Outer Northeast refers to a large area of land south of the Outer Khing'an Mountains, north of the Heilongjiang River, and east of the Ussuri River, which is about 1 million square kilometers, the size of 10 Jiangsu provinces.
This place was originally the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and in the 1689 Sino-Russian Treaty of Nebuchu, it was clearly stipulated that the Trans-Khingan Mountains were the eastern border between the two countries.
But in 1856, because Tsarist Russia was beaten by the British and French forces in the Crimean War, in line with the strategy of losing the west and making up for the east, Tsarist Russia blatantly occupied more than 1 million square kilometers of the outer northeast region from 1858 to 1860.
Due to the ban policy of Kangxi in those years, except for the aboriginal Han people, Oroqen people, Daur people, Hezhe people, Evenki people, Mongols, and Manchus, the Han people in Guannei rarely settled here.
This gave Tsarist Russia the opportunity to exploit loopholes, and it was after 1860 that the Qing court began to turn a blind eye to the ban on the Northeast, so a large number of Han people in the Guannei began to break into the Guandong, making the population of the Northeast increase all of a sudden. The Qing court understood that if it did not do so, then the northeast would be occupied by Tsarist Russia sooner or later.
The question then arises, how should Tsarist Russia properly manage the land of the Outer Northeast? This is really a big problem. First of all, there are not enough Russians here, and secondly, even if there are enough Russians, they may not be able to endure hardships and work hard to run the territory from scratch. For this reason, Tsarist Russia still aimed at the Chinese.
There is enough arable land in the outer northeast
In 1860, there were five or six thousand Chinese living in the outer northeast. They are all local aborigines, including Han Chinese, Manchu people, Daur people, etc., who live by farming and hunting on weekdays, and live a life without fighting with the world.
They mainly live in places with arable land such as Hailan Pao and Jiangdong Liusitun. At that time, after the Russians occupied this area, they knew that a large number of Chinese residents had settled here, and still included these places with a lot of arable land into the Russian sphere of influence.
As for the local population, they absolutely don't want it. Because what they need is to completely turn the Outer Northeast into the territory of the Russians, and if they continue to let the Chinese act as the main population here, then how can they mix?
However, Tsarist Russia had just taken over this land, everything was in a state of ruin, and the implementation of the resettlement plan still needed a long transition period, so Tsarist Russia did not directly drive out this group of local Chinese.
The Tsarist Russia and the Qing court clearly stipulated in the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing that the Chinese in Hailanpao and Jiangdong 64tun were still under the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty, and they still had the right to farm on their own land in the past, and the Russians were not allowed to disturb these Chinese without special circumstances.
It seems very polite, but in fact, the intention of Tsarist Russia is obvious, they want to get the local Chinese to help reclaim the land in the outer northeast.
The outer northeast covers an area of more than 1 million square kilometers, but there is not much arable land that has been reclaimed at that time. If you want to attract Russian immigrants here, you must provide them with enough land, otherwise a fool will be willing to leave his homeland and go so far away, not to mention the land that has been robbed, which may be taken back by others at any time.
For this reason, Tsarist Russia kept these Chinese and let them reclaim wasteland in the area. The Chinese people are very industrious and hardworking, and naturally work very hard, and soon expand the area of cultivated land.
As a result, Tsarist Russia began to introduce an immigration policy, and every Russian family willing to live in the Northeast could get 100 Russian acres of land for free, and it was exempt from tax for 20 years. Good guys, this policy is too preferential, but the question is, where does the land come from? Isn't it reclaimed by the local Chinese people?
According to Russian statistics, by 1886, there were at least 27,500 Chinese living in the Outer Northeast. And they have also become the main force of cultivated land in the outer northeast. Why? Because although the Russians have also migrated a lot, most of them are retired Russian soldiers and exiled criminals.
These people don't know how to farm at all, and they came here mainly to help Tsarist Russia achieve substantial occupation of the Northeast region, and if they can become landlords by the way, it will naturally be a great joy.
