Du Cheng's story fascinated both Sun Weigong and Bagher, especially Sun Weigong, who always listened and recorded. For two months, the pen in his hand never stopped.

But the story finally stops, and people will inevitably be separated.

After the Chinese New Year, March of the 33rd year of the empire came and the immigration group had to set off. Du Cheng, who was the storyteller, had to leave with the team, but Sun Weigong had to wait for another month to go to Tibet. After all, the climate in Tibet was even worse.

"When you go out, Brother Ba must take care of himself and listen to the guide's arrangements in everything. Once you leave Lanzhou, the climate is harsh and the real test has just begun." Sun Weigong and Bagel bid farewell to the iron bridge of the Yellow River. In the end, Bagel disappeared from the other side of the Yellow River in the thick fog caused by the turbid waves, and officially embarked on the journey to Xijin on land.

The climate in the Hexi Corridor and Kansai area is indeed not so friendly, especially in spring, where there are always changing weather.

This immigrant group set off from Lanzhou and stopped all the way. When they arrived in Ganzhou, they had already reached 13,000 people. Such a scale was not all for Xijin. The Yili area and the Hezhong area in Xijiang were the destinations of most immigrants.

Because of the large number of people, the Lifanyuan also arranged a cavalry of 400 people to escort in Ganzhou, and some caravans who went west also joined in. When it comes to familiar with the terrain and climate of the Western Regions, these caravans are more reliable than the army.

After leaving Yumen Pass, the road to Hami City is the worst road on the road. There are few people along the way and there are desolate Gobi Deserts everywhere. Only by moving forward with a well, every time you are attacked by a sandstorm, the immigration team will suffer losses. Fortunately, the army is responsible for discipline, otherwise the losses will be great.

Finally, in mid-April, the immigration group arrived at its first stop after leaving the customs, Hami.

"In the early days of the establishment of the empire, Hami was still in the hands of Tuman, and sometimes invaded the border and disrupted our border. Prince Cheng, who was still a young man, led his army to fight westward, swept the Tuman, and established the Guanxi appeasement zone. Now, it has been almost thirty years since then." In the desert and Gobi, the colorful Hami City in the distance is so conspicuous, and the surrounding villages are dotted like pearls. After more than a month of painful migration, the immigrants cheered.

The person who explained this to Bagher was Luo Yanghao in the Shanxi Merchants Group, a middle-aged man in his thirties, who had been in contact with Shanxi and Xijin for the fourth time and was familiar with all over the country.

As the first stop for immigration to the west entrance of the empire, Hami's immigration facilities are quite complete. There are villages and facilities specially arranged inside and outside the city. Among these facilities, the most unabashed one is a bathhouse. Who wouldn't want to take a beautiful bath after walking in the desert and Gobi for so long?

"Oh, this place is really good. Not only is the melon and vegetables delicious, but the officials here are also very interesting." After Luo Yanghao settled Bagre in a separate courtyard in the city, Situ Lan, as the representative of the female family, went to contact matters related to the female family. Unexpectedly, it took most of the day to go there. When he came back, his whole body changed.

Sun Weigong asked: "What's interesting?"

"As soon as our immigration group arrived, the local government office added four bathrooms, two of which were temporarily converted from the men's bathhouses. The other two were even more beautiful. They were transformed from the local wealthy foreign vassal houses. The steaming Turkish baths. I tried them once when I was in Shenjing, but I didn't expect there would be them here." Situ Lan said with a smile.

Bagher was surprised: "I have heard that although Hami and Turpan are located in the northern border, they are different from Yili and other places. There are many Yerkand people here and the folk customs are conservative. How could there be such a thing as a female bathhouse?"

"Then I don't know, but I don't think the local folk customs are so conservative. Look at the Yarkand girls on the road, they are free to travel and brightly dressed, and they are not restricted. In the bathhouse, there are Yarkand girls who treat us to eat. Most of them speak Chinese, but they have a stronger accent. Today, the representatives who come to work hard for us are not only the female relatives of local officials, but also the students of the girls' schools, and there are also many Yarkand people among them." Situ Lan also bought local women's clothing, and said while painting in front of the mirror.

