It is said that after Manqing pinched its nose and signed a secret agreement with Beihai Town, starting from late October of the 54th year of Qianlong's reign, a court drama began in full swing.
It won’t work if it doesn’t happen quickly. When Deng Fei finally signed the contract, he told He Shen, Liu Yong and Fu Chang'an that the Thor would come to the outside of Dagu every month for the past six months as a sign of supervision. This made He Shen and the other three very angry, but there was nothing they could do about it.
However, in the feudal dynasty, everything had to be done with respect and procedural issues. There must be a high-sounding explanation for the large-scale population movement of half a million people and sending these people out to sea. Although he appears to be upright and upright, and the emperor loves his people as his own son, he cannot let the people see it and cause the world to talk about it.
We can't tell the world that we can't defeat the Beihai Pirates and make it difficult for Qianlong to live a long life, right?
So under Heshen's instruction, the first person to appear was the censor of Huguang Road of the Inspectorate.
This person said in the memorial that I have heard that in recent years, many refugees have gathered at the border of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei provinces, and thieves have become more and more arrogant. There are unemployed and poor people, some are refugees, some are beggars, taking advantage of the opportunity to rob. After careful investigation, I found that these people were actually landless people who moved to different places due to natural disasters. Moreover, only a small part of the refugees are truly poor; the vast majority are young and able to make a living by themselves.
The reason why these people gathered in Nanba Laolin from Hubei was because there had been examples of Hubei feeding hungry people before. So these common people pretended to be refugees in the hope of getting relief from the imperial court, causing lazy people from other provinces to come.
In order to solve this problem, he suggested that the court send these people back to their original farming areas or send them to the coast to reclaim wasteland. They should not be allowed to stay in other places to prevent greater troubles.
After the document was handed over, Qianlong made an approval the next day, asking all the great scholars to discuss it in detail with Jiu Qing.
Then all the bachelors and Jiuqing came on stage. They all pretended to have a discussion, and it took only one day to reach an agreement, and then He Shen played back on behalf of everyone.
He Zhongtang said that in order to prove to the world that the Qing Dynasty is stable and peaceful on the occasion of the Longevity Festival, and that Your Majesty's kindness benefits the world, our opinion is that the refugees should disperse rather than gather. After our discussion, we suggested that some people be resettled in the Sheyang Lake area in northern Jiangsu; there is a large amount of coastal wasteland that is uncultivated.
Finally, Qianlong approved the matter and requested that the matter must be completed before June and not affect the Wanshou Festival on August 13th.
At the same time, he appointed He Shen as the general responsible, with full authority to handle refugee migration matters; He Zhongtang recommended his younger brother He Lin, so Qianlong promoted He Lin, who was still in charge of the official affairs, to deputy commander of the Han army in Zhenglan Banner. , appointed him as an imperial envoy to go to Sichuan to supervise the handling of the matter.
The migration of 500,000 people took a total of five days from the memorial to the imperial official, to the discussion by the great scholar Jiuqing, to the consent of Qianlong and the issuance of the edict, which was the fastest in the history of the founding of the Qing Dynasty. The most. If Yong Zheng saw his son's speed in doing things, he would definitely lament that he was not diligent enough.
In early November of the 54th year of Qianlong's reign, along with the 600-mile expedited horses dispatched to various places, the governor of Sichuan, the governor of Huguang, the governor of Shaanxi, the governor of Henan, the governor of Jiangxi, the governor of Liangjiang, and the governor of Hedao all received the letter. Oral.
In this edict, which was drafted and ghostwritten by Prince Jia and approved by Qianlong, the matter of sending the refugees to Beihai Town was stated in a high-sounding manner. However, the word "Beihai Town" was not found in the entire text. People who did not know what was going on read it and thought it was The emperor simply cared about the people's livelihood and wanted to send the refugees back to their hometowns to work in agriculture.
Although some of these officials had heard some rumors before, because the Qing court did not send an edict to the Qin Emperor for reasons of face, many people were still confused after receiving the edict and did not understand why the court wasted so much effort. . It wasn't until they saw the messenger sent by He Shen that they all understood.
At this time, Heshen's power was overwhelming, and no official in the country dared to offend him. These messengers were not only here to deliver letters, but also sent by him to supervise the progress of the refugees' relocation.
However, Qianlong and his son and a group of ministers had good ideas, but they greatly underestimated the complexity of the situation at the junction of the three provinces.
