Colonial Era: From Remnants to European Dominator

The end of the year is always a tough time, with freezing weather. If it weren't for the government increasing the supply of coal to the market and stabilizing coal prices, I'm afraid countless cattle, sheep and people would have frozen to death this winter.

The Altai region later became a well-known coal-producing area, and in this era, easily accessible open-pit coal mines could also be found.

For ordinary Jinshan residents, mutton is the most popular food at the end of the year and winter. In previous years, this time of year was also the peak for mutton prices, and this year is no exception.

During this period, countless fat sheep were driven into Jinshan Prefecture by herders from afar, just to earn some money to supplement their household income and improve their lives. They would also bring back some dried fruits, dates, and other sweet treats for their families in the pastoral areas. However, before buying these, the first thing they bought was staple food.

After all, the boundaries between pastoral and agricultural areas have long been drawn in various parts of Jinshan Prefecture. Normally, if people want to eat grain and some luxury non-staple foods, they can only ride horses and drive cattle and sheep to nearby towns to exchange for them. Now that they have entered the city, they can naturally buy them all at once, saving them from making two more trips and reducing the chances of their horses losing weight, so that they can prepare for next year's work.

Within the three townships under the jurisdiction of Jinshan Prefecture, the distinction between herders and farmers is not as great as one might imagine. Apart from the tribes that are affiliated with the prefecture, most herders who are registered in the prefecture government and considered to be one of their own have done some farming work. After all, the soil in Jinshan is not as barren as in other parts of the Western Regions. Most of the land is suitable for both farming and animal husbandry. However, most people are used to herding, and growing grain on the surrounding land is time-consuming, laborious, and not very rewarding. Therefore, they choose to continue herding, a traditional ancestral craft.

After all, they had been naturalized for decades. Watching these Han Chinese from the south farm, even the most naive Turkic herders had learned some farming skills. They would cultivate small plots of land in places with abundant water and grass and slightly fertile soil to grow scallions, ginger, and cabbage. Even if they couldn't satisfy their staple food needs, they could still get seasonings and basic vitamins. This was a world of difference from those in the mountains or remote dependent tribes.

"The strong smell of mutton first thing in the morning is so annoying!!"

Yu Xiaoniang, with her hair styled in a bun and wrapped in a floral headscarf, opened the wooden window on the second floor. Looking at the group of dusty-looking herdsmen dressed like country bumpkins, her sarcastic remarks were as unstoppable as if she'd swallowed croton seeds.

"Perhaps he ate too much grass, for he himself looks like a weed, completely unrelated to this Jinshan Prefecture City—"

Hearing this, her husband Lin Shujun downstairs couldn't help but try to persuade her:

"Don't gossip so early in the morning. They don't come here often, only once a month. Unlike you, who has a house and a carriage in this government office. Going back a few generations, neither you nor I were born in the border regions of the Northwest. Watch your words and leave some good karma for your future children."

"What is morality? These grass-eating animals have morality, but I, Yu Enxian, don't?"

Yu Xiaoniang raised her eyebrows slightly and walked to the top of the stairs, cursing:

"You even have a car and a house! The car and horses were part of my dowry, and this house was a gift from my maternal uncle. What have you done? If it weren't for your excellent grades in the academy, I would have been blind to have such a house for at least ten years with your meager salary!!"

"You are simply unreasonable."

With a flick of his sleeve, Lin Shujun, filled with anger, walked out of the small building, boarded a carriage with the help of servants, and headed towards the government office.

Yu Xiaoniang, who witnessed all of this from the wooden window on the second floor, snorted coldly and continued to do her makeup. After all, as a famous official's wife in this area, she was always busy with the mahjong games every afternoon.

"Lord Lin, this is the mutton that was handed over to the treasury today, totaling 5,213 catties, and worth 52 taels of silver. This is the account book for the transaction. Please take a look."

The price of sheep in Jinshan Prefecture is much cheaper than in the Central Plains. A fat sheep weighing a hundred catties is only worth one tael of silver. Ordinary people can buy a sheep with their earnings from two months' work. Of course, this refers to the people living in the prefectural city at this time. The farmers in the countryside outside the city can only afford two or three sheep a year. If it is those who do business in the prefectural government and sell their goods on the street, they can probably buy a sheep in a month. The gap between urban and rural areas is obvious.

Lin Shujun took the account book handed to him by his subordinate, glanced at it carefully, then picked up the accounts from the previous period and compared them. He then put the account book down and instructed his subordinate:

"The accounts are to be taken into the inner courtyard. The mutton must be kept fresh. You know, the New Year is coming soon, and mutton will be a major part of the meal then. It can't be taken lightly."

"Yes, Lord Lin."

Jinshan Prefecture refers to both the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival as the "New Year Festival."

Watching the departing figure of his subordinate, Lin Shujun, who had just started work, couldn't help but relax his somewhat tired shoulders. Since ancient times, the most tiring official has been the one in the prefectural government, especially a prefectural official like himself who is responsible for "investigating and investigating". He rarely encounters any easy tasks in a year. He does all the tiring work of sorting out official documents and reviewing and verifying them. If he had been lucky enough to be assigned to a township, he would probably have been a famous and good official who directed the villagers to repair the canals and enrich the fields. He would not be like him now, worrying about trivial matters such as mutton every day.