"Mr. Ba, are you here?" Luo Yanghao's knock on the door sounded outside.

Bagel responded quickly, and Luo Yanghao said, "Tonight, there will be a welcome banquet in Burke's house. Aidan Burke invites you and your wife to come. Please prepare."

Bagel naturally wants to go, and he is also a special person in the immigration group.

The dinner was held in Burke's Mansion. It was held in Burke's private banquet, which was held very luxuriously. Since it had the etiquette of the imperial nobles and local characteristics, especially the Aidan Burke, who was very graceful, whether it was talking at the banquet or toasting and joking at the banquet.

"Sister Situ, look at this Aidan Burke, it's such a rare young master." Mrs. Luo joked.

Situ Lan smiled and said, "I dare not say this. If you are accustomed to your daughter, you will be older."

Women have topics of conversations with women, and men have topics with men.

Luo Yanghao introduced to Bagel while drinking: "This Aidan Burke is the grandson of old Bork Turson. He studied in Xi'an, Beijing and Shenjing. Although he looks like Yarkand and acts, he is no different from the imperial nobles."

"Heritative Burke?" Bagle asked.

"This is a licensed by the emperor. This time, the foreign vassal reform was reorganized. Aidan took his family as an example and responded to the call of the empire. Hami was reorganized. No one died and a drop of blood shed." Luo Yanghao introduced.

"No wonder, this position of Burke may be a compensation from the royal family." Bagel said.

Luo Yanghao laughed when he heard this: "What to compensate? Although the Tursun family was a third-class prince in the foreign vassal state, they did not look like a noble for more than 20 years. They were almost the same as some old-fashioned and conservative wealthy businessmen. As early as the beginning of the establishment of the Guanxi Appeasement Zone, Tursun dismissed his servants and did not buy land and run a house like ordinary nobles. Speaking of which, the Tursun family was a bit like a new British aristocrat. They had the title of a noble on their heads, but they were doing business by merchants.

Tursun’s textile mill opened from Hami to Samarkand, and is the leader of the textile industry in Xijiang, especially cotton cloth, which is very competitive to the west to Xijin and east to Guanzhong.”

"But Aidan Burke is young and has very good means to deal with the foreign vassals so cleanly and peacefully." Bagel said approvingly.

Luo Yanghao smiled and said, "What kind of method is it? It's just a guarantee for the Lifan Academy and the Zhongting."

As he said that, Luo Yanghao raised his glass to Baghel and asked, "The small courtyard where Mr. Ba lives now was originally from the local foreign vassal count. Do you know where that count has gone now?"

"jail?"

"No!" Luo Yanghao said.

"Exile to the border?" Bagel gave another answer, but Luo Yanghao shook his head. Bagel guessed several possibilities, which were all common outcomes of foreign nobles, such as moving to Yili City, the garrison of the general, or going to Beijing. However, the answers obtained were no.

Seeing that he couldn't guess, Luo Yanghao said, "The count moved away last summer. The horse and mule guides were arranged by our Shanxi merchants. They had more than 70 tribes, nearly 200 servants, and the Yarkand people who were willing to accompany them, totaling no less than 600. They all went to India!"

"India?" Baghl did not expect this possibility.

Luo Yanghao said: "I believe Mr. Ba has also seen that the local customs are open, no less than those in the country. In fact, southern Xinjiang is generally the case. One of the big reasons is that those conservative Yarkand people have gone to India. Whether they are unwilling to accept the reform of foreign nobles or conservatives, extreme religious people often choose this step when they face the high pressure of the Lefan Court, no matter when they can go.

The current British concubine is a Yarkander. In India, the Yarkander people are barely considered as the post tribe, and their status is only inferior to that of the real post tribe. There will be no reforms or religious reforms there."

In fact, in the early days of the empire's rule over Hami, the local environment was not so harmonious. At that time, the imperial army swept over the local nobles and distributed the land owned by the nobles to the people, winning the hearts of the people. However, a large-scale crackdown on the saints and powers of the White Mountain Sect and the Black Mountain Sect also triggered a certain religious rebound. It was the Imperial Religious Bureau's work for twenty years that slowly grasped the local faith.