The ancient forests of Nanba are dense and obscured by ancient trees, making transportation extremely inconvenient. It is also very difficult for residents in the mountains to communicate with the outside world. Because it is located in a remote and inaccessible area, the governments of the three provinces are beyond their reach in management. As the saying goes, "Those who enter it will be blinded and cannot see the light of day, making it difficult to monitor and prevent."
Moreover, due to corruption in officialdom, official corruption was prevalent in Sichuan and Chu provinces at this time. What went up was ineffective, and local officials followed it indifferently. On weekdays, they only know peace and tranquility, and have no idea what repair is.
It is said that in the feudal era, it was not that imperial power could not go to the countryside, but that the cost of going to the countryside was too high.
Take Kuizhou Prefecture under Sichuan East Road as an example. Fengjie, where it is governed, is 1,740 miles away from Chengdu, and Daning, Wushan and other counties under its jurisdiction are more than 1,800 miles away from Chengdu.
Dazhou in Zhili is 1,200 miles away from Chengdu Prefecture, and Tongjiang, Nanjiang and other counties in Shunqing Prefecture in northern Sichuan are also thousands of miles away from the provincial capital. The exchange of official documents from the government took a lot of trouble. The government orders of the Second Division of Fan Nai could not be conveyed to the local area in time due to the long distance, and emergencies could not be handled immediately.
It can be seen that if the Qing government wanted to wipe out the refugees in Nanba Laolin, the governors of the three provinces must sit together and make an overall plan. If each province only focused on one corner, the effect would be ineffective.
The problem is that time waits for no one, and the edict makes it very clear that anyone who cannot handle this matter will be removed from office. Therefore, before the imperial envoy arrived, the three provinces had surprisingly the same approach, which was to clean up the homeless and beggars in the provincial capital and the prefectures under their jurisdiction, and to empty the prisons of prisoners.
As a large number of government officials were dispatched, beggars, stranded trackers, and even prisoners in cells, regardless of men, women, old or young, sick or not, were all put on ships or escorted to Jiangsu by land; The governor of Jiangsu, together with the prefect of Huai'an, sent them to Xuzhuang, Sheyang Lake.
However, no matter what kind of experience, under the cloud of corruption in officialdom in the late Qianlong period, when one is full of corruption, begging for money and accepting bribes, it is simply unworthy of one's own flower feather.
Dai Ruhuang, the magistrate of Dazhou, was old and covetous. In order to complete the tasks assigned by the governor, he actually sent 5,000 subordinates to raid his territory, detained countless property owners, and took the opportunity to extort money to make up for the shortfall since he took office. As long as they don't pay, they will be classified as refugees and escorted out of Sichuan.
Dangyang and Yunyang in Hubei went to the extreme. They first sent out government officials to inspect various places in prefectures and counties. As long as the accent was not local and there were no road signs or proof of security, they were all regarded as "refugees"; Those who fight, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, will be detained and money will be extorted in the name of being beaten into refugees. Afterwards, government officials were sent into the fringes of the old forests of Nanshan Mountains to wipe out the villages that had difficulty in paying taxes.
By the beginning of the 55th year of Qianlong's reign, one hundred thousand refugees had been collected from the three provinces and were being escorted out of the country one after another.
Whether they were trackers, beggars or prisoners, these people were originally without clothes and food. After all the hardships, many of them fell ill before entering Jiangsu.
The governors of the provinces along the way only sent troops to monitor these "refugees" crossing the border to prevent these people from escaping and wandering within the country. The Governor's Office of the Liangjiang River and the Governor's Office of the River Channel dispatched soldiers and ships to designate a large area stretching from Nochaoyang in the south, Wusha River in the north, fifty miles east of Funing County in the west, and the sea in the east as a restricted area, specifically for the purpose of resettling the goods transported from the three provinces. "refugees", waiting for Beihai Town to pick them up.
Very rewarding. For example, the people in Hubei called the three governors of Huguang, Bi Yuan, governor Funing, and chief envoy Chen Huai, "Bi Guan, Fu Shi Yao, and Chen Baobao."
In February, with He Lin sitting in Xiangyang to coordinate, and He Shen's constant letters of supervision, the governors of the three provinces agreed to take action simultaneously on March 3rd after a large number of letters exchanged and discussed.
