The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Before the Manchu Qing dynasty betrayed China, and before the massive loss of gold and silver, China still had the world's largest silver reserves, accounting for 70% of the world's total.

However, under the small-scale peasant economy, a large amount of silver was concentrated in the hands of a few people, which led to its inability to circulate. Since the silver was all there, this is one of the reasons why China was able to rise rapidly with each change of dynasty!

Just as Ma Dingbian was about to run away, he was suddenly pushed and fell off his horse. He was then escorted directly to Zhou Peigong by his elite cavalry.

"His head was beheaded and displayed at the city gate for three days!"

Zhou Peigong didn't want to talk to this kind of person. After giving an order, he rode his horse into the city, not forgetting to bring a large amount of coarse grains and bran. If the soldiers were already in such a state, one could imagine what the thousands of people in the city were like.

Upon entering the city and seeing the half-cut corpses, some respectable men, never having witnessed such chaos, disregarded military discipline and vomited on the spot.

In fact, Zhou Peigong also felt nauseous, but he forced himself to remain calm and endure it, finally letting out a sigh.

"The city fell, blood and gore filled the air; the bones of the people remained."

"Collect all the bodies and bury them with Ma Dingbian, let's see how he faces these wronged souls in the afterlife!"

After a thorough count, according to the household registration, there were 1,200 households in the city, which meant there were five or six thousand people. Now, less than a thousand remain. Most of the missing people either starved to death or were eaten!

The next day, taking advantage of the remaining provisions in the army, Zhou Peigong directly ordered his commanders to select soldiers, eliminating nearly 40,000 of the more than 50,000 miscellaneous troops.

Don't think it's a lot; Ma Dingbian conscripted almost all the able-bodied men who could wield a knife, and among them were many Mongols who couldn't survive.

That's right, it's the Mongols, those Mongols who wandered the grasslands without tribes, who couldn't bear the hunger on the grasslands and would choose to go south and join the local people.

After absorbing all the able-bodied young men, Zhou Peigong began to prepare bran, which was mixed with wild vegetable roots.

As for wild vegetable leaves?

That would naturally be used to supply the army.

They caused trouble for the first two days, but after being driven away and starving to death, no one dared to cause any more trouble.

For the next month, Zhou Peigong lived and ate in Ningxia, distributing these residents to villages in various places. Since they would starve to death if they did not evacuate, he did not care whether they were Hui or Han, and kept their records according to their Han nationality.

As for opposition?

These days, being able to register as a Han citizen is a good thing. Anyone who stands up to oppose it is a leader, such as those who have vested interests.

Ningxia is a good place. Thanks to the construction of canals throughout the dynasties, even though it has been abandoned in recent years, there are still 200,000 mu of high-quality farmland. If it were reclaimed, there would be at least 300,000 mu.

This could support 100,000 people, which would be equivalent to three large garrisons. It was a prime piece of land, and it could also supply the Ordos grassland.

In the end, Zhou Peigong left only 30,000 civilians north of the Yellow River, all of whom were the families of those who had joined the army.

They will establish Ningxia Garrison, located in the area from Shizuishan to Wuhai. It will then be a semi-pastoral and semi-agricultural state, under the jurisdiction of Ningxia Province.

Meanwhile, Zhou Peigong also received a notice from Kaiyuan. After arranging for troops to be stationed in various places, he took Zhao Weishang and Wang Fuchen and returned to the capital overnight.

……

Meanwhile, it was already November, and the area around Ningguta was covered by heavy snow. The entire area around the garrison was covered, with only smoke rising from the city of Ningguta.

It just so happens that it didn't snow around Ningguta today, but there wasn't a single person on the streets of the city.

There were only eight exceptionally strong men dressed in animal skins, talking as they traveled, speaking in Mongolian or a mix of Jurchen and other languages.

One of the men, a burly man as big as an ox, patted the large package on his back and looked incredulous.

"Really? A black bear pelt can be exchanged for six qian of silver, twice as much as those Qing people? Then my three pelts are almost two taels of silver, so I can marry Brother Jin!"

One of the older men among the eight patted the man on the shoulder upon hearing this, and his expression also turned serious.

"Aguda, you are the strongest warrior in my tribe. Don't waste your time on women. The new commander of Ningguta is selecting the five hundred strongest warriors. You must be chosen!"

"With two taels of silver every month, what beautiful woman couldn't I marry? And if I could become a centurion, I could even take care of our tribe!"

Agu scratched his head, looking embarrassed, and then punched the ice in the water tank, shattering it into pieces.

"I don't want any other women, I only want Brother Jin. I'm determined to become a centurion, and you'd better keep an eye on me!"

The others gasped in shock. The ice was at least a finger's width thick, so the force of that punch was unimaginable; an ordinary person would probably be killed with a single blow.

This guy, Jin, is really handsome.

But you also need to be alive to sleep like that!

The eight people arrived quickly. The former Ningguta General's Mansion had been converted into the Ningguta Guard Commander's Office.

There were ten Han soldiers guarding the gate, each wearing iron-lined cotton armor underneath and animal skin on the outside. The junior officer in charge stepped forward and asked them questions in Mongolian.

"Are you here to sell local mountain products?"

The tribal chief immediately stepped forward and took out a slip of paper with the four characters "大汉通行" (Da Han Tong Xing) stamped on it in clerical script.

"This is the note they gave us a few days ago, saying they can buy the goods at double the price from the Qing Dynasty?"

Xiao Qi smiled and nodded, then took the note and put it away.

"Any mountain dweller within the territory of my Ningguta Guard can use this token to buy and sell goods, but instead of silver, they will exchange it for grain and iron pots at a fixed price!"

Hearing this, the chief was even happier. They had no use for silver, and they couldn't buy anything in this freezing weather. What they needed were grain, iron pots, or arrowheads.

"Then let's take inventory of the goods first, and I'll go get the warehouse manager to replace them for you!"

After Xiaoqi finished speaking, he turned and entered the government office.

At this moment, Zhao Lie, the first commander of Ningguta Guard, sat upright in the main hall. The official robe bestowed by the imperial court had arrived. It was a long robe with wide sleeves and gold trim on a red base, with a tiger descending a mountain in the middle.

Seated to the left was Wu Zhaoqian, dressed in a green round-necked robe with white crane embroidered on it, leisurely sipping tea.

Galdan initially wanted to emulate the Han and Tang dynasties' official attire, using a wide-sleeved robe with the right-fastening front and wearing civil and military official hats.

Later, Li Guangdi suggested completely negating the legitimacy of the Manchu Qing dynasty and directly adopting the Ming dynasty's court attire, thus establishing the Han dynasty as successor to the Ming dynasty.

The main reason is that it is more familiar to the common people, making it easier for the Han Dynasty to govern the local people and to deal with foreign countries in the future.

Finally, Galdan made the final decision: they couldn't leave it unchanged. He directly stipulated that civil officials should wear white crane-patterned robes, military officials should wear tiger-patterned robes, and the rest should follow the Ming system.

Wu Zhaoqian was sipping tea to pass the time when he saw Zhao Lie still engrossed in his studies, so he couldn't help but go up and tease him.

"I never imagined that I, Wu Zhaoqian, after being exiled to Ningguta by the Manchus for over a decade, would still be a ninth-rank official. The ways of life are truly unfathomable!"

"Isn't that right, Commander?"