That being said, none of the tasks could be omitted: reviewing reports, compiling official documents, and even calculating the total amount of holiday benefits—all of which were mentally and physically exhausting tasks.

Take welfare benefits for example. If you give too much, the finance department won't agree. If you give too little, your colleagues and soldiers won't agree. You have to find the right balance yourself. If you give too much or too little, it will all be the fault of Lin Shu Army and Prime Minister Lin.

"Well, what's done is done. Let's eat first!"

Lin Shujun pushed aside the tangled mess of official documents in front of him, and before leaving, he couldn't help but mutter a complaint:

"Those idiots in the village, couldn't they write in a more elegant way? I could read it then!!"

"Lord Lin, it's time for your meal. The government office slaughtered an extra pig today, and it was braised this morning. We're just waiting for you gentlemen to come and have a taste."

Looking at the delicious-looking braised meat on the table, Lin Shujun slightly rolled up his sleeves, then picked up his chopsticks and took a bite. His first bite was a pig's trotter, drawing sidelong glances from his colleagues at the table. He wasn't shy, though, and simply said:

"The two most tender parts of this pork are the heart meat and the trotters. I will take the liberty of offering them to you all first."

Watching Lin Shujun devour his meat, yet with only a few drops of oil on his face, which he quickly wiped away, his colleagues at the table were unsurprised. After all, this was how Master Lin ate; in his words:

"Life is nothing more than two things: eating and sleeping. Now that there's the word 'work' added, you need to eat more to have some strength."

After the meal was finished, Lin Shujun was the first to slip away, taking half of the freshly brewed tea with him, which made the hot-tempered prefectural official curse him repeatedly for "not having enough to eat".

Sipping the "bitter tea" that had come from afar and chewing on the equally dry tea leaves, Lin Shujun suddenly recalled the good thing that the Prefect had bestowed upon him tea from Jiangnan during last year's New Year. This year was almost over, and with the New Year approaching, several groups of tea merchants had come this year. Although most of them were the broken brick tea he mentioned, if he remembered correctly, there were still some good tea leaves on the books. The Prefect's annual tea consumption was always traceable, except that the Grandfather's side wasted a lot. As for the young master, he used to drink honey water with honey and dried fruit, but in recent months he had been saying that he was getting sick from eating too much sugar and had switched to drinking clear tea and spring water.

But how can a person's habits be changed in a short period of time? If I'm not mistaken, there must still be quite a few good teas left in the manor. According to last year's rules, I'm afraid...

Thinking of this, Lin Shujun had just sat down in his chair and was looking at the "welfare" ledger. Several times he wanted to write down the matter of distributing tea, but in the end he held back.

He could only endure it, but he was also in trouble in other areas, especially with the annual silver. Every year, officials in various places would receive an average of about five taels of silver. This year, the young master had won a battle and brought back a lot of people and wealth, which had indeed enriched some sparsely populated rural areas. However, these were all tribes, and the cost of managing them was already very high. On top of that, the young master also lent them grain and livestock, and even oxen, which made the expenses even higher.

After careful calculation, it was found that one-third of the "profit of justice" was spent on it, and of the remaining two-thirds, one-third was spent on the newly expanded Eagle Division Camp and workshops. As the money was spent, only one-third remained.

[Another portion was taken by the Kobdo soldiers; a large part of the so-called expansion was the distribution of spoils of war.]

Even so, it's still tens of thousands of taels of silver. If you think about it carefully, you can make a lot of money out of it. The question is whether to distribute the money directly or to exchange it for goods.

The "profits" involved are incomparable to those of the past.

It is said that being an official is difficult, being a good official is difficult, and being a corrupt official is even more difficult.

In this area of ​​Jinshan Prefecture, with its three townships and one prefecture, corruption is not uncommon. Almost every year someone is corrupt, and someone else is caught and exiled to the wilderness. The same is true within the prefectural government. The "casting city case," "bridge and road case," and "tea case" of the early years all originated from this Jinshan prefectural government. Ordinary rural officials and clerks do not even have the right to be corrupt.

Lin Shujun has restrained himself countless times; is he really going to break his vow today?

"Alright, the old rules apply. Half the silver will be exchanged for meat and cloth. The procurement will be handled by Cao Weibin, who is in charge of grain and cloth. If anything goes wrong, I will still be myself, and no one should disturb Master Lin's peace and quiet."

Lin Shujun picked up the newly bought wolf-hair brush and quickly wrote what he considered to be the unique "Lin Family Official Residence" with sharp strokes. Then, he wrote down the secrets of distributing welfare that he had summarized in the past, combined with this year's special wealth, and wrote it all out neatly. In the end, he only left five thousand taels for the Finance Department.

If they see this, there will probably be another argument.

After finishing all his official business for the day, Lin Shujun stretched several times before walking out of the government office, which symbolized the power center of Jinshan Prefecture, as the sun set.