The mid-18th century saw a gradual decline of the palisades system. Often, troops only guarded sections near the gates, while away from the gates one could find sections where the willows were gone, and the dikes eroded. In 1745, for example, a government censor (御史; "yushi") named He Qizhong reported his concern that illegal migrants and ginseng smugglers may be crossing the palisade all too easily. By the late 18th and early 19th century the migration-control function of the palisade further diminished because of the introduction of legal migration schemes enabling Han civilian peasants to settle on certain Manchu or Mongol lands beyond both the western and eastern sections of the palisade, some of which were sponsored by Manchu and Mongol landlords interested in attracting Chinese tenant farmers on their properties.