paid and labor services; preferential welfare, slightly more rations and materials allocated by the state; marriage preferential treatment - men can marry more wives!

A man of a core ethnic group can marry two wives, of which only one woman of the core ethnic group is limited. That is to say, it is okay to marry one core plus one periphery, and it is okay to marry two periphery, but it is not okay to marry two cores. This policy is to strengthen the assimilation between core ethnic groups and peripheral ethnic groups, and not always marry internally.

A man from a peripheral ethnic group can only marry one wife. It can be a woman from a core ethnic group or a woman from a peripheral ethnic group.

Whether it is a core nation or a peripheral nation, if you join the army, you will go beyond the scope of your own nation and enjoy greater preferential treatment. Generally, a sergeant can marry three wives, of which only one woman from the core ethnic group is allowed. A female sergeant serving in Tiqi and women's camp has the right to make her husband not accept concubines.

That is to say, a soldier is a special citizen of the country. Male soldiers can marry more wives, and female soldiers can make their husband obedient - those who love their husbands can let him marry a concubine, and those who strictly require their husband can order him to live as widowhood! As for the husband and wife who are both soldiers, it depends on who has a higher status. If the wife is higher than her husband, he can be deprived of the right to marry two concubines.

After becoming a general, there will be more preferential treatment. General Pei can marry four wives, of which only one woman of the core nation is limited. The general can also marry four wives, but the restrictions on women in the core ethnic group have been relaxed to two. Famous *, grade, the higher the grade, the more you can marry.

The salary of officials is the same as that of soldiers of the same grade, but the restriction of marrying a wife is the same as that of civilians. That is to say, life can be comfortable, but not many wives are married.

However, in order to reward some truly outstanding officials, there is also a "shu honor" clause. That is to say, officials who have made good political achievements can marry more wives after obtaining special meritorious recognition. Not only officials, but also craftsmen, merchants and other people from all walks of life who have made contributions to the development of the country can obtain awards.

For example, Zheng Wenchu, Si Xingqing, made great contributions and won five awards. Then, in addition to the treatment of marrying two wives as a core nation, he can add five wives, up to seven wives. Of course, he has only married a wife so far, which is his freedom. This kind of guy who ignores the needs of national integration and only cares about his own ease and does not marry more wives and have children is not encouraged in Yanhan.

Up to now, Yanhan has seven regions in Kinki, Northland, Wudong, Shanhai, Fudong, Fuxi and Northern Xinjiang. Due to the development of new territories, immigration acceptance, slave purchase and other factors, the total population has reached more than 2.9 million. Among them, there are more than 1.2 million men and 1.7 million women, a difference of nearly 500,000, which is absorbed by the core ethnic groups and soldiers. Most of the soldiers are the core ethnic groups, so in Yanhan, the population of the core ethnic groups will gradually increase. The core ethnic groups encourage marriage with each other. If it goes on like this, it should be perfectly integrated in a few generations - if Yan Han still exists at that time.

In the end, it is said that Zhao Jin, who stands at the peak of the highest position in the country, occupies a large number of excellent resources and should make the greatest contribution to national integration. He should achieve the largest output unparalleled in the world, but he has achieved nothing so far. It's really shame!

(to be continued in the next section)