▲Guozigou Bridge
Text Author: Jin Lun
Landscape photo by Ma Xiaojun
Where is Xinjiang Ili?
If you look at the map of China as a big rooster, the position of the first feather of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (Ili for short) above the hip of the "chicken".
Ili location is important.
How important is Ili? If Ili is stable, Xinjiang is stable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > Yili is the granary of Xinjiang</h1>
Everyone knows that Xinjiang has many arid areas, many mountains, and many deserts, if you cross the mountains and deserts, what is it like to suddenly find a babbling river valley?
Ili is such a "green treasure house" that God has given to China.
▲The scenery of Guozigou is pleasant.
Ili administers 11 county-level administrative districts (prefectures), including 3 county-level cities, 7 counties, and 1 autonomous county, including the famous city of Khorgos, but it is not the capital, Yining is the capital.
The Ili River Valley is located in the northwest corner of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, including Yining City, Nilek County, Xinyuan County, Gongliu County, Turks County, Zhaosu County, Qabchar County, and Huocheng County.
The river valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, forming the geomorphological outline of "three mountains and two valleys", there is no mountain in the west, and the water vapor from the ocean just stays here, so although Ili is not dry at all in Xinjiang, it often rains, and the rain is very much.
The Ili River Valley is known as the "Wet Island in the Western Region" and "The South of the Saiwai River". The Ili River Valley is one of the three major lavender cultivation bases in the world.
▲ Lavender is boundless.
Having water in the Ili River Valley means having huge resources and being able to do a lot of things.
For example, hydroelectric power, such as irrigating farmland. Yes, there is also hydroelectric power in Xinjiang, not only thermal and wind power.
The low mountain belt of the Ili River Valley is a high-quality spring and autumn grassland, high-quality land resources and its own good geographical environment, which means that Ili is suitable for the growth of various crops, and there are 50,000 square kilometers of fertile fields on both sides of the Ili River, rich in high-quality rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, etc., and also rich in melons and fruits, such as apples, grapes, cherries, etc.
Therefore, Ili is the big granary of Xinjiang, and the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery in the whole prefecture in 2019 is 61.213 billion yuan.
▲ Sailim Lake is famous.
Moreover, Ili also has gold mines, on May 21, 2013, a very large gold mine was found in the Ili River Valley, with a potential economic value of nearly 20 billion yuan.
In addition to gold, 86 kinds of mineral deposits have been found in Ili, and the reserves of beryllium, dolomite and potassium feldspar rank first in the country, the reserves of chromium and palladium rank second in the country, and there are many coal and oil.
Ili, with such superior conditions, is very important to Xinjiang, not to mention that the Ili River Valley is an important passage connecting the north and the south of Xinjiang, so Ili has always been a place where soldiers and families must fight in history.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="151" How important is Ili >? Zuo Zongtang knew</h1>
Historically, there was a bullish Hunan man who led many Hunan people to fight a great victory in Xinjiang.
In order to recover Yili, he even carried a coffin to the expedition, and now he is buried in Baizhu Village, Jumping Horse Town, Yuhua District, Changsha City, and he is Zuo Zongtang, who is one of the "Four Famous Ministers" of the late Qing Dynasty and others, together with Zeng Guofan and others.
In 1871, Tsarist Russia sent troops to forcibly occupy the Ili region of China, and also seized an important bridgehead for the Tsarist Invasion of Xinjiang.
In 1867 (the sixth year of Tongzhi), Agubai established the "Zhedeshar Khanate" and established himself as a khan. In 1870 (the ninth year of Tongzhi), Agubai invaded northern Xinjiang again, invading Urumqi and Turfan. At this point, all of southern Xinjiang and parts of northern Xinjiang were invaded and occupied by Agubai.
The Tsarist Russia said to the Qing court, "I will recover Urumqi on your behalf." "Aroused the vigilance of the Qing court and stepped up the pace of recovering Urumqi and other places."
▲ Stone statue of Zuo Zongtang in Xinjiang.
On January 2, 1878, the Qing army recaptured Khotan. At this point, the Qing army's battle to retake Xinjiang was over. Among them, the Xiang army led by Zuo Zongtang played an important role, and many Hunan people sacrificed their lives in Xinjiang to defend the national territorial sovereignty.
