Colonial Era: From Remnants to European Dominator

"As the saying goes, a man should marry when he comes of age, and a woman should marry when she comes of age. You're already twenty-one, sir. If you don't get married soon, it will be too late!!"

[According to the traditional Chinese age reckoning, he is actually twenty years old, born in 1719]

"Marriage is nothing more than a matter of one party being willing to give and the other being willing to receive. Brother, the one who is willing to receive has come, so you, the one who is willing to give, must not make a mistake—"

Looking at his second uncle, whose beard and hair were flying wildly and whose face was thin, but whose face lit up with a rosy glow when talking about his marriage, Li Yuanheng, who had been on edge since returning home because of the funeral, could no longer contain his emotions. He stepped forward and put his arm around his second uncle's shoulder, and the latter did not mind at all, and even squeezed his nephew's strong arm.

They acted like brothers, with no trace of the generational relationship between uncle and nephew.

"Uncle, am I handsome?"

"They say she's the best woman in the Atren tribe, with a beautiful figure."

"Skilled in riding and archery---"

"Horseback archery"—seeing the cunning and ambiguous look in his nephew's eyes, Li Yanlong instantly understood:

"Women of the grasslands are skilled in riding and archery; you'll be in for a rough time!"

Li Yuanheng straightened his back as if by reflex:

"Full of youthful vigor, I can draw my bow with the force of a three-stone arrow; what fear is there of a mere wild horse?"

"Otherwise, wouldn't I end up like you, Second Uncle? If Second Aunt snorts at me, I'll be like a mouse seeing a cat, utterly helpless—"

"You you you----"

Li Yanlong looked at his eldest nephew who was pointing the finger at him, his beard trembling with anger. Before he could make his next move, Li Yuanheng darted out of the courtyard gate and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

------

"Big, big, big!!"

"Two ones, one two, small!!"

"Damn it, again—"

Inside a house near the west gate of Jinshan City, where a few oil lamps were lit, the sounds of restless betting could be heard.

In Jinshan City, which has strict regulations, gambling, a place where money is squandered, should ideally be prohibited. However, being located in the border region, where war is a constant threat, banning gambling would likely only make the people of the grasslands more restless. But if gambling were allowed to run rampant, it could easily lead to the powerful and wealthy keeping countless slaves. Therefore, in Jinshan Prefecture, most gambling dens are government-run, and these private gambling dens are usually subject to heavy taxes.

In addition, in order to ensure that able-bodied men could be mobilized more quickly and to gather superior forces, a system of conscription was established at the beginning of the city's establishment to ensure that Jinshan Prefecture could always muster an army of more than two thousand men.

In this way, we can protect the only homeland of the Han people beyond the Great Wall.

The so-called conscription was actually a modified version of the military service system, ensuring that no family would die out due to the conscription of too many male descendants. Even the Turkic people living under Jinshan Prefecture were conscripted according to this rule. This maintained a delicate balance between the Han and non-Han peoples, and made great contributions to the Li family's ability to establish themselves in this former Turkic territory.

"Brother, you started gambling as soon as you got back. I'm afraid that what will happen to our parents—"

"Press big."

Wearing a small hat and a wolf-skin coat, dressed like a shepherd, Li Yuanheng casually placed the "silver ingot" on the largest spot. Accompanied by excited shouts and disappointed curses, several small ingots with the "Jinshan Prefecture" mark printed on the bottom appeared in front of Li Yuanheng.

"Brother, it would be better to go back early, or it will be too late---"

Li Yuanli reached out and tugged at his elder brother's sleeve, a helpless expression on his face.

"I'm done playing, I'm leaving."

Li Yuanheng casually tossed a gold ingot to the servants who were constantly serving tea and water, and then left the gambling den with his spoils under the disapproving gaze of the dealer.

As soon as he left the gambling den, Li Yuanheng took off his small hat, which had a distinct grassland style.

"Let's go see if Yueyunzhai has any new products. If they do, we'll bring some back for Mother to shut them up."

Seeing his elder brother remove his armor and swords and revert to his carefree, dissolute manner, Li Yuanli shook his head and then followed him.

------

Jinshan City, also known as the Prefectural City, is even considered by the Turkic tribes, who live deep in the Jinshan Mountains and rarely venture out, to be the best place in the world and a true holy city.

