There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 330 Eight-Row Yao

The Eight-Row Yao are divided into eight rows and twenty-four valleys, which is equivalent to thirty-two large Yao mountain villages.

How big is it?

Take Nangangpai, the strongest of the three, for example. It has a population of over 7000 Yao people and is one of the thirty-two Yao villages.

The living environment of the Yao people in the Eight Rows determines that the twenty-four tribes in the Eight Rows are relatively equal and closely connected.

Therefore, for this trip to Jingzhou, each of their thirty-two tribes sent one envoy, forming an envoy delegation of thirty-two people.

Because there were simply too many people, the main reception hall of the Prince of Han's residence was not big enough to accommodate them, so they had to make do with sitting in the front courtyard.

Thirty-three chairs had already been set up in the front yard, and the thirty-two Yao envoys, arranged in eight rows, had taken their seats in order of their ranks, leaving only one empty chair in front.

Deng Tianxiang, the messenger from Nangang, would occasionally whisper with Chen Zeshui from Youling and Tang Chengyun from Dazhang, glancing at the empty chair every now and then to see if the Prince of Han had arrived.

Before long, Nie Yu arrived with two attendants. They did not recognize the King of Han, but they recognized the royal robes Nie Yu was wearing.

Deng Tianxiang led the way by standing up: "On behalf of all the Yao people of the Eighth Yao, Deng Tianxiang pays respects to the King of Han!"

"Greetings to the King of Han of the Great Han Dynasty!"

With Deng Tianxiang leading the way, the remaining thirty-one messengers all stood up, cupped their hands, and bowed in salute.

The Cantonese translator next to me quickly relayed the message (to be honest, I couldn't understand Cantonese at all).

Of course, there's no need to relay the message; it's obvious at a glance that they're bowing.

Nie Yu smiled and returned the greeting with a fist and palm salute: "Brothers of Ba Pai Yao, no need to be so polite, please sit down! Don't stand."

The translation follows quickly.

When Deng Tianxiang heard the phrase "brothers of the Eight Yao," he was stunned. Not only was Nie Yu's attitude amiable, but he actually didn't ask them to kneel down and even called them brothers.

Such an easygoing and approachable attitude was completely unheard of among the local Han officials of the past.

Deng Tianxiang sat down blankly, but then seemed to remember something and quickly stood up, clasped his hands in greeting again, and said, "Greetings, Prince Han!"

"Greetings, Prince Han!"

The others, reminded by Deng Tianxiang, also realized what was happening and joined in the call.

The translator was taken aback and said to Nie Yu, "Your Majesty, these Yao envoys from the Eight Rows are addressing you as elder brother!"

Upon hearing this, Nie Yu's smile widened even more. "Going along with it is great!"

If he doesn't climb, that would be a problem; he'd have to find a way to actively build a closer relationship with the Yao people of Bapai.

Nie Yu quickly raised his hand: "Sit down quickly, don't be so formal. The Yao people of Bapai and my Han are brothers, there's no need for so much formality."

In short, Da Han and Ba Pai Yao are brothers, with Da Han being the elder brother and Ba Pai Yao the younger brother.

If we go further down the line, we can say that the Han and Yao are brothers, with the Han being the elder brother and the Yao the younger brother. Brothers should naturally live together as equals, not fight each other, and should unite.

Whom should we unite against? Of course, it's the wicked Manchu Qing dynasty.

Deng Tianxiang's mind worked quickly, and he immediately grasped the deeper meaning.

Once everyone was seated, Nie Yu also took the empty chair in the main seat.

Although it was called the main seat, the seating arrangement was specially instructed, and the same chairs were used, the purpose of which was to formally present an equal footing.

Forms are sometimes useless, but sometimes they are very necessary.

For example, right now, it has just promoted a further harmonious relationship between the Han people and the Yao people.

Apart from Deng Tianxiang, who actively cooperated, the rest of the Yao envoys, who weren't as quick-witted, felt inexplicably at ease seeing Nie Yu, the Han King, sitting on equal footing with them, and their wariness of the Han Dynasty decreased considerably.

