While Zhao Xin and the others were busy dealing with Tsarist Russia, everyone in Beihai Town was not idle either.
The power plant was busy installing units for debugging, while Chen Qingsong continued his farmland water conservancy project in Fuldan City; Zhao Liang led a group of Henan blacksmiths to work on his military-industrial steel complex; Fang Hua became his indispensable help .
Hong Tao's medical clinics located in various residential communities are busy vaccinating adults and children against smallpox; Wang Zhenyi's father has now become the second-in-command of the Imaging Department of Beihai Town Hospital, and is likely to succeed Father Ma, which makes Macarius I felt a crisis. As the news of the Northern Navy's defeat of Rakshasa returned, Father Ma had been feeling a little depressed recently.
After Pereira completed the design of the drawings, he has now begun the construction of the military port in the eastern part of Beihai Town. People from the power plant will sometimes go there to help; Deng Fei is currently in charge of the navigation school and supervises the renovation of the three sailboats snatched back from Tsarist Russia; Ding Kunamine became the captain of the transportation team, leading a group of trainee crew members to frequently travel to Kuye Island, Ezo, Sendai Domain, Minami Kyushu and other places.
Wang Zhenyi followed Lao You in school to complete junior high school mathematics in another time and space; A Miao continued to take King Duofu around, wondering when Zhao Xin would send someone to pick her up; Miss Shen was depressed and waiting to get married. On weekdays, I go to school to give literacy classes to the children for half a day, and spend the other half of the day at home with my adoptive mother.
After the Qingming Festival, Beihai Town's troops at Sheyang Lake were divided into two groups: one group was led by Xu Dayong and went to the "Nanba Old Forest" at the junction of the three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Chu. The other group was led by Wang Changsheng. to Shandong.
Wang Changsheng was originally sent by Zhao Xin to contact the Cai family in Guangzhou, but later Xu Da sent a telegram to ask for instructions, saying that it would be more suitable for Wang Changsheng to go to Shandong with his connections with the Cao Gang. After Zhao Xinlue thought about it, he agreed to Xu Dayong's request. After Shen Jingdan heard about it, he applied to Zhao Xin, saying that he happened to have several past business relationships in Guangdong and wanted to try to make a breakthrough. So he landed from northern Jiangsu in May and went to Guangzhou instead of Wang Changsheng.
In mid-April, Wang Changsheng and his group of more than a dozen people made sand boats from northern Jiangsu to Jiaodong, and then went to Wendeng County. In addition to the people from Beihai Town, there were also several Caogang people who were born in Wendeng.
The Wendeng area has both mountains and seas, little cultivated land, and a lot of saline-alkali land. It has been the least developed area in Shandong since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Even if the local farmers work a hundred times harder, they can only produce one hundred catties of grain per mu in a year. After deducting the imperial grain and seeds, the amount left is less than that of a low-class household in western Shandong.
Contrary to what many people in later generations thought, after the severe drought that affected six provinces in the 50th year of Qianlong's reign, the popularity of sweet potatoes and corn in the Central Plains was still not high. The so-called saying that China's population surged during the Qianlong period and that so many people could be fed by sweet potatoes is completely untrue!
In fact, Xu Guangqi, Jin Xuezeng and others have promoted sweet potato cultivation in Shandong since the late Ming Dynasty; in the 50th and 51st years of Qianlong's reign, it was promoted to the level of official promotion.
However, even so, when farmers know about the sweet potato crop, it does not mean that they will regard it as a major food crop. Agricultural production has been a complex systematic project from ancient times to the present. The core of a complete crop planting system consisting of different crops through crop rotation and multiple planting is the core!
As a famine relief crop, the conditions for sweet potatoes to be integrated into the crop planting system in the Central Plains are far from being met. In fact, not only did the promotion in the 50 years of Qianlong fail to achieve results, but throughout the Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes only formed a middle-producing area in central and southern Shandong. In another time and space, until the 1950s, sweet potatoes were still not cultivated on a large scale in Shandong.