Although the salt, coarse cloth, and less sweet honey sold in Jinshan City were considered inferior to those of the rich Central Plains or even some cities under the jurisdiction of the Dzungar Khanate by some traveling merchants, it depended on who they were compared to. If placed on the entire southern Xinjiang region, Jinshan City was considered one of the top cities.

However, Jinshan Prefecture, the former territory of the Turks, was too poor and lacking. When a place has been without civilization and leadership for hundreds of years, Jinshan City, a city built by Han people, becomes especially precious and is particularly longed for by the Turkic descendants who grew up there.

The existence of civilization is sometimes not about how advanced your technology is or how rich you are, but whether you can provide order to the local area, an order based on survival and morality.

The Jinshan Prefecture established by the Li family achieved this, which is why Jinshan City was able to remain standing for decades and Jinshan Prefecture continued to expand, yet faced few obstacles in the local area.

Even the nomadic peoples needed "civilization" to exist!

"The initial planning of the prefectural city was conservative; it still seems a bit small now."

Li Yuanheng pointed to the crowded street in front of him:

"If I remember correctly, today is the monthly market day. Look at all these people, there are too many to count. If there are even more people in the future, how will Jinshan City be able to hold them all?"

"There are a lot of people," Li Yuanli looked around and saw that there were indeed quite a few, but not as exaggerated as his older brother had described.

"Brother, you're mistaken. Jinshan City has always been like this. Today, it's just that there are more people because it's market day. Our Jinshan Prefecture is a sparsely populated place in the border region. No matter how many people come in the future, we can still accommodate them. Brother, you're worrying unnecessarily."

Li Yuanheng curled his lip:

"Don't they know that descendants will never be few, and we can't stay in this Golden Mountain Mansion any longer. We must find a good path for everyone so that our descendants will never have to worry about anything!"

"Good road---"

Li Yuanli scratched his head, just about to ask what the good road was, when he saw Li Yuanheng walking ahead of him already getting along well with a Turkic man selling naan cakes.

"The naan bread is really good. You must have made a lot of money over the course of a year, right?"

"Normally, it's only worth about twenty copper coins, but today at the market, I made my money back in just one hour."

The currency of Jinshan Prefecture consisted of silver ingots and copper coins. Because they were larger than copper coins from the Central Plains, two hundred copper coins were worth only one tael of silver ingot.

Wearing a colorful woolen hat and carrying a roasting fork, the Turkic vendor showed no wariness towards the Han Chinese man who spoke fluent Turkic, as if this was the proper way to do things in Jinshan City. Even as he spoke, he occasionally uttered Chinese words with a Northwest Mandarin style in his Turkic speech.

While replying, Li Yuanheng stuffed naan bread with ghee into his mouth, and threw the leftovers into Li Yuanli's hand beside him.

"Which department are you from, bro? How many years have you been at Kingsoft?"

"The Wasa tribe offended the chieftain, so they killed a sheep, stole a horse, and came to this gold mine. They worked there for eight or nine years, and three years ago they finally managed to save up enough to build a tiled house. Now their wife and children have a place to live."

The Turkic vendor selling naan bread immediately revealed his origins without the slightest fear. After all, a few years ago, the Wasa tribe had their grasslands cut off for raiding tribes under the jurisdiction of Jinshan Prefecture. Such a disgraceful act, let alone five or six years ago, even if it had been done last year, would not have been taken seriously by the prefectural government.

"Do you think the government office is fair?"

"I wouldn't dare say that before, but since Lord Li came to power, life has been getting better and better. Those troublemakers from the past have become much more obedient in recent years and dare not do evil anymore!"

"If you ask me, Lord Li must be a reincarnation of a god; how did he manage to do so many good deeds?!"

When Li Yanxing, the current leader of Jinshan Prefecture, was mentioned, the Turkic peddler's praises never stopped, until Li Yuanheng interrupted:

"How many people are in your family, brother? Are there any able-bodied men?"

A hint of confusion flickered in the Turkic vendor's eyes; he couldn't understand what the man meant, but the innate simplicity of the steppe people compelled him to speak:

"There are four people in the family. The eldest son is only six years old, and the youngest son is only four. They can hardly be considered able-bodied men. Is your family perhaps from the government office? Otherwise, why would you ask such detailed questions?"

"My brother just graduated from the academy. Today he studied the Nine Chapters on Divination. Asking how many people are in your family is just to get an answer. Do you think my brother looks like he's from a government office?"

Li Yuanli interrupted the other man's thoughts, then pulled his elder brother away from the stall, leaving the Turkic vendor still pondering.