During the Qianlong period, people were forbidden to use firearms? The answer is yes and no. Since the Shunzhi era, the Qing court has always had a swinging attitude towards folk firearms.
On the one hand, no dynasty is happy to see the people possess advanced weapons. The more rubbish the people's weapons are, the lower the government's cost of suppression will be. This is just like before the emergence of muskets, the governments of all dynasties banned crossbows and armor.
According to the relevant provisions of the "Regulations of the Qing Dynasty", for private private individuals such as vests, side cards, fire tubes, artillery, flags, trumpets and other weapons that should be banned, a staff of eighty, plus one level for each item. Private sinners are classified as one class of private sinners, and each sin can be stopped with a hundred rods and flowed three thousand miles.
Haha, the above regulations are completely copied from the "Da Ming Law", word for word.
But then again, judging from the management capabilities of ancient governments, it was impossible to completely ban folk firearms. Therefore, in the forty-eighth year of Kangxi's reign, in response to the Ministry of War's request to ban shotguns forever, Kangxi's reply was that the key to governing the world is political gains and losses, and has nothing to do with firearms. Besides, who in the world has more firearms than Wu Sangui? Firearms are not reliable, that's all!
Even so, during the Yongzheng period, there were still clear regulations on firearms, that is, the length of the gun could not exceed one foot and five inches, and each family could only have one. And if you need to use firearms, you must report it to the government. The one-foot-five-inch long matchlock gun was, at best, a handgun. Coupled with the government's strict control over sulfur and saltpeter, it was difficult for private firearms to pose a threat to the Qing government.
Firearms in the Qing Dynasty entered the civilian population in large numbers during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. The reason why strict control was required for a period of time was mainly because firearms frequently appeared in large-scale armed fights between natives in Fujian and Guangdong, and even native cannons were used. This is too much!
In fact, in the North China area after the middle period of Qianlong, the laws that strictly prohibited people from possessing firearms and saltpeter were almost empty. Two-meter-long shotguns were very common, and there were also examples of people buying twenty or thirty kilograms of sulfur and saltpeter at a time. Local officials will turn a blind eye as long as they don't stir up trouble.
Another interesting thing is that although there are many firearms among the people in North China, during the bandit gangs and anti-Qing uprisings, firearms were not used much. You must know that a two-meter-long matchlock gun requires many steps from preparation to firing. The barrel is made of wrought iron and is heavy. It is not as easy to use as a knife and gun. It is so exciting to just cut with a knife!
In the 42nd year of Qianlong's reign, the then governor of Shandong, Cathay, in view of the low combat effectiveness of the Green Camp during the Qingshui Rebellion, ordered his subordinates Zhuang to practice shotguns, which had the potential to "hide troops among the people." Qianlong sternly reprimanded this and secretly issued instructions to the governors of various provinces. The reason was:
"...Moreover, gunpowder is of great concern, and it cannot be easily distributed to the people. If we just drill shotguns and make people proficient in the chain method, it will not be helpful in fighting violence and preventing rape. In addition, the provinces There are many people who are skilled in firearms training, and we must guard against their disadvantages. For example, the case of Wang Lun, a rebel bandit in Shandong, who caused nuisance two years ago. Fortunately, a mob was not good at using guns, so it was wiped out in one fell swoop. This is a test... ..In each state and county, as they have established a strong civilian base, they should have strict orders and divisions, train with all their heart, perform ordinary skills, and defend with the same level as soldiers to achieve effective results. There is no need to practice for shotguns."
What Qianlong meant was that thanks to the Qingshui Sect being a rabble and not good with guns, they could be quickly pacified. According to Cathay Pacific's idea, the rebel bandits in the future may all use muskets and cannons to fight, and the court will still play tricks...
After Wendeng County was captured, Yu Shun took one of his men on a reconnaissance trip to Ninghai Prefecture. As soon as the two of them passed Tangquan Town, they felt that the atmosphere on the official road was obviously different from usual.
There was not a single person walking alone, and there were not many couples like them. The people on the road ranged from a group of a dozen to a group of a hundred or so. Whether they were servants or servants, they all wore leggings and bunting, and brought Armed with swords, spears, and muskets, they guarded the mule carts, squinting, and hurriedly heading west. Yu Shun wanted to chat for a while by asking for directions, but unexpectedly, those people stared at him and rolled their eyes as if they were guarding against thieves, as if they were ready to beat him up if his words were wrong.
The ravines and riverside villages along the way were as desolate as if no one had died. The children who usually played at the entrance of the village were gone. Every household closed their doors tightly, and not even the crow of the rooster could be heard. Occasionally, there were a few dog barks, but soon there was no movement.
