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In the letter, Fenghua reported on the seed production situation of Wang Siniang and her daughter in the villa under the guidance of technicians from the Agriculture Committee. Starting from the twelfth lunar month, a female agricultural technician from Lingao was sent to train specifically. They carry out seed production. [Read the latest chapter]. According to Zhao Yingong's plan, seed production was carried out in 1632 instead of silkworms. Seed production was carried out twice in spring and autumn, and about 3,000 silkworm seeds could be prepared. Starting from 1633, sericulture was promoted on a large scale. In this way, he had half a year to annex enough sericulture gardens to prepare for large-scale sericulture. Material preparation.
Spring seed production is going well, and the cold storage for storing silkworm seeds has been completed. The bigger problem is that there has been no rain in Hangzhou since March and April this year. The newly planted mulberry gardens on the hillside are irrigated entirely by using the wind-powered waterwheel built last winter to lift water from the Qiantang River down the mountain. However, Hangzhou’s wind resources It was not stable, and oxen had to be used to pull the water from time to time, which consumed a lot of animal power. The few existing oxen could not do it at all. Fenghua asked in the letter if he could report to the Senate and get a steam engine to pump the water.
This is not difficult at all. Lingao Machinery General Factory already has quite mature and systematic products for steam engine powered water pump kits, which are widely used in the fields of agriculture and mining. If you apply for one, you will probably be approved. The problem is that Coal is hard to find—or just burn firewood?
Zhao Yingong thought and continued to look down. The second part of the letter is a report on the construction of Shanshan Hall on the newly purchased open space at the foot of Fenghuang Villa. This is a euphemistic name for the quarantine camp. In 1632, there was a severe drought in Zhejiang Province, and it stopped raining from March - this It is a devastating blow to agriculture. Failure to transplant rice seedlings in time in spring means that there will be no harvest for the year. Seeing that the time has entered summer, this year's severe drought has become a foregone conclusion. Large numbers of people have begun to flee, and the roads are full of refugees.
The economic collapse caused by agricultural disasters was particularly significant in the industrial and commercial economy. The Senate had endless demand for population. Zhao Yingong came to Jiangnan and hosting refugees from Zhejiang was originally an issue. Starting from the end of 1631, he had accepted thousands of people in batches and shipped them out through Shanghai Port.
Naturally, no one will care about transporting a small number of people, but taking in and transporting a large number of refugees in a year of great disaster will inevitably attract the attention of the government. Therefore, Zhao Yingong still followed the successful experience of the Guangzhou Station in the past - establishing a charity.
The name of the charity hall is "Ci Xin Tang". Zhao Yingong introduced the model of a charity foundation and attracted a group of Jin gentry to join it. The first is to recruit a group of Jin gentry from Jiangnan to participate and act as good directors.
The main target of introduction is of course the Xu family. Xu Guangqi must use this banner of pavilion elder. Not only is Xu Guangqi himself a pavilion elder, but his only son Xu Ji is married to the daughter of Gu Changzuo, the richest man in Shanghai. This is why Gu Changzuo is known as "Gu Bancheng" and has a reputation in Shanghai County. Wealth and power.
In order to get enough support from the Xu family, Zhao Yingong, with the support of Father Jin Lige, carried out key strategies against the Xu family and tried to bring the relationship between the two parties closer. Therefore, the current friendship between the two parties is very high, and the establishment of a charity church is objectively helpful to the spread of Catholicism, so the Xu family has agreed to help - not only providing a protective umbrella, but also promising to provide part of the funds. Including Xu Guangqi's in-laws, Gu Changzuo's family, also agreed to contribute several hundred taels of silver.
Secondly, there are the Catholic gentry under the Hangzhou church system - through the Jesuits, they also recruited several people to serve as board directors. In this way, at least in Nanzhi and Zhejiang, the work of Cixin Tang has a certain degree of security. Cixin Tang is located on a newly purchased wasteland outside Fenghuang Villa. There are "Inquisition House", "Men's and Women's Bathhouse", "Men's Hall", "Women's Hall" and "Orphan Hall", and there is also "Qingjie Hall" which is specially used to cover up people's eyes and ears - to take in lonely widows. Naturally, there are also places like "artisans" that specialize in extracting the surplus value of refugees. In fact, the first factory Zhao Yingong plans to open is to recruit people under the guise of charity workshops.
There is open space on the bank of the Qiantang River, abundant water resources, and fast water transportation. It can also be developed as an industrial zone in the future. It is also very convenient to engage in large-scale agriculture.
The refugees were housed on the bank of the Qiantang River. Not only were they far away from the busy city during the weekdays, making it easier to hide from others, but they could also be transported directly to the sea by boat at night. This was Zhao Yingong's calculation.
The letter reported that 90% of the construction progress of the shantang had been completed - a large number of refugees provided abundant labor force, and the veteran architect of Lingao Construction Company estimated that it should be completed on schedule.
Zhao Yingong was very satisfied. As long as it can be completed on time, the Zhejiang part of this engine operation will be half successful.
Although the main purpose of Operation Engine was to transport refugees from Shandong, the elders also had a great interest in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang populations. Zhao Yingong knew that for abandoning all kinds of high-sounding reasons for population industry and decisive victory, many elders actually looked forward to a steady stream of Shandong girls and Jiangnan beauties. Zhejiang has been known for producing beauties since ancient times. Otherwise, the deputy commander-in-chief's family would not have targeted Zhejiang when it came to selecting concubines.
