There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 199 Plain Yao Flower Yao
Baoqing (Shaoyang).

Xu Sanlang's Fourth Division officially entered Baoqing Prefecture, and the former prefect of Baoqing had committed suicide two hours earlier to serve in the city.

This guy is really something else. First, he wrote a letter requesting the Han army to come to his aid, but when the Han army's reinforcements arrived, he committed suicide and died for the city, not giving the Han army a chance to publicly try him at all.

Upon hearing the news, Xu Sanlang was at a loss for words and could only send a telegram back to the Prince of Han for instructions.

Nie Yu was equally speechless upon seeing the translated telegram. After thinking for a moment, he replied: "Bury him!"

The second day after entering the city.

Prefect Yu Zhao led a man over, who knelt down upon seeing Xu Sanlang and exclaimed, "Student Wang Yi greets General Xu!"

Xu Sanlang raised his hand: "Get up quickly: The King said that our Great Han does not accept these kneeling salutations of the pseudo-Qing."

"Thank you, General."

Wang Yi, however, dared not believe it completely and prostrated himself before getting up.

Xu Sanlang looked at Yu Zhao and asked, "Prefect Yu, you brought this person here not just so he could kneel before me, right?"

Yu Chang remained silent, but Wang Yi quickly said, "General Xu, I request that the Prefect bring me here to pay my respects to you, because it is for the sake of Hua Yao from my Baoqing Prefecture."

"Hua Yao? You mean the Yao people here?" Xu Sanlang almost didn't understand.

“Exactly,” Wang Yi nodded slightly, seemingly noticing Xu Sanlang’s lack of understanding, and explained, “The Yao people are different from us Han people. Not only are they of different ethnicities, but they are not all of the same origin. There are various different branches. Leaving aside the Yao people in Guangdong and Guangxi and the southwest, let’s just talk about the Yao people in Baoqing and Yongzhou. The Yao people in Yongzhou are mainly plain Yao, while the Yao people in Baoqing are mostly flower Yao.”

Xu Sanlang was even more confused upon hearing this. He interrupted and asked, "There are actually branches within the Yao people? Shouldn't the Hua Yao and Pingdi Yao be considered Yao people?"

Wang Yi shook his head and said, "They are still different. Let's talk about the Plain Yao first. Plain Yao is often the name used by the government to refer to the obedient Yao people who have submitted to assimilation. They can also be called Liang Yao, Liang Yao, or Fu Yao. Because the Plain Yao are willing to assimilate, they do not settle in the mountains like other Yao people. Instead, they come to the plains outside the mountains and live together in the form of Yao villages."

"These Yao people who have moved out of the mountains and settled in the plains have learned to speak Mandarin in order to adapt to life outside the mountains. Many of them can even recognize a few Chinese characters. They trade with the surrounding Han villages, and some villages even intermarry with Han people. Apart from having their own Yao language, Yao clothing, and Yao customs, they are almost no different from Han people."

To put it simply, the Yao people of the plains are those who have been partially replaced by local officials, and are willing to obey the orders of the government and pay taxes to the government normally.

Apart from retaining its own traditional customs, clothing, and language, everything else has been highly Sinicized.

This is why the Yao people's militia in Yongzhou were clearly wary of the Han army, but were still willing to try to cooperate.

Because it is very difficult for the Yao people of Yongzhou to return to the mountains. They have lived on the plains for too long and have become too Sinicized. It is difficult for them to return to the mountains and live a hard life of slash-and-burn agriculture and eating raw meat.

It was precisely because the Yao people's militia in Yongzhou were highly Sinicized and could empathize with the Han people that they were able to expand rapidly and reach the walls of Yongzhou, almost capturing the city itself.

Seeing that Xu Sanlang was still in a daze, Yu Zhao immediately added, "Just as Mr. Wang said, the Yao people in Yongzhou are all plain Yao, so it is appropriate for Your Majesty to use the Farmers' Association. The Yao people here are willing to trust Han farmers, but the situation of the Hua Yao in Baoqing is completely different."

Xu Sanlang frowned and asked, "How are they different?"

Wang Yi said, “The Yao people of Baoqing, although they also have the character ‘Yao’ in their names, are fundamentally different from most Yao people. Legend has it that the ancestor of the Yao people was the Yao King Panhu, who is the Pan King that the Yao people generally worship. Even though the Yao tribes in different provinces are different, and even separated as early as the Ming Dynasty, the ‘Pan King Festival’ commemorating Pan King still exists.”

“But the Huayao are different. They don’t celebrate the ‘Panwang Festival’, nor do they believe in Panwang. They even believe that they are not descendants of Panwang.”

The Hua Yao, as the most unique branch of the Yao people, find no common ground with the more than two million Yao people of later generations. They neither believe in Pan Wang nor know anything about him, yet they have intricate connections with the Miao people.

Xu Sanlang didn't understand these things, but he roughly understood the meaning: "You mean to say that the Yao people of Baoqing and the Yao people of Yongzhou are of different origins, so the two cannot merge, and we cannot treat the Yao people of Baoqing the same way we treat the Yao people of Yongzhou?"

