Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 401 Tea Girl
On the afternoon of April 54, Qianlong's [-]th year, several [-]-stone large boats with black awnings sailed upstream along the Yangtze River and stopped near Chaotianmen Wharf in the northeast corner of Chongqing.

As soon as Qingming passed, more merchant ships came and went on the Yangtze River.There are dense trestle bridges on the river bank outside Chaotianmen, and all kinds of wooden boats are moored along the river bank and on every adjacent river bend. On the river bank, there are rows of shacks and shops on stilts. The streets are bustling with people walking like ants. , full of fun.

"Brother Xu, why is this place called Chaotianmen?" On the wupeng boat, several young people standing on the bow of the boat looked back and asked.

"Uh..." Although Xu Dayong had been to Chongqing once, he didn't know about such a thing.

At this time, I only heard a sailor who was swaying the oar say: "I want to let a few brothers know that the arch above is facing the direction of Nanjing, so it is called Chaotian. There is a saying in Baxian County, 'Chaotianmen, a big wharf, greet the sky." Guanjiesheng'. Here, the clang is Jieguanting."

A few young people from Beihai Town followed the sailor's pointer and looked around, only to see the yard with the vermilion gate on the pier.

Xu Dayong went back to the cabin, lifted the curtain of the boat tent and said in a deep voice to the man surnamed Zhang who was sitting and drinking tea: "Brother Zhang, look, that's Jiangbeiting City, and the locals call it Barbarian Camp." .”

Zhang Beihai took out a military telescope from a rucksack beside him, huddled in the cabin and looked outside for a long time before putting the telescope away.

The place name "Jiangbei" is still used in the history of another time and space.Chongqing in later generations belonged to two administrative divisions in the Qing Dynasty.Its main part is the combined area of ​​Chongqing Fucheng and Baxian County.To the north of this area, on the north bank of the confluence of the Jialing River and the Yangtze River, is Jiangbeiting City, where the Yamen of Chongqing Tongzhifu is located.The "Jiangbei Barbarian Camp" is located in Jiangbeiting City.

The so-called "Jiangbei barbarian camp" has been buried in historical archives in later generations, and even many Chongqing locals no longer know about it.On the surface, the Jiangbei barbarian camp during the Qianlong period was a diverse non-Han immigrant community; however, the real situation is that it was a large-scale red-light district for trafficking and coercing minority women into prostitution.

Xu Dayong also heard about it when he came to Chongqing last year, and he has paid attention to it since then.

At this time, under a mat shed on the beach north of Chaotianmen, Li Shangyuan, a porter who was sitting crookedly picking his teeth with a bamboo stick, kicked the butt of a porter in front of him lightly, and muttered: "Stupid!" Kui, the boat is coming, go and have a look."

"I want it." The porter called Sha Kui replied in a muffled voice, knocked the pipe pot on the ground, emptied it and stuck it on his back, and then walked over with his companion.

When Sha Kui walked to the river, those sand boats with the same flag had just tied their cables.From the draft of the side of the ship and the outer packaging of the large bales of goods on the deck, he estimated that the ship should be carrying cotton.

At this moment, the gangplank hadn't been put down yet, and seventeen or eighteen dental workers had already gathered on the beach, shouting loudly at the boat to solicit business.

"Renhexing, Renhexing, specializing in copper and lead. The sale and purchase are fair, and children are not deceived!"

"Jiyixing, specializing in raw silk and cotton~~"

"Zhengtaihang, Zhengtaihang, acting as an agent of northern and southern medicinal materials."

Xu Dayong was well prepared. He came from northern Jiangsu this time and brought a lot of cotton.So he beckoned the Yamen from Jiyixing to come over and asked a companion to negotiate the cost with the other party.

Due to climate reasons, Sichuan is rich in rice, but insufficient in cotton production. However, the textile industry is very developed.Therefore, when many merchants came to Sichuan, they came to Sichuan with goods and sold rice to Chu.

Sha Kui also came onto the boat at this time, and followed Yaren, waiting for the distribution of goods.However, when he caught a glimpse of Xu Dayong coming out of the cabin out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly felt that this person looked familiar, turned his head and looked again, and couldn't help opening his mouth in surprise.

"Xu, Master Xu, why are you here again?"

Xu Dayong took a look, and immediately grinned happily: "Sikui, why did you become a porter? How are you making a living recently?"

"Okay, okay." Shakui hurriedly responded, and then gave Xu Dazong a bow.When he raised his head, he saw a flash of light in the sky, so he hurriedly reached out to catch it; when he looked again, it was a broken silver coin the size of a soybean.This time he was very happy.

Among the trackers that Xu Dayong talked to last year was this silly Kui.

"Thank you, Mr. Xu, I wish you a prosperous business and smooth sailing!" Sha Kui happily collected the money, and then said to Xu Da: "A lot, thanks to my friend's care, I was in the porter's line after winter last year. Got a job."

Xu Dayong said with a smile: "It's fate to meet you and me. The job of delivering the goods is yours. I'll meet you for a drink in two days."