The Chinese are hardworking and hardworking, and they don't get much in return
As more and more Russians entered the Outer Northeast, the local demand gradually increased. But many of these people are counting on the Lord, and they don't do any chores.
If someone were to be transferred from the European part of Russia, not only would it be costly, but they would not necessarily want to come. Not only do you have to endure hardships here, but you may not earn as much as the European part of Russia, so why do people come to work?
The Chinese immediately discovered this situation, and after they realized the labor shortage in the outer northeast, they immediately poured into the outer northeast to work and do business.
Therefore, from 1860 to 1900, a large number of Chinese crossed the river to the Outer Northeast to work as nannies, build houses, pave roads, work as coolies, do small trade, dry groceries, and so on.
In short, the needs of the Russian masters in terms of life, these Chinese who enter here can all be completed with quality and quantity. This can be regarded as the solution to the urgent need of the Tsarist authorities.
The most important point is that the Chinese do not pick the work, and the wages they ask for are very low. If it is really a natural choice of workers, not only do the work beautifully, but also have little salary, where can I find such workers?
Therefore, it can be said that the Outer Northeast was built by these Chinese little by little with their own hands in those 40 years.
I remember that when Egypt asked Britain and France for sovereignty over the Suez Canal, one of the reasons was that the Suez Canal was dug up by local Egyptian laborers.
If this can constitute a reason for claiming the Suez Canal, then can we also add this article to the claim to the territory of the Outer Northeast? After all, most of the cities in the Outer Northeast were built by ordinary Chinese people with little painstaking efforts, and the Russian masters were not willing to work as coolies when they came here.
If the Outer Northeast is built well, it will be worthless
What did 40 years of hardship and hard work come in exchange for? In exchange for the ruthless abandonment of Tsarist Russia. In July 1900, on the eve of the invasion of Northeast China by Tsarist Russia, the Chinese in Northeast China actually carried out a terrible massacre.
At that time, there were 15,000 Chinese living in Hailan, Jiangdong 64 Tun was similar, and the entire Outer Northeast combined, about 100,000 Chinese settled. These people have made great efforts for the construction of the local area.
But after using them up, Tsarist Russia showed no mercy at all. After the initial attack on the city of Aihun was frustrated, they turned back and threatened that these Chinese from the outer northeast had sent a message to the other side of the river.
So, they began to arrest people, and they were thousands of them, at first they were locked up, and then they couldn't be locked up, and they were directly forced to jump into Heilongjiang, and almost all of these people died, and none of the old people and children were left.
The entire Outer Northeast was permeated with this kind of atmosphere at that time, and even many Russian soldiers could not stand this scene and recorded it and scolded it.
This massacre, which shocked China and the rest of the world, did not stop the pace of Tsarist Russia's southward movement, and after settling all the Chinese in the outer northeast, Tsarist Russia resolutely sent 170,000 troops south to capture the northeast.
The Outer Northeast, which has lost the Chinese, is declining day by day
The purpose of Tsarist Russia in doing this was actually very simple, they just wanted to completely turn the Outer Northeast into Russian land. The local Chinese have built this place well, and they have cultivated so much fertile land, and their role has been achieved.
If these people continue to be retained, they will occupy a lot of fertile land, not to mention, and they will be able to gradually become the main ethnic group in the Outer Northeast by giving birth to children. This is not what Tsarist Russia wants to see, what they want is that the Outer Northeast can only have the surname Russia. Therefore, even if the attack on Aihun City was very smooth, Tsarist Russia would still attack the Chinese in the northeast before invading the northeast.
Therefore, there are two sides to everything, and Tsarist Russia has indeed turned the Outer Northeast into a place where Russians are the main ethnic group, but at the same time, they have also lost the most cost-effective labor force.
The hard-working and kind Chinese never imagined that the place they had worked so hard to build with their meager wages would become a place where their lives were buried.
Without so much cheap labor, the development of the Outer Northeast has also come to a standstill. Because the Russians who emigrated to the area always regarded themselves as landlords, how could any landlord work in person? If there were no continuous subsidies and support, there would naturally be fewer and fewer Russians here over time.