Yu Shun and his companions finally saw an old man going out to fetch water, and his words were hesitant and vague. Some said that Wendeng City was completely killed by the Beihai pirates, leaving no chickens or dogs alive; others said that the county magistrate of Ninghai Prefecture ran away, and all the people in Fushan County also ran away; some said that the Beihai pirates came to Jiaodong just to arrest people. In the future, they will be sent to the far north and sold to red-haired ghosts... There are so many rumors.
Worried that there would be inspections on the official road, Yu Shan and his companions walked to the southern foot of Kunlun Mountain, then looked for the direction of the Jinshui River and then headed north. When we were still fifty miles away from Ninghai Prefecture, we saw a shadowy village standing in front of us not far away, with towering wolf teeth, strange rocks and trees. The two of them were tired after walking all day, so they decided to go into the village to rest for a night.
The village is right by the Jinshui River, and there is a street from south to north according to the mountains and water. But what surprised Yu Shun and the others was that along the way, the villages and towns along the way were full of lifeless streets and empty alleys. The villagers and people could not say more than three words before turning into sullen gourds, and everyone followed them. Hiding like a thief.
But the village looks peaceful and peaceful. Grocery sellers, bamboo and wood workshops, cloth shops, restaurants, inns, and wine shops on the north and south streets are all open for business. Although there are not many people on the street, many of the people coming and going are respectable people in long robes and mandarin jackets; in addition, there are old people leading animals, women taking care of children... and even shepherds can be seen in the distance on the east hillside. As the whip shouted, there were also women in twos and threes on the river beach washing clothes with wooden sticks.
How strange!
The two walked almost from south to north, and all the shops were full. Finally, they found a mule and horse shop at the northernmost end of the village. The houses here are quite big. They are lined up horizontally from east to west, and the tops are all open. The interior is made of reeds and partitions as high as one person, and is covered with mud to serve as partition walls. Yu Shun guesses that this place may be a livestock shed. .
There is no restaurant front facing the street, and there is only a door for large cars to enter and exit on the north side. There is a coal stove in the northeast corner of the courtyard where you can boil water for cooking. If you want to eat well, you can only go out and go to the street to find another restaurant.
The store clerk led the two of them into a room in the north house. Yu Shun saw that the walls of the house were blackened by smoke, the window paper was also dilapidated, and the cobwebs on the beams were gray. Even the door of the house is covered with thatch as a curtain. A few cedar boards were placed on a knee-high wall made of earth and stone to become a bed. The straw mat was covered with rotten grass. There were actually two mice scratching on the rotten mat. When they saw someone coming in, they chirped. He got into the hole under the bed.
The waiter saw that Yu Shun's companion frowned slightly, knowing that he was dissatisfied, so he smiled and said: "Don't take it too hard, you two. Someone has reserved a house like this. I said that I just came here yesterday. Maybe it's too chaotic outside and I can't live there." Come. If you two want to stay for a long time, ask a craftsman to come and clean it up tomorrow. Paper it up and change it immediately! If you don’t want to cook, the younger one can go to the restaurant in the south to bring you a food box. It will take more time to leave. A few big coins will give you everything..."
"We'll stay one night." Yu Shun responded with a smile, and then stood at the door looking around to see the entrance to the store. The companion behind him said to the shopkeeper: "Just get two basins of hot water and a charcoal basin to keep warm at night. Oh! Get a broom and we will clean it ourselves, and we will give you a lot of money!"
At this time, Yu Shun heard the sound of a group of men punching and guessing from the west compartment, mixed with obscene words, as if they were joking and drinking. Yu Shun turned around and asked, "Who lives in that house?"
The waiter deliberately lowered his voice and said with a strange look on his face: "It's a military man who came from the county. Do you know? The Northern Pirates landed from Rongcheng. They first massacred people all over the city in Rongcheng County, and then smashed them a few days ago. Wendeng said that he wanted to occupy the entire territory of Shandong! The soldiers in the county who were afraid of the pirates from the North came from the Kunlun Mountains and sent more than 30 troops to our village, with food and accommodation in our shop. You two, those gentlemen It’s really hard to serve, please don’t mess with me!”
The guy said and backed out. At this time, there was a soldier next door who seemed to be drunk, and began to sing at the top of his voice: "Sister-in-law has a beautiful face, just like the colorful clouds flying into the sky at sunrise, with a pretty melon-seed face that looks fresh without rouge. Her apricot eyes are like those of Diao Chan, and her eyebrows are curved again and again. Although she is not a Chang'e girl, she looks like an immortal sitting in front of her bed~~~"
"good!!!"