Wang Yi nodded: "Because of the unique nature of its branch, the Huayao people of Baoqing are the only ones like this among the Yao people. Therefore, they are more united than other Yao branches. If you were to wage war against them, you should either completely annihilate the Huayao people and eradicate them from the root to prevent future troubles, or you would surely cause the Huayao people to be united in hatred against the enemy, leaving endless disasters!"

Xu Sanlang was bewildered upon hearing this. He had initially thought that the army was merely coming to Baoqing to intimidate the local Yao people, at most engaging in a small battle to frighten them. But now he was being told that the Yao people here were like gunpowder, completely susceptible to fright, and would explode at the slightest provocation.

Xu Sanlang asked, "What are Prefect Yu's thoughts?"
Yu Zhao said, "I can't really say what my opinion is, but the original royal decree is clearly no longer valid. We can't just rush into this battle. If something goes wrong, there will be endless trouble in the future."

After all, no one knows how many Yao people live in the mountains. If they are all wiped out, that would be one thing, but leaving a portion of them are like ticking time bombs that could cause endless trouble for the local area at any time.

The Han army cannot remain stationed here indefinitely. Even if the Han army can sustain itself, it would still be an unnecessary drain on its finances and resources.

Xu Sanlang and Yu Zhao discussed it repeatedly for a long time, but they still didn't know how to proceed. In the end, they could only leave Wang Yi in the Baoqing government office as a temporary information advisor to the Yao people.

Xu Sanlang and Yu Zhao each sent people to the countryside to gather information about the Hua Yao people, supplement any missing intelligence, and also to check for any areas of conflict.

After more than half a month of intelligence gathering, Xu Sanlang and Yu Zhao discovered that Hua Yao was indeed a troublesome matter.

How could there be such a closed-off Yao people?
They had almost no contact with the outside world, and even the reason for their rebellion was that the Baoqing government, in order to better control and maintain stability, had installed a Huayao village chief as a local leader. This person quickly replaced the government's role, levying exorbitant taxes and oppressing the Yao people in the various Huayao villages.

The Yao people could no longer endure it. A Yao man named Lan Jinlong seized the opportunity to start a rebellion, proclaimed himself the Yao King, killed the local chieftain, and then killed officials and rebelled, claiming that the chieftain was also so evil because he colluded with the government.

Xu Sanlang and Yu Zhao were really unsure of what to do, so they could only send a telegram to Jingzhou, requesting the King of Han to make a decision.

Nie Yu hadn't expected things to turn out this way, and he spent two days discussing the matter with various departments of the cabinet.

On the third day.

Baoqing called back: Call!

However, we cannot wage a large-scale war. The intensity of the war will depend on the situation. We should prioritize taking back one county and instill fear in the Hua Yao people.

Next, proceed with the internal division as originally planned, using methods that are not too mild but rather slightly more aggressive and forceful.

Those who are willing to be naturalized and leave the mountains are all obedient citizens who can legally settle down and be allocated land. Their previous sins will be wiped clean, and their treatment will be the same as that of normal Han citizens.

Those who do not wish to leave the mountain are also permitted to do so, as long as they are willing to register their household registration and settle in the mountains. However, they will not enjoy the land distribution to the people living at the foot of the mountain, nor will they enjoy the tax reduction policy during the initial land distribution period.

Those who are unwilling to leave the mountains or settle down will no longer be considered Yao people by the Han army.

Without a registered residence, isn't that being a traitor?

What kind of treatment do rebels want? Don't even think about getting land or tax reductions. Those without household registration will be sealed off from the mountains. If you want to be a savage in the mountains, then be a savage for life!
Nie Yu also added an order that Yao people who had not come down from the mountain or registered their residence within the specified time should not be traded with by Han merchants or travelers.

Those who violate this rule should be executed, and those whose members are implicated should also be punished!
With such a combination of beatings and coercion, these unruly Yao people will soon be divided and diluted.

The die-hards among them can indeed hide in the deep mountains and forests for their entire lives, but there are limits to how deep the mountains and forests can support; often, a mountain can only support a maximum of a thousand people.

With the mountains and forests blocked off and unable to access supplies from the outside world, this number will continue to decline. If the population gets too large, it will be impossible to support them, and the Yao people in the mountains will eventually explode on their own.

No matter how united the Hua Yao are, they still need to survive. They need to stay alive first. As long as the Han army finishes its attack without causing too much damage to the Hua Yao, and shows enough goodwill, they can allow some of the Hua Yao to come down from the mountains.

If this part of the Huayao tribe makes money and lives a good life, then the other Huayao tribes will definitely be envious, and that envy will lead to internal division.

By employing both kindness and severity, even the most united Yao people will be gradually divided and eroded by the Han army. It's a bit of a headache, though; it seems we'll have to station troops here for a long time in the future.

Lan Jinlong is easy to deal with; the Han army didn't take him seriously. However, once the previous policies are implemented, there will definitely be die-hard elements who resist fiercely and attack towns controlled by the Han army, so it is necessary to station troops to protect them.

(End of this chapter)