"Hey! Master Xu is too polite. Three. Ant (a kind of humble name for common people) is poor and picky, and he should not be treated so favorably by Master Xu."

When Shakui went back to call someone, and told the leader Li Shangyuan about Xu Dayong, Li Shangyuan rolled his big eyes a few times before saying: "Here again? Forget it! As long as he doesn't make trouble and does business honestly, It has nothing to do with us. Since he said that he wants to buy you a drink, then you can find out, if he wants to pull people away again, someone will take care of him."

In order to avoid trouble, Xu Dayong handed over all the sales and purchases of the goods to the dental bank.Afterwards, the soldiers of the inspection department boarded the boat and inspected the goods, tickets, and the road guide from Funing County. The group of people was divided into three groups and walked towards Chaotianmen along the stairs along the river.

Chaotianmen There are three gates entering the city here, namely the outer gate with "Ancient Yuxiongguan" written on it, and the subsequent Ermen Cave and Sanmen Cave.Just as Xu Dayong led a few people to the second door, he was suddenly bumped from the side and rear.When he turned around to look, suddenly a warm and jade-filled arms came.

"Ah~~" The woman who rushed over reacted quickly, just bumped into Xu Dayong's arms, and then pushed her hands away, her face flushed bright red.

Only then did Xu Dayong realize that the other party was a young woman who was sweating profusely.After taking a closer look, he found that the girl seemed to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, and she was very handsome, but her complexion was yellow.She was carrying a heavy bamboo basket in her hand, and she was wearing very ordinary clothes; a denim dress was divided into two pieces, with several patches on her knees, and a pair of straw sandals on her feet, which turned out to be natural feet.

Seeing Xu Dayong staring at her, the girl became even more ashamed and cursed at Xu Dayong.But because of the weird accent, Xu Dayong and his party didn't understand what the other party said.However, when the woman turned around and wanted to leave again, Xu Da grabbed her by the arm.

"Hand over it."

"What?"

The woman raised her head at this moment, and her beautiful eyebrows shook the people around her.However, for him who has been traveling abroad for many years, this little trick is really nothing.

"Hand over the things, or I will report to the officials." Xu Dayong sneered twice, and then gestured to the two soldiers at the second door with his chin.

The woman realized that she had caused serious trouble when she saw several burly men approaching her.She also planned to steal the sheep on a whim, but who knew that stealing the chicken would not work, and was soon frightened to the point of tears.

"Don't do this with me! I don't know how many people like you have seen, and once you are caught, you will pretend to be pitiful."

Seeing that the woman couldn't run away, and the pedestrians around her began to look at her, she took out a brown deerskin bag from the basket, which looked heavy.When she handed it back to Xu Dayong, she said bitterly: "What's the big deal, it's not because of the number of people who bully me, a weak woman."

Xu Dayong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and was about to teach the other party a few words, but Zhang Beihai beside him said with a straight face: "Girl, I think you have a good appearance, you don't look like a villain, why bother to do this? Just tell us it is."

"I want you to care! There are no good people in this world!" After finishing speaking, the woman shook off Xu Dayong's hand, turned around and walked towards the pier, and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

The group of people thought it was just a small incident, but when they passed through the Sanmen Cave, they heard a rush of footsteps behind them, and when they looked back, they saw the woman running up with panic all over her face. They all looked sideways.

"Help me! Someone is going to take me back." Seeing Zhang Beihai looking at her, the woman thought for some reason, ran over and grabbed Zhang Beihai's sleeve, her face full of pleading.

"Take you back?" Zhang Beihai was a little dumbfounded, thinking that this was none of his business.

At this time, a companion walked a few steps quickly, went down the steps to the Ermen Cave, looked out, and saw that Chaotianmen was a bit chaotic, and several men in green clothes kept pushing away the pedestrians blocking in front, and were running up quickly.

"Are you stealing from others again?" Xu Da pushed the woman's hand away, and said to Zhang Beihai, "Don't worry about it, it's none of our business."

Just as Zhang Beihai was about to leave, the woman's heart turned violent, and she knelt down in front of the crowd, pulled Zhang Beihai's trouser leg and said, "My lords, I escaped from the barbarian camp, they are going to arrest me Go back! I beg you to do me a favor, and be a cow or a horse in the next life to repay the Lord!"

"Barbarian camp?" Xu Dayong's eyes lit up, and asked hastily, "Are you a barbarian?"

"I was sold from Guizhou. Those traffickers will sell me to brothels again!"

As soon as this remark came out, Xu Dayong's expression suddenly became serious.He didn't bother to ask any more questions, and said to a few of his subordinates who came to Chongqing with him last year: "Find a way to block those people, and meet at the inn later."

After his companion understood and left, Xu Dayong said to the woman: "Follow us first, we will talk about it after finding a place."

At the other end, when those men in green clothes chased them outside the Sanmen Cave, the leader suddenly felt as if he had tripped under his feet, and then he fell headlong on the steps and rolled down again; while the other men in green clothes also They were knocked down by someone, and their buttocks fell headlong, their noses and faces were bruised and swollen.