For farmers in the Central Plains, millet and wheat are their staple foods in spring, summer and autumn, while sorghum is the staple food in winter. In terms of caloric value of food, 100 grams of sorghum rice is 360 calories. How much is 100 grams of potatoes or sweet potatoes?
(Wake up! Those who are aspiring to travel through time. Even if you bring potatoes and sweet potato seeds to ancient times, farmers will not buy it. For all kinds of tyrants who want to feed the world with potatoes, first find out what caused the Great Famine in Ireland. Something happened.)
After Wang Changsheng and his party of six arrived in Wendeng County and found a place to stay, the Cao Gang members took the people from "Xujiazhuang" and went deep into the markets and restaurants of villages and towns in Wendeng and Rongcheng counties to spread the news.
"Have you heard? There will be several big ships docked at the entrance of Sanggou in early June. They say they will pick up people to farm outside the customs. Those who are willing to go will be given fifty acres of land when they get off the ship!"
"real?"
"It's absolutely true! I lied to you about this." The speaker extended his thumb and middle finger and made a bastard gesture.
This news spread quickly through the people who took advantage of it, and within half a month it spread throughout Dengzhou Prefecture. The more people said it, the more evil it became.
Fifty acres of land became eighty acres. In addition, they were divided among wives, houses, property, horses and cattle. During this period, many foreigners appeared inexplicably. Those who wanted to go only had to press their fingerprints with the foreigners, and then the foreigners would take the registered people to the beach where they would board the ship. When they got off the ship outside the customs, they would receive 50 yuan. money.
Wang Changsheng also worked hard. In order to attract people to Beihai Town, he used various methods. He and his men developed these middlemen together. As long as he signed and pledged one and brought it to the beach to get on the boat, he could get fifty coins.
As of the fifty-second year of Qianlong's reign, according to official statistics from the Qing court, the total population of Dengzhou Prefecture had exceeded three million, with more than 500,000 households. The area of cultivated land within the jurisdiction is 7.07 million acres, with per capita cultivated land of nearly 5 acres, and the reclamation coefficient is only a pitiful 26%. This means that Dengzhou is mountainous and hilly, and most areas are not suitable for farming at all.
In addition, the Wendeng area has always been a cultural and educational place in Jiaodong. When people were promoted to Jinshi, land annexation was very serious, and the lives of ordinary people in Shengdou were very miserable.
So when the saying "go outside the customs and add fifty dollars to fifty acres" came out, it immediately triggered a craze in Wendeng and Rongcheng. After the poor people confirmed that the news from the middle-aged people was true, they either borrowed money, sold grain, packed up their belongings, and made preparations.
The person in charge of the "people recruitment project" in Rongcheng County was an intelligence officer named Yu Shun in the Beihai Town intelligence system. He was from Henan. He defected to Sheyang Lake Farm in the 49th year of Qianlong's reign, and later joined the Beihai Navy and joined the Fu The Battle of Erdan City; he was finally selected by Lu Shoushan and entered the intelligence system. After several months of training, he was transferred to Xu Da's subordinate.
The progress on Yu Shun's side was very smooth. By mid-May, the number reported from the villages and towns under Rongcheng had exceeded 5,000 people, mostly young and strong, with few women, old people and children. These people are all trying to give it a try. If it is true, then they will take over their wives and children. If it is false... forget it, accept your fate!
When Yu Shun's area grew to 6,000 people, and they moved in waves towards Sanggoukou Bay in the south of Rongcheng County, thousands of people were killed because there was a widow who had eloped and several escaped slaves among them. The siege by armed villagers caused an uproar in Rongcheng County, and Yu Shun himself was imprisoned.
Shandong is the birthplace of Confucian culture. The ethics constructed by Confucianism influenced the formation of the folk custom in Shandong during the Ming and Qing Dynasties that "men should be loyal and trustworthy, and women should be chaste and obedient."
The problem is that some girls start observing the festival in their teens or 20s, and it lasts for decades. They have to endure the loneliness of observing the festival, and also bear certain family responsibilities and obligations. However, chaste women's observance of chastity is sometimes not supported by all members of the husband's tribe, and some tribesmen may even rob chaste women of their property.