All the soldiers from the green camp cheered in unison, and then they drank wine at a high-pitched voice, hugged and kissed the children, burped their children, and talked about everything. The sounds of vomiting, laughter, crying, and noises came in waves, making it extremely noisy.
The companion whispered angrily: "The Green Camp is so virtuous, and they still want to fight with us! Sooner or later, we will deal with these guys!"
Yu Shun chuckled and said: "This is the way this kind of people are in this kind of place! This is your first time. I have seen too many before."
At this time, he saw the store clerk coming in with hot water and a broom in his arm. Yu Shun stepped forward to get the hot water and asked casually: "It's not as safe as here all the way here. Is it because I'm here?" Armed with troops?"
"Counting on them?" The store clerk glanced at West House, with a sneer on his face, and said softly, "Not to mention the pirates, the bandits are coming. They can definitely run faster than a rabbit! There are more than a hundred people in our village. There have been no bandits or military disturbances this year, purely because of good Feng Shui! You two didn't notice the people in long robes and mandarin jackets on the street. Many of them came from Ninghai Prefecture. We are not on the official road and far from the county seat. If anything happens, we can go directly to Kunlun Just run in the mountains."
Yu Shun and his companions briefly cleaned the guest room, and then soaked their feet in water. They originally thought of eating some dry food in the guest room and resting, but the next door was too noisy, so the two of them had to go to the street to find a restaurant. They ate while listening to other guests talking, and they didn't go back to the store until after midnight. At this time, the group of soldiers next door seemed to be asleep. They were all breathing loudly, snoring, talking in their sleep, grinding their teeth and farting... But even so, it was quieter than the noisy scene in the evening. The two of them thought they would have to travel early tomorrow morning, so they blew out lanterns and slept in their clothes.
Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, the group of people next door started making trouble again. Yu Shun and his companions were sleeping lightly at first, and their eyes suddenly brightened when the sound was louder; they only heard someone quarreling and cursing, mixed with a woman crying. Then there was a clang, like a copper basin falling to the ground.
Yu Shun and his companions all put on their coats and shoes, took out their issued pistols from their respective bags, and stood in the darkness at the door, listening carefully. The cries of the previous women seemed to have been silenced. After a period of dead silence, a rough voice was heard saying: "Damn you! You dare to ask me why I took someone? They gathered people to gamble at night, and even played in brothels to prostitute women. !”
"Master Jun..." At this time, I heard a man in the room tremblingly say: "This is my family... I have nothing to do, I am playing Dou Queer cards at home... This, this... this crime What kind of method is this? This...this is from my family, this is my sister, this is Xiaoxing...she is...a girl...no, no outsiders..."
As the man was talking, he heard a high-pitched voice shouting excitedly: "Ah ha! This turtle grandson is quite lucky! These three little girls are so tender that they are so tender that they can get wet with just a pinch. Your wife is also a live slut... ....”
At this time, a guy with a rough voice interrupted: "You say we are a family, who can be a witness?!"
"Master... we fled here from Ninghai Prefecture, where are the witnesses..."
"Don't listen to his fucking nonsense! Just now we entered his house to catch bettors, and they were so scared that they ran around. If this is a family, why are they hiding? Huh?!"
"Master Jun... we thought he was a strong... strong man."
The same rough voice said: "I don't have time to talk to you! These bitches stay here and get twenty taels of silver. It's none of your business!"
"Officer, officer, officer, officer!" The man before stuttered and begged: "We have money, but we are afraid of being robbed, so we keep it all in the bank here... I beg you to have grace for one night, and the sun will come out tomorrow. Just send it over..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he laughed in a rough voice and said: "Okay! You go ahead, they will stay here...hehehehe...bring money to redeem me tomorrow morning!"
At this time, a group of people cheered in unison: "Boss Li Shengming! You go back to get the money, and the women stay!"
"It doesn't matter if it can't be delivered tomorrow, it will be done the day before, no, the day after tomorrow!"
"That's right! The future will be better!"
At this point, Yu Shun and the two have understood clearly that these gangsters from the Green Camp, under the pretext of gambling, extort money from hotel guests and rape women from good families. They are really fucking useless! These bastards still want to fight with the Beihai Navy, and they will be beheaded and shot without any injustice!
At this moment, a woman was heard wailing loudly, followed by three other women wailing loudly one after another. The woman cried and complained: "What a murderer... I said the city is safe, even if the Beihai pirates invade the city, is it so bad? In the first few years, they attacked Wendeng, and even the government office was not there. Rob, there is nothing wrong with my sister’s family...it’s just kidnapping by bandits...there are still rules...you dead guy! You haven’t accumulated any virtue in eight generations...but I have long hair and short knowledge..."