Nie Yu did not speak first, but apologized, saying, "I previously banned opium poppies and arrested several brothers from the Eight Yao tribes for drug rehabilitation, which caused them a lot of suffering. I am truly sorry."

After saying this, Deng Tianxiang quickly shook his head: "Prince Han, please don't say that. If it weren't for Prince Han arresting them this time, we wouldn't have known that the poppies we planted in the mountains were such a bad thing."

Chen Zeshui also said, "That's right! These poppies were brought over by Han Chinese merchants from the prefecture. They said that if you planted them, you could make money, and if you were weak, you could take a couple of puffs and have energy again. We thought they were something good."

Tang Chengyun added, "No wonder our village's Tianchang Gong, who never smoked tobacco before, has been smoking almost every day since he got involved with this opium poppy. He's getting thinner and thinner and coughs frequently."

Nie Yu said with a serious expression, "When opium is smoked together with tobacco, it will be like what you saw in prison before. Addicts will be unable to stop. If anyone in your village has already become addicted, they'd better quit as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the poison penetrates their internal organs, even if they are saved, they will become crippled."

Deng Tianxiang nodded: "Don't worry, Prince Han. Now that we know how poisonous this thing is, we'll arrange for the people in the village to burn down those poppy fields when we get back..."

“Wait,” Nie Yu quickly raised his hand to interrupt, “This thing cannot be burned. Once it is burned and turns into smoke, the poppy poison will spread in the smoke, and inhaling even a little bit will cause infection.”

Deng Tianxiang was startled upon hearing this. This thing couldn't be burned? Tang Chengyun, standing beside him, asked, "Then how do we destroy the fields?"

Nie Yu replied, "If you want to destroy the poppy seedling fields, I will write down the method for you later, and then send someone to accompany you back to assist you in destroying the fields."

"If a good king like Prince Han, who doesn't discriminate against my Yao people, becomes emperor in the future, then everyone will have a good life," Deng Tianxiang flattered.

After chatting for a while, Nie Yu asked about the Yao elder system in the Eighth Yao Village. He had just heard them mention "Tianchang Gong" and was quite interested in it.

It's possible to check, but it takes too much time. It's much simpler and clearer to just ask the person directly.

After Deng Tianxiang and the others explained, Nie Yu suddenly felt that this Yao Lao system was quite novel. It was surprising that the Qing Dynasty, hundreds of years ago, could have such a ruling structure similar to an election system.

Under the Yao elder system, the Yao Association of Bapai uniformly elects Yao elders such as Tianchang Gong, Toumu Gong, Guanshi Tou, Zhangmiao Gong, Shaoxiang Gong, and Fangshui Gong.

As the name suggests, the title of Tianchang Gong is held by the most respected and oldest elder in the village, and can only be held once for a one-year term.

Tianchang Gong was the leader of the village. After the Daoguang era, he was also known as the "Yao King," but he was not a real "Yao King." He was more like a village chief in charge of affairs, and he was also the military commander of the village when fighting.

The chief is equivalent to the second-in-command of the village, and is responsible for assisting the chief in managing the village and handling various miscellaneous matters that the chief does not have the energy to deal with.

The head of the militia is the village's militia captain, usually a young and strong man, but he must be born in the hour of "Wei" (未). This is because the Yao people are superstitious and believe that people born at this time are born with good fortune.

The Temple Master and the Incense Burner are in charge of the village's ancestral worship and sacrifices.

The water distributor was responsible for allocating water resources and organizing the villagers to repair the irrigation canals.

……

After hearing about the division of duties among the Yao elders, Nie Yu felt puzzled and couldn't help but ask, "Is this how all the Yao people in Guangdong elect their elders?"

Deng Tianxiang shook his head and said, "The Bapai Yao are, but the Guoshan Yao are not. There are many Guoshan Yao in Guangdong, not just the Bapai Yao. The government officials we drove away called us Bapai Yao 'Yao Gulao,' while they called the Guoshan Yao 'Guo Man.' We Bapai Yao cultivate terraced fields and live in villages in the mountains, while the Guoshan Yao like to migrate, moving from one mountain to another."