The person who caused trouble for Yu Shun was a young widow named Xu, who was just sixteen years old this year; her husband's surname was Bi, who died two years ago and had no children. This girl originally wanted to live a happy life, but she was repeatedly bullied by her husband's family, and because her husband's family was quite powerful in the local area, she had no way to seek recourse.
Ms. Bixu was young and her husband's family was poor. Finally, she was forced to go to her husband's grave outside the village and hang herself. Unexpectedly, she was saved by a salesman named Li from a neighboring village. Li Gonglang saw her beauty and was attracted by her. When Bi Xu was reborn after his death, he saw Li Gonglang's handsome appearance and was coaxed by the sweet words in the conversation, and he was immediately fascinated.
When the two of them had made a private decision for life and were worried about what to do in the future, the news came that Yu Shun was recruiting people, so Bi Xu secretly fled quietly, pretending to be husband and wife with Li Guolang, and blended into the crowd. Unexpectedly, the two of them happened to be seen by a tenant of the Bi family who was watching the fun, and that was how things happened.
When the tribesmen of Miss Xu's late husband found out that the chaste women in their family had broken the rules of women and eloped with others, they called their family members and tenants, and armed with rakes and sticks, they surrounded the group led by Yu Shun.
If this was another human trafficker or someone who came to recruit people for work, they would have to admit that they were unlucky when encountering something like this that never happened in a century, pay the money, admit their mistake, and hurry up to get the job done. The problem is that a member of the Bi family is trying to blackmail someone, asking for two hundred taels, and of course Yu Shun cannot agree.
When the two sides were in a stalemate, the family of a squire named Ding from Wendeng County also came with people. He said that among the people he brought with him were runaway slaves from his family, and they wounded their master and escaped. After some identification, they They really found them, and the two domestic slaves finally admitted that Squire Ding's family was too strict. Whenever they bought slaves, they would first scold and then beat them until they were completely numb, and then let them do things.
According to the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", it is natural for the people to capture escaped slaves, and the government will protect them. Moreover, regardless of whether the slave is red or white, if he beats the head of the family or the elders of the head of the family, even if there is no injury, he will be punished with a hundred sticks and three years of probation; if there is any injury, no matter how serious it is, he will be punished with a hundred sticks and three thousand miles.
Faced with the besieging of thousands of villagers, Yu Shun kept calm and finally agreed to pay fifty taels each to each family, and then set up two banquets at a restaurant in Rongcheng County to apologize.
Fifty taels is a lot, and can buy several thousand kilograms of grain. At present, one stone of wheat in Shandong is only 1.5 taels, and millet and sorghum are less than one tael. The problem was that Yu Shun was anxious to get out of trouble, so he took out not ordinary silver ingots, but Beihai Town's standard silver bars.
Indeed, the appearance of the standard silver bars in Beihai Town is really attractive, and it is so bright that it can reflect the silhouette of people, but no one in Dengzhou Prefecture, or even in the whole of Shandong, has ever seen such pure silver. Whether it was the Bi family or the Ding family, they all became greedy when they saw such a rare silver bar.
So the two families insisted on dragging Yu Shun to see an official in Rongcheng County Yamen, relying on the fact that he was a local squire. How could they go?
The argument turned into a fight. During the pushing and shoving, Yu Shun saw that someone was trying to tie him up with a rope. He couldn't care anymore. He took out his revolver and fired a shot into the sky.
Even though Yu Shun was talking to these people in a friendly manner, he was actually extremely crazy in his heart. Yu Shun felt that Beihai Town was behind him, and the imperial army had beaten him several times. What the hell are you squires and landlords doing!
But what surprised him was that although these villagers were startled by the gunshots at first, their reaction became even more intense. They swarmed up and killed Yu Shun with as many ants as they could, and tied up Yu Shun with three strikes.
In folk fighting in the Qing Dynasty, villagers often made their own muskets, and the sound of gunfire was no stranger to these people. The government banned the use of cast iron for making guns, so they used solid bamboo wrapped with iron wire as barrels; it was useless for rebellion, but best for fighting. To the west of Wendeng is Qixia Mountain, and there are many people who have hunted with native guns.