Yu Shun couldn't help but nodded slightly when he heard the other party mentioning four years ago. Thinking that the only army in the world that has done no harm to the common people is the Beihai Navy, which he is loyal to, a sense of pride can't help but surge into his heart.
While he was thinking about it, the man spoke again, but without the pitiful cowardice he had before.
"Several officials! It's not easy to get to know each other. Why do we need to kill everyone when doing things? I, Shen Jiabao, am not an unknown person in Dengzhou Prefecture. Shen Yixian, the magistrate of Penglai County, is my cousin, and Mr. Lan, the prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture, is also mine. My friend, if it weren’t for official marriage, I wouldn’t leave Ninghai Prefecture! In this way, I said you choose one of the two articles of association. According to me, it is better to combine two good friends into one, and then they will be friends; if not, you can simply kill my family of five tonight, I agree Come on! I just want to advise you with one word, if you want to kill, kill no one alive, so as not to let disaster come to your door in the future!"
What he said was neither humble nor arrogant, neither hasty nor slow, and was loud and clear. He immediately suppressed the group of soldiers. After a moment of silence, a rough voice named Li laughed and said: "He is a man, and he can actually do this! He is not afraid of poor people who owe debts, but afraid of heroes who collect debts. We won't force you, what's the rules? Tell me!"
Shen Jiabao said: "First, I will write you fifty taels of IOU and let my family go; secondly, I will keep it as a pledge to let my family go. I will bring the money tomorrow morning, and it will also be fifty taels. Brothers, keep the law and order here. It's not easy. I want to play with women and get my money to Huacui Pavilion. If it still doesn't work as I want...I just said it, please do as you wish!"
There was a rustling sound, and the green soldiers in the room seemed to be discussing. The man named Li said in a rough voice: "One hundred taels! You guys are walking! I tell you, don't think about having any fucking government support to support you. If the state is lost, then he will also lose his head! I work hard here, not to mention not having a penny of salary, even the previous salary is almost a year in arrears! If I don’t make decisions from you people, I will drink the northwest wind? "
The monthly salary of green camp soldiers in the Qing Dynasty was first set in the first year of Shunzhi, and was revised again in the fourth year of Shunzhi. The standard was: horse soldiers in each town were given two taels of silver and three dou of rice per month; combat soldiers were given one tael and five cents of silver per month. Money; the guards give one tael of silver every month. Since then, a fixed system has been formed and has never been changed.
However, compared with the actual living needs of the Green Camp soldiers, this amount of money is simply beyond their means. I have said before that for such a small amount of pay, in addition to the generals taking the opportunity to withhold it, they also have to deduct "small construction silver", "pengkou silver" and "pengma silver" in accordance with the green business system. Then there was the green camp soldiers practicing shotguns, and all the gunpowder and lead had to be paid for at their own expense, which further reduced the military pay. Finally, prices in the late Qianlong period were three to four times higher than in the early Qianlong period, and eight or nine times higher than in the Kangxi era!
You must know that the salary of a general in these days is only three taels per month, while the salary of a thousand generals is four taels, with seven deductions and eight deductions. It is really difficult to maintain living expenses, let alone ordinary soldiers!
So when the rough voice named Li finished speaking, Shen Jiabao was also stunned.
In the room next door, I could hear ink grinding and pen writing. The two parties seemed to be writing notes and pressing fingerprints. When Shen Jiabao left with his family, he could still hear faint cries.
When Yu Shun saw that everything was okay, he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to signal to his companions to go back to sleep, he heard someone next door ask again: "Have you collected them all? Xiao Wu, how many are there?"
The sharp-voiced person known as Xiao Wu chuckled and said: "It's almost collected. Even those with the surname Shen are more than four hundred taels. Some of them only stay for one night..." Xiao Wu paused. He continued: "It will be waived. If word spreads, it will have a bad reputation."
But before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the guy named Li: "Qiu Mao! If you want to do good, become a monk! I just checked on the cabinet and found no identity or directions. I can't tell whether he is a good person or a bad person. Maybe he’s a spy from the Northern Pirates!”
When Yu Shun and his companions heard this, their hearts tightened. Knowing that the other party was talking about them, they immediately lost all sleep. They first took out the flashlight and two other magazines from the bag, then pulled the bolt of the gun and fired it.
At this moment, I heard a noise in the room next door. A dozen green soldiers carrying sticks and knives made a clanging sound when they collided, followed by a burst of footsteps, and then I heard the door next door slamming shut.
Yu Shun and his companions did not light a lantern or turn on the flashlight. In the dim light of the moon, they saw the straw curtain lifted, and five or six soldiers wearing uniforms rushed in.