Now we are beginning to vigorously accept refugees, and they will be able to transfer refugees starting in the autumn. Zhao Yingong knew very well that the refugees from Jiangsu and Zhejiang actually matched the wishes of the elders, because the refugees from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who were transferred were not just farmers or fishermen, but many craftsmen: they were more adaptable to long-term boring work than farmers - Jiangnan mechanics Often one has to work on the loom for more than ten hours a day.
He put down the letter in his hand and picked up the next one. This one is more important. It is a telegram sent from Lingao - about the progress of the engine operation in Shandong.
Ever since veteran Lu Zeyang defeated the rebels in Laizhou, the entire Denglai battlefield has fallen into an endless tug-of-war as expected. The entire Dongsan Prefecture was in flames of war, and the land was filled with refugees.
Shortly after Lu Zeyang's great victory, on the 15th day of the second lunar month, Peng Youmo, who was originally defending Lushun from Shenwu Zuoying, joined the army and led 500 Sichuan troops to Laizhou by sea. On the fifth day of March, General Liu Guozhu sent 600 cavalrymen, led by General Li Jing and guerrilla Zhang Ruxing, to come in for reinforcements. However, most of them escaped during the journey, and less than 275 people actually arrived.
Since the troops on Qimu Island only accommodated refugees and did not intercept rebel transportation, after the two sides reached a tacit agreement not to attack the south gate of Laizhou, the rebels began to transport heavy artillery and ammunition to Laizhou City unscrupulously and continuously attacked Laizhou City.
Although Sun Yuanhua was once ostracized by the officials and generals in the city because of the fall of Dengzhou, Peng Youmo, who joined the Shenwu Zuoying Army to help, and Lu Zeyang, who won the great victory at Nanmen, were both under his command, so they had to continue to rely on him, and at that time After the memorial for the great victory in Laizhou was published, he gradually became a core figure in the war in Laizhou and even Shandong.
During the fierce offensive and defensive battles, a group of defending officials, generals and gentry in the city "married themselves" one after another. Among them were Laizhou Guard commander Li Mengguo and Bai Zhongren who died in the historical battle, as well as some who could have been Manchus. Zhang Xin, the Laizhou Jin gentry who was the governor of Tianjin in the Qing Dynasty, also died in the battle as a "midstream arrow". In short, the local gentry and local officers in Laizhou suffered heavy casualties, and many civilians also died in the battle. For a time, Laizhou City seemed to be in danger.
On the twenty-seventh day of the third lunar month of this year, Liu Yulie, the Minister of War, swore an oath as the governor and marched to Laizhou. He mobilized reinforcements and volunteer soldiers from Jimen, Miyun and other places, with a total of 25,000 infantry and cavalry from the three towns. people. On the second day of April, Emperor Chongzhen also sent eunuchs to send six Hongyi cannons to Shahe to deliver reinforcements.
However, Liu Yulie and other commanders were not familiar with military matters, so people from all walks of life moved forward in a mixed manner, and discipline was chaotic. During the slow march, more than 800 vehicles of grain and grass escorted by Wang Wensheng were attacked by the rebel cavalry, and all were burned by the enemy. Not only did it cause supply difficulties, but the roads were also cut off.
Kong Youde ordered to recruit Wang Wensheng's soldiers, and sent people to spread rumors in Changyi County where the old camp of officers and soldiers was located that all the officers and soldiers of the third battalion were annihilated. Then he sent troops to attack Changyi County. Liu Yulie panicked and fled directly back to Qingzhou. A few days later, Liu Yulie heard that the officers and soldiers from the three towns were still there, but all the food and grass had been burned and they could no longer fight. He ordered the troops to withdraw. The rebels took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, and the officers and soldiers were defeated in Shahe. Countless people were captured, and a large number of firearms were seized by the rebels.
Next, the Ming army made a bigger joke. Sun Yinglong, an old general in Tianjin, claimed that he and Geng Zhongming were brothers, and boasted that he could let Geng Zhongming kidnap Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng to surrender. Zheng Zongzhou, the governor of Tianjin, believed his words and gave him 60 ships and 2,000 men.
Sun Yinglong sent people to persuade Geng Zhongming to surrender. Geng Zhongming used a false surrender as a means to lure Sun Yinglong and the Tianjin Navy's 2,000-man ship directly to the water city of Dengzhou. Geng Zhongming then beheaded Sun Yinglong. Because of the acquisition of this navy, the rebels' water power became stronger and they could easily travel from all over the Dongjiang River. A steady stream of old Dongjiang troops began to pour into the Denglai area from the sea.
A series of defeats of officers and soldiers caused the situation in Dongsan Prefecture to become increasingly chaotic. A large number of defeated soldiers became bandits or directly joined the rebels. This caused a large number of people to flock to Qimu Island for refuge. At one time, the entire Qimu Island refugee camp was full and there was no time for transfer. Lu Wenyuan had to set up temporary shelters on the mainland to accommodate more refugees.
The Ming army's incompetence and bizarre defeat caused the elders of the Qimu Island Front Committee to completely lose their last respect for the Ming Dynasty.
"Seize territory! Seize people!" Lu Wenyuan issued an order on Qimu Island, and then the Shandong detachment began a violent territory expansion under the command of Zhu Mingxia who rushed back. Taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the local area, the Shandong detachment quickly expanded its troops on the spot and recruited a large number of young and middle-aged people from the refugees to train as local warriors. They were led by veterans of the detachment. Taking Qimu Island as the starting point, they established several strongholds and military bases more than ten miles ahead. Baozhai, stationed in Xiangyong. In the end, they actually occupied land with a radius of dozens of miles around Qimu Island, and took advantage of the chaos to occupy the Zhaoyuan area.
(To be continued