Yu Shun was dumbfounded. He only had six bullets in his gun. There were thousands of people around. Who could he hit? The fight was even more troublesome. The silver bars and money he had on him were divided up by the Bi family and the Ding family, and the farmers who followed him to Sanggoukou Bay dispersed in a hurry. When he arrived at the Rongcheng County Government Office, he was immediately thrown into jail on the charge of "possessing firearms with evil intentions" without even seeing the county magistrate.
The companions who took advantage of the chaos and escaped ran to Wendeng County overnight. Wang Changsheng was shocked when he learned about it. There are only a dozen of them, and they are not familiar with the place. If they go to Rongcheng to do things, they will be bullied.
What about going to jail? Don't be ridiculous, more than a dozen pistols and more than a hundred rounds of ammunition. After shooting them, the plan to lure people to Beihai Town will be ruined.
After Wang Changsheng thought about it, he decided to prepare with both hands. He first sent people back to Sheyang Lake and sent a report to Beihai Town for help; then he took two members of the Cao Gang to Rongcheng to inquire about the news and try to rescue them.
After more than ten days and seven to eight taels of silver spent, there was no progress in Rongcheng. Just as Wang Changsheng was waiting for news from Beihai, an unexpected surprise came.
At noon in late June of the lunar calendar, Deng Fei piloted the Thunderbolt, together with Beihai No. 1 and No. 2, and arrived at the ocean outside the mouth of Sanggou in the southeast of Rongcheng County, the easternmost part of Shandong. The three boats then continued northward and were soon discovered by the Qing army's beacon tower located at Chengshanjiao Fish Pond Bay.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty had a Dengzhou Navy front camp in Shandong, which took charge of the coastal areas of Shandong. It was divided into three floods, Dengzhou Flood, Jiaozhou Flood, and Chengshan Flood; and Yuchiwan was where Chengshan Flood was stationed. In the twelfth year of Yongzheng's reign, Chengshanwei was promoted to Rongcheng County. In the first year of Qianlong's reign, the Qing government built a naval camp south of Rongcheng and northwest of Mashan, and established the Chengshan Garrison Office, which had one garrison, one Qian Commander, one General Commander, and 200 soldiers; There are two canopy boats.
Zheng Yi, the trainee captain of Beihai No. 1, looked through the telescope and saw that the Qing troops under the beacon tower were already in a mess. After a minute, the beacon tower had not been lit yet.
"What a bunch of rubbish!" Zheng Yi was ridiculing in his heart. He was about to ask Deng Fei through the walkie-talkie if he could fire the cannon. Suddenly, he heard the "booming" sound of cannons coming from the thunder, and the surroundings of the beacon tower instantly burst into flames and filled with smoke. A few minutes later, when Zheng raised his telescope again and again, he saw that the beacon tower had turned into a pile of rubble.
Ten minutes later, three assault boats capable of carrying 16 people were slowly lowered from the deck of the Thunder, and a platoon of the North Marine Corps began to land.
Their goal was to open a landing site and measure the water depth at the Qingjun Shuiying Shipyard located in Yuchichi Bay, so that Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 could dock. As the next two platoons landed one after another, more and more Northern Navy soldiers wearing camouflage military uniforms, with skin colors that were red and black blown by the sea breeze, began to appear on the coast. An hour later, Deng Fei also came ashore with his own guard squad.
Another hour later, when Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 began to dock at the pier of Fish Farm Bay, the local garrison of the Qing army finally appeared in the sight of the Beihai Navy.
Deng Fei held up the telescope and observed for a long time, and finally determined that this group of people only numbered a hundred or so. Except for the military attaché on horseback at the head, the rest of the Qing army wore nothing but shabby clothes! If it weren't for the writing on the chest of their uniforms, no one would think that these were the local Green Battalion troops.
When the guys tentatively approached, still four hundred meters away from the makeshift position, the Marines opened fire. To Deng Fei's surprise, the Qing army turned around and ran away as soon as they heard a few gunshots. A few minutes later, no Qing army could be seen in the distance except for an unlucky man who was shot in the thigh and yelled "Ouch".
Deng Fei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Is this the Green Camp?"