After invading and occupying Ili, Tsarist Russia falsely said: "After the liquidation of Guannei, after the recovery of Urumqi and Manas, I will return Ili to you." ”
Unexpectedly, Zuo Zongtang, a native of Hunan, really did it, and the Qing court made him the Marquis of Kejing of the Second Rank. Various parts of Xinjiang have also established Zuo Gong Ancestral Halls in villages and towns, large and small, and burned incense to pray.
Tsarist Russia began to play tricks and did not want to return Ili.
The imperial court sent Chonghou to talk, Chonghou was a Manchurian yellow flag bearer, once served as a governor directly subordinate, but his brain was not good, there was no bottom line, and he actually signed a "Treaty of Livadia".
The treaty nominally returned Ili to China, but ceded to Tsarist Russia a large area of territory west of the Theks River in the southern part of Ili and a large area west of the Khorgos River in the west, and its western and southern borders were still occupied by Russia, and it was in a situation where the north, west and south were attacked on three sides, and Ili became an isolated city.
Moreover, the treaty provided for the modification of the borders between Kashgar and Tarbatai in favour of Tsarist Russia, as well as compensation for military expenses, duty-free trade, the opening of additional trade routes and the addition of consuls. It is an unequal treaty that seriously undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Zuo Zongtang was furious, scolded by Shangzi, and Chonghou went to prison, and the Qing court continued to find someone to talk to.
In February 1880, the Qing court sent Zeng Jize, the son of Zeng Guofan, to Russia to re-sign the treaty, and at the same time ordered Zuo Zongtang to coordinate the defense of the north and south of Xinjiang. Zuo Zongtang dispatched his troops and set up a strategy of dividing the troops into three routes and recovering Ili by force.
On May 26, Zuo Zongtang led more than 1,000 of his own soldiers to leave the Base Camp in Suzhou and marched to Hami, Xinjiang. This is a tragic and magnificent scene in history: Zuo Zongtang, who had white hair and went out with an illness, ordered people to carry an empty coffin and follow him, meaning that he wanted to fight with Tsarist Russia to the end, and if you don't return my Ili, I will play with you. Of course, this can also be seen as a kind of public opinion war.
▲ Zuo Wenxianggong, a tough Hunan man, carried the coffin out on the expedition.
In August, the imperial court was forced by various pressures to transfer Zuo Zongtang to Beijing to take up a post.
On February 24, 1881, because Zuo Zongtang's deployment in Xinjiang did cause great pressure on Tsarist Russia, after Zeng Jize argued on the basis of reason, the Qing government signed the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty with Russia. Although this treaty is still an unequal treaty, China has regained some of its sovereignty and territory compared with the treaty signed by Chonghou.
How important is Ili? Zuo Zongtang knew the weight of it, so he had to carry the coffin with his illness.
Hunan people have made contributions to the country in Ili.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="153" > Lin Zexu left "Lin Gongqu"</h1>
More than thirty years after Zuo Zongtang took back Ili, another Fujian man set out from Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province, and although he suffered repeated setbacks, he became more and more frustrated and did not change his original intention.
He trekked all the way to Ili, where he worked solidly for more than three years, leaving behind a good name throughout the ages.
This Fujian man once did a great thing in The Humen of Guangzhou and Dongguan - smoking ban.
Yes, he is Lin Zexu.
After Lin Zexu "sold cigarettes at Humen", the British army sent a fleet north along the coast and arrived at Tianjin Dagukou to threaten Beijing.
▲ Ili Lin Zexu Memorial Hall
On May 1, the twenty-first year of Daoguang (1841), the imperial court was under pressure to demote him to the rank of Sipinqing and went to Zhenhai, Zhejiang To listen to the edict. But he didn't stay in that position long and was degraded again.
The rebellious general ai Xinjueluo Yishan in Guangzhou was defeated in leading his army against the British, and the Daoguang Emperor once again blamed Lin Zexu for the defeat of Guangzhou, saying that he did not actively plan defense when he was in Guangzhou, so that after the British army launched an attack, Yishan could not be overwhelmed. On June 28, the Daoguang Emperor issued a decree that Lin Zexu should be given the title of "Four Pin Qing" and "re-sent to Ili, Xinjiang, to atone for his sins." This was completely throwing the pot, but Lin Zexu didn't say anything, carrying the pot on his back and going directly to Ili.