Li Shijie, the governor of Sichuan, personally led the deputy general of the Chinese Army of Supervisory Biao Zhongying, the chief soldier of Chuanbei Town, and the chief soldier of Chongqing Town to Dazhou, and transferred 500 people to Supervise Biao Zhongying, together with the Zhenbiao Zhongying, Shunqing Camp, Dazhou Camp, and Tongmian Camp , Taiping Camp, Tongba Camp, etc. A total of 4,000 people marched eastward from Ningqiang Prefecture, Nanjiang County, Tongjiang County, Bazhou, and Lexiang County into the old forests of Bashan in northeastern Sichuan.
Bi Yuan, the governor of Huguang, sat in Xiangyang and sent 400 supervisors to bid for Zhongying. Together with the bids for Zhongying, Xiangyang Town, Yunyang Xie, Yichang Town, and Zhenyu Town, a total of 5,500 people were sent from Yunxi County, Baihe County, and Zhushan County. County, Fangxian, Xingshan County and Guizhou go west and enter the old forests of Nanshan and Bashan.
Qin Cheng'en, the governor of Shaanxi Province, was in Hanzhong and sent a bid of 1,500 people from the Zhongying camp, together with 2,500 from Ningqiang camp, Hanfeng camp, Yudu road camp, and Fuyang camp, from Qiangning, Fuyang, Ningshan, Xiao Yi, Baocheng and Gucheng go south and enter the old forest of Nanshan.
Three thousand officers and soldiers from Xiangyang Town, Yunyang Xie, and Yichang Town were dispatched into the old forests of Nanshan to search for refugees. At the same time, all beggars and refugees in the prefectures and counties under their jurisdiction were escorted onto ships.
A large number of merchant ships were mobilized, and troops were first sent to escort the trackers out of Sichuan. At the same time, Chongqing and its surrounding areas were put in danger. At the same time, the towns and officials in northern Sichuan were ordered to lead two thousand troops each into the old forests of Bashan to drive the refugees out of the mountains.
The third day of the third month of the lunar calendar was called the "Shangsi Festival" in ancient times. However, in the Qing Dynasty, it evolved into the "Ghost Festival" in Han areas. On this day, in addition to eating shepherd's purse and boiled eggs, people also go to temple fairs during the day. After returning home at night, they stay behind closed doors and set off firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. As the saying goes, "On March 3rd, the little devil lays down the bricks."
The refugees who live in the Laolin Mountains of Nanba will walk out of the mountains on this day and go to surrounding towns and villages to visit temple fairs or sell some mountain products in exchange for some food. However, what they didn't expect was that the kid didn't come, but the "officers and soldiers" who looked like bull heads and horse faces did.
At noon when the sun was shining brightly, as the officers and soldiers launched their attacks one after another, the temple fairs all over the place suddenly started to have chickens flying, people jumping on their backs, and cries and shouts coming one after another. However, what surprised the mountain people was that the officers and soldiers did not kill people indiscriminately, but forced them with guns and knives. After gathering the people, they tied them up with ropes.
Among the kidnapped people were not only the refugees in the mountains, but also many people from surrounding counties, villages and towns who came to watch the fun. However, the officers and soldiers didn't care at all. There were so many people that they could take the opportunity to extort money. So in the next few days, the family members of those who were mistakenly arrested came with Baojia to look for them. Faced with the blackmail from the officers and soldiers, they had to pay money to get their arrest. Those who came out of the mountains to look for their families were all locked up.
In this way, boat after boat of refugees were once again driven out of their homes and embarked on the road eastward.
Although public dissatisfaction boiled for a while, no one dared to resist. At this time, the Sanyang Sect was still secretly preaching in Henan and eastern Hubei, and at most it only extended its tentacles to Xiangyang; the secret society at the junction of the three provinces had not spread to the huge scale it would later become.
Speaking of Sanyang Sect, it has only been established for two years, and its predecessor was Hunyuan Sect. The so-called "direct sect of the Ming Dynasty, protecting and assisting Niu Ba" was instigated by them.
The "Sichuan-Shaanxi White Lotus Rebellion" that broke out in another time and space in history can actually be traced back to the "Qingshui Rebellion" in the 39th year of Qianlong's reign.
Although the Wang Lun Rebellion only lasted a month, since the Qingshui Church case was exposed and surfaced, it can be seen that the entire North China region is covered with the "evil cult" contact network of the Bagua system, which has been passed down from generation to generation and is intricately connected; many of them are It has been spread since the Ming Dynasty, and the latest one has been around since the early years of Kangxi.