The population structure of Hami is also changing. In the early days, most of them were Yarkanders, but immigrants continued to influx, and the proportion of Han and Mongols gradually increased, surpassing Yarkanders. This does not mean that the Yarkanders have decreased, but the absolute number of Yarkanders has changed drastically.

As early as more than ten years ago, the School of Sutra, led by the Imperial Religion Bureau, advocated the local religious reform and cleared up the religious influence from West Asia. The reformists gradually replaced the original religious sect. This school advocated simple religious rituals, directly cutting off the local ties with Mecca. The new generation of Tianfang believers no longer regards pilgrimage to Mecca as an important goal in their life, and the degree of secularization is becoming increasingly higher.

This reform of the foreign vassal state further promoted the religious reform among the Yarkand clan, because in the past twenty years, the Yarkand clans in the imperial foreign vassal system have become the most conservative religious force in the local area. Many foreign vassal states, like the Tursun clan, not only allowed the family children to intervene in industry and commerce, but also mastered their faith through the opportunity of studying in the School of Classics. This situation has been repeatedly banned. Now, with the sweeping of the foreign vassal states, it will no longer be a problem in the future.

Of course, there must be words to gain. Under the rule of Lifanyuan, religious tax has always been an important tax. In the past, religious people in Yarkand would collect zakat locally. Later, after the rule of Lifanyuan, the Religious Bureau nationalized this right, and temples in various places became places to make money for the empire. Now, as the enthusiasm of the people of Yarkand for religion gradually decreased, religious taxes were less and less.

Bagel is a celebrity in the immigration group, but Aidan Burke's attitude towards him is only at the end. The one who really gained Aidan Burke's greatest enthusiasm was to send the engineering and technical personnel in the group. Aidan Burke actually had an idea to entertain everyone like this. He wanted to promote the construction of the Hami-Turpan railway in the short term. In the medium term, he hoped that the railway could extend to Ili, and in the long term, he hoped that the railway would reach Lanzhou and connect with the Lanqing Railway.

Railway construction not only requires massive funds, but also engineering technology. Aidan wants these engineering and technical personnel from the dispatched delegation to inspect the railway line along the way and set up the route as soon as possible, so that it can be approved by Lifanyuan.

Bagel originally thought that this was just Aidan Burke's whim, but he soon discovered that Burke was prepared.

Aidan is also promoting supporting industries such as local coal mining and maintenance. He even said that he has prepared to raise funds through various channels and has opened up the way to issue local bonds on the one hand. Aidan Burke has also worked hard to promote cooperation between the Kansai Appeasement Zone and Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. He believes that the improvement of railway construction and maintenance capabilities in the northwest province of the Empire will definitely promote the promotion of railway construction in the Kansai Appeasement Zone.

The most important figure in Aidan Burke's lobbying was actually the British King Li Zhaoyi who was still in the southern Xinjiang region.

Li Zhaoyi came to southern Xinjiang this time to participate in the reform of the foreign vassal states and had been in southern Xinjiang for almost a year. He convinced many Yarkand foreign nobles to give up using force or religious activities to fight against the reform of the foreign vassal states and choose to move to India. This is also the last peaceful effort of the Lifanyuan to reorganize the local foreign vassal states. If the British king still cannot persuade those people, the ultimate goal will be to use violence.

Li Zhaoyi was very young. He worked very hard on this matter and had a simple solution. He directly dispatched a mixed brigade from the Northwest Army to take him by his side, making his actions more convincing. Last year, most of the foreign nobles had been persuaded by him to either accept the reform on the spot or move to India.

However, what the British king valued most in southern Xinjiang was not the reform of the foreign vassal states, but the economic development. Along the way, he found that the living environment and economic development of the mother Yarkand people were relatively poor. He did not return to Beijing immediately, but was investigating this matter. Li Zhaoyi and Aidan Burke also discussed it together last year. The two agreed that in southern Xinjiang, the most potential industry is cotton planting, but a railway should be built to link the main cotton-producing areas in southern Xinjiang to give full play to the local advantages and give more choices to the people of southern Xinjiang.
Chapter completed!