Lin Zexu went all the way to the west, and when he and his wife said goodbye near the ancient city of Xi'an, he wrote the ancient famous sentence "If the country lives and dies by profit, it is better to avoid it because of misfortune."
These two poems were recited again in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing 180 years later, and became the most well-known ancient poems of the year, and many people re-read and re-recognized the poem "Two Poems of The Family at the Mouth of The Journey to Shu" because of the news.
Lin Zexu's two sentences at the end of the poem are "Talking about stories with the mountain wife, trying to break the old man's skin", although there is self-deprecation, there is no lack of desolation.
One of Lin Zexu's major contributions after arriving in Ili, Xinjiang, was the construction of water conservancy.
In March 1844, the Ili general Buyantai wanted to reclaim the Aziwusu land that had been deserted for many years, first of all to solve the water conservancy problem of the Ili River. Lin Zexu is old and frail and sickly. However, he still went deep into the front line of labor, worked hard for four months, shared more than 100,000 workers, and completed the Longkou project with the largest amount of engineering and the most difficult.
In October 1844, more than 200 kilometers of canals were completed, and the area of water diversion irrigation was reclaimed by about 150,000 hectares. This is the largest water conservancy project since the Opening of Ili in the Qing Dynasty, and the local people call it "Lin Gongqu" to express their admiration and nostalgia for Lin Zexu, which still plays an important role in agricultural production today.
Lin Zexu was also ordered to go to Aksu, Ush, and Khotan in southern Xinjiang to survey and investigate.
In lin Zexu's words, this survey of wasteland, "the zhou calendar returned to the eight cities, traveling about 20,000 miles", "to a city, check a city, report the facts to the general, never dare to have a slight prejudice, and must not whitewash and cater to."
After on-the-spot investigation, the total amount of reclaimable wasteland in southern Xinjiang is more than 586,000 mu, plus more than 135,000 mu of wasteland in Turpan and Hami in eastern Xinjiang, and the total number of wasteland that Lin Zexu surveyed in Xinjiang is more than 720,000 mu.
At the age of 61, when Lin Zexu passed through Turpan, he saw a drought and lack of water, and suddenly found an oasis, with neat irrigation canals and clear water. It turned out that the water flowed out of the hole in the ground, which was called "Karez" by the locals.
▲ Qaner well
It turned out that it was dug from a mountain water source a culvert, varying in length, every 20-30 meters there was a ground shaft, and the depth of each shaft gradually decreased along the hillside. The water from the culvert flows near the farmstead and begins to flow out of the ground through the nullah to irrigate the farmland. Lin Zexu improved it, digging a well every 3-5 meters, connecting the wells one after another, and the water flowed down from the well channels. He actively promoted the application of the reclamation land and achieved remarkable results, and a piece of oasis appeared.
The local people did not forget the water diversion method promoted by Lin Zexu, calling the "Kar well" "Lin Gong well".
On October 28, 1845, Lin Zexu, a native of Fujian, received an edict from Kaifu, and on December 2, Lin Zexu, who was on his way back to Beijing, was again instructed to "wear a reward of three pins" and act as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.
Lin Zexu left the "Lin Gongqu" in Ili, and also left a good story of a scholar who made unremitting efforts to improve himself in a difficult environment and benefit Ili.
30 years later, Shi Shuhua, who accompanied Zuo Zongtang on his western expedition, saw the Karez in Xinjiang and pursued the merits of Lin Zexu. He wrote a poem lamenting Lin Zexu's merits: "The white head is old, and The wild snot is tuotuo." ”
It can be seen that Lin Zexu has made great contributions to Ili.
Today's Yili is, of course, very different from the Yili of the time of Lin Zexu and Zuo Zongtang:
For example, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the total import and export volume of local foreign trade in Ili Prefecture increased from US$2.96 billion to US$5.46 billion, an average annual growth of 13%, and Khorgos became the first land port in Xinjiang to set up a "Belt and Road" corridor.
The growth trend of Ili's export-oriented economy has become a prominent advantage.
Yili is the most beautiful scenery in Xinjiang, Yili ranked fourth in Xinjiang's economic map last year, her beautiful scenery, her rich resources, and her splendid history are all helping to shape her beautiful future.
The lavender industry has brought huge benefits.