"I understand."

Nie Yu roughly understood. The Yao people of Bapai live in a fixed area of ​​mountains and make a living by cultivating terraced fields. Since the terraced fields rely on good irrigation, they have to come up with this election system to select their leaders.

Only by ensuring that the leadership is not hereditary and that it is changed every year can the fairness of water resource allocation be guaranteed, preventing a certain leader from monopolizing the water resources or even taking the opportunity to become a true "Yao King".

The Yao people living in the mountains have none of these concerns. They move from mountain to mountain, much like nomadic peoples. It is impossible for an elected leader to govern the Yao people well.

Now that he understood, Nie Yu had a plan in mind for how to manage the Eight Yaos.

Nie Yu then asked, "The Yao people of Bapai rely on terraced fields for their livelihood. After so many years of reproduction, are there enough terraced fields to cultivate?"

Under this electoral system, it was virtually impossible for the Bapao Yao to produce large landowners, so the Han Dynasty's land distribution policy was almost useless to the Bapao Yao.

Moreover, even under this system of fairly distributing survival resources, the Yao people of Bapai still couldn't withstand the rebellion. This was largely due to the Qing government, but it was certainly also because of the dwindling resources available for survival.

“It’s not enough,” Deng Tianxiang shook his head. “We used to be able to cultivate new terraced fields, but now the surrounding mountains have all been cleared. Moreover, the village is becoming increasingly populated, and many people have no choice but to go down the mountain to work as tenant farmers or vagrants in the prefectures and counties to make a living. Also, to tell you the truth, brother, don’t be fooled by the fact that we, the Eighth Platoon and Twenty-Four Villages, can now stage a rebellion against the government. We still fight amongst ourselves over water and seeds…”

That's a very euphemistic way of putting it. It wasn't a fight at all; it was a full-blown war, with thousands of people involved in armed clashes, armed with knives, spears, clubs, bows, and crossbows.

(Wax figure of a Yao ethnic minority group from Bapai who made their own crossbows for use in melee combat)
The huge conflict between people and land surprised Nie Yu, but it was also within his expectations.

After pondering for a while, Nie Yu decided how to treat these Yao people from the Eight Rows.

He doesn't plan to touch the primary Yao elder system for the time being. This system is currently operating quite steadily, so he can let them continue to manage it. Rashly installing officials could easily provoke resistance from the Yao people in the Eight Rows and disrupt the original normal order.

However, the Yao elder system can remain unchanged, but schools must be established. Just like the Yao people in western Hunan, several schools have already been built there, all of which were expanded year by year by the teachers who were invited in at the beginning.

Whether or not we can cultivate talent is not important; the key is that these people can speak Chinese, are willing to speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, and do not have any prejudice against Han people.

As for the fact that the terraced fields of the Yao people in Bapai are not enough to cultivate, Nie Yu can allow the surplus Yao people to move down the mountain and share the land. This would not only solve the problem for the Yao people in Bapai, but also encourage them to actively integrate with the Han people living at the foot of the mountain.

There are also the Yao people who live a life that is basically based on slash-and-burn agriculture.

There's not a good way to deal with them; we can only try to educate them slowly. Fortunately, the territory of the Han Dynasty doesn't border the Yao people on a large scale for the time being, so we can manage the Yao people in the Eight Rows first, and then use the Yao people in the Eight Rows to deal with the Yao people in the East Mountain.

The Yao people from the Eighth Yao Autonomous County came here mainly to test the Han people's attitude towards the Yao people, to see if it was really as the Yao brothers in Hunan had said.

I've come and checked it now, and it's confirmed.

The King of Han was not concerned with trivial matters and did not treat the Yao people with any superiority; they were willing to submit to him.

After the Yao people of Bapai rose up, they took control of Lianzhou, which then became a vassal state of the Han Dynasty.

Expanding territory can sometimes be that simple. The Yao people rebelled simply to survive. The Han Dynasty allowed them to live and did not discriminate against them, so they were naturally willing to submit.

We can't expect them to fight for supremacy, can we?

(End of this chapter)