And things like Shu Yuan and Hunyuan are also separated from the various hexagrams of the Bagua sect. For example, the Qingshui Sect belongs to the "Zhen Gua" in the Bagua Sect. When Wang Lun first started preaching, he called himself "Master Wang of Dongfang Zhen Palace". In history, Zhen Gua was one of the important forces during the Tianli Rebellion during the Jiaqing period.
In April of the 55th year of Qianlong's reign, in a yard outside Zhijiang County, Jingzhou, a group of common people were kneeling on the ground and praying devoutly. In front of them was an incense table, and a thin old man in his fifties, wearing a cassock, kept making incantations on his hands, and muttered something in his mouth:
"Sincerity is the gift of surrender. I believe in the incense and think about the sand world around me. I invite you - the incense fires are burning in the furnace, and the incense smoke is faintly playing at the gate of heaven. What kind of gods will you invite and what kind of soldiers you will send! I invite you - the incense smoke spreads in all directions, and I invite the heavenly soldiers to come from the sky. Surrender, please get the soldiers from the ground to come from the ground. Around the twenty-eighth night, thirty-six divisions guard the altar door, six Dingliujia protect my body, the Eight Great Vajras descend, I burn incense now to appeal, and I hope the incense altar descends as a proof... ..."
After this man played tricks, more than a hundred people kneeling in the courtyard came forward one after another, and dropped a bunch of broken silver, or even more than a dozen copper coins into the merit box. There is a table next to the merit box, and two people are responsible for counting the money invested by everyone, and recording them one by one in the book.
At the same time, another man in colorful clothes recited: "If you make a high-grade offering, you will get a superior body, and you will be taught the supreme Dharma; if you make a medium-grade offering, you will get a middle-grade body, and you will be taught the mysterious Dharma; if you make an inferior offering, you will get a lower-grade body, and it will teach you the method of solving difficult problems..." ..”
After everyone paid the money, they returned to their original places and knelt down, and began to chant: "Muyi Muzi's real name and surname, Muyi Muzi sees the real person. When the golden sword with the character Mao comes, when will we see the year of peace."
The old man in cassocks waited for everyone to recite for a while. When he saw his accomplice standing next to the merit box, he nodded slightly at him. Knowing that he had almost collected the money today, he said: "I have four mantras that I will pass on to you today, day and night." If you uphold it, you will be able to avoid disasters."
The kneeling people kowtowed quickly and said: "Please have mercy on me!"
The old man looked serious and said in a deep voice: "Those who follow my teaching will save each other in times of trouble and die in times of difficulty. They will travel around the world without holding a single coin. As the curse says, a dark wind will rise day and night, blowing countless people to death. Mountains of bones and seas of blood.”
Half an hour later, the crowd gradually left, and calm finally returned to the courtyard. The old man had already changed out of his robes and was sitting in the room drinking tea, swinging his legs happily.
Suddenly, there was a sound on the door of the house, and the old man hurriedly put down his legs, and the proud look on his face turned into a deep and compassionate look.
A man in his thirties came in, bowed to the old man, and said with a happy face: "Mr. Liu, today I collected a total of twenty-eight taels of broken silver, and five hangings and thirty-eight cents of silver." .”
"Well." The old man known as Mr. Liu frowned and said to the man: "It's still the old rule, you two can take half. Zhiqing, it can't be done here in Jingzhou. It's been four or five days in a row. It's only a matter of time before we get together." After collecting more than two hundred taels, I thought we should return to Xiangyang in two days."
The man said: "If it weren't for the government's extortion of refugees in the past few months, and those dog yamen and tiger and wolf soldiers extorting money, Jingzhou would actually be pretty good."
The old man arrived: "Is there any news about Sun Guiyuan that I asked you to inquire about?"
The man said: "Our people haven't come back from Jiangsu yet."
The old man frowned and said, "This is really strange. How come several living people suddenly disappeared?"
In order to prevent the large ships of the Northern Navy from entering the Bohai Bay and intimidating Dagukou, the Qing government changed the delivery location to Sheyang Lake in previous negotiations. As a result, Xujiazhuang has become the focus of attention from all over the world.
It was under such a situation that Xu Dayong, Zhang Beihai and their party returned to Sheyang Lake in mid-March of the 55th year of Qianlong's reign.