"Damn you, why don't you have eyes when you walk? Why do you want to bump into people on such a wide road?!"

Several people in Tsing Yi wailed "Ouch", and argued in their mouths: "You foreign man is so rude, obviously you bumped into someone, why should you blame me for being the top three."

As soon as the two sides started to quarrel, pedestrians coming and going on the steps immediately surrounded them and began to chatter.The gatekeepers at Ermen Cave also noticed the commotion here, and raised their feet and walked up.

At this time, another spy from Beihai Town walked down the steps slowly to help the man in Tsing Yi, said sorry repeatedly, and clasped his fists and said: "My brother has a bad temper. Originally, the elders in the family wanted him to come out to sharpen his skills, but who knows? So impulsive." After that, he took another ten coins from his pocket, and said that he would treat some of you to tea as an apology.

"It's from me! My bones are about to break three times, and I can't make it without fifty cents!"

Two quarters of an hour later, Xu Dayong, who had entered the city, arrived at an inn near the Baoen Temple in Dongshuimen with all his twists and turns.The store clerk saw that a large group of men were staying in the store with a woman, so he asked a lot.But Xu Dayong glared and said that this is the maid I just bought, and the guy didn't dare to ask any more.

After the room was opened, Zhang Beihai led the woman into the guest room, and asked the waiter to bring tea, and then said to the woman, "It's safe now, can you tell us?"

The woman grabbed the front of her blouse and twisted it for a long time, hesitating and hesitating.Xu Dayong slapped the table impatiently, and said sharply: "If you don't say anything else, I will send you to the official!"

As soon as this remark came out, the tea girl trembled in fright, and immediately burst into tears.

Zhang Beihai raised his hand to signal Xu Dayong not to threaten, and asked in a kind tone, "What's your name?"

". Tea girl."

tea girl?What an odd name.

"Where are you from Guizhou? How about I pay someone to take you back?"

"Go back." Chamei showed a miserable face, raised her head and looked out the window, as if recalling the past.Gradually, two lines of tears trickled down, shook their heads and said, "I don't know the way."

Seeing that Zhang Beihai was very kind to her, Chamei then told the two about her life experience.

She is a Miao from Guizhou. When she was ten years old, she went to mow grass outside the stockade, but she was kidnapped. She was transported to Sichuan with other kidnapped girls, and after several changes of hands, she was sold to the Jiangbei barbarian camp. Brothel as a maid.This time, the traffickers were going to sell her to another brothel for prostitution, so Chamei escaped desperately.When she met Xu Dayong before, she also had no money, so she wanted to use the crooked ways she learned when she was a maid to get some money.

(It needs to be explained here that the "Miao people" in the Qing Dynasty did not only refer to the Miao nationality, but included more than 20 ethnic groups such as Miao, Dong, Yi, Yao, Zhuang, Shui, and Buyi.

"Miaojiang" also has a broad sense and a narrow sense. In the narrow sense, Miaojiang refers to the Miao-inhabited area centered on Guzhou (now Rongjiang County) in eastern Guizhou, while in the broad sense, Miaojiang generally refers to Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Areas inhabited by ethnic minorities in provinces such as Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong and Guangxi. )
Throughout the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, human trafficking was extremely rampant in Miaojiang, Guizhou. Due to various reasons, human trafficking has been repeatedly banned, and it has become a chronic disease that the Qing government cannot control.

In fact, this is related to the overall environment of Sichuan in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.In the early Qing Dynasty, immigration measures such as "Huguang filling Sichuan" were successively implemented to enrich the population of Sichuan, and the reality of Sichuan's vast land and sparse population also prompted and intensified human trafficking in neighboring Guizhou.

By the Yongzheng period, in the human trafficking market in Sichuan and Guizhou, a well-organized human trafficking transaction chain had been formed in which Sichuan dealers and Guizhou local households shared labor and shared spoils, and formed a gang of abducting and kidnapping human beings of various sizes. .

For example, Chamei, after she was kidnapped, she was first sold to the first-level human traffickers at the price of two taels of silver, a guy called a "ground stick"; She was resold to the second-level human trafficker "Sichuan Fan" for a price of about two taels; after the "Sichuan vendor" trafficked her into Chuanzhong, her worth rose to more than 20 taels.After each resale, the price can go up again.

Taking Songjiang Prefecture in Jiangsu Province at the end of the eighteenth century as an example, the market price of a stone of rice ranged from 3 to 4 renminbi.In other words, the life of a tea girl is equivalent to [-]~[-] Shimi of Songjiang Prefecture.

The price of reselling a person has skyrocketed from "two or three taels" in the "origin" to "more than twenty taels" in the "destination", which will inevitably drive a group of desperadoes to take risks and engage in this lucrative illegal business.

Although the Manchu and Qing dynasties had severely cracked down on it during the Yongzheng period, since the trading of slaves and maidservants in the Ming and Qing dynasties was an officially permitted market behavior, it has been banned repeatedly.

According to the "Law of Slightly Selling People" in the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", human traffickers can go to Guizhou to buy and sell people, but there is a limit to the number of people bought and sold, generally no more than 4 to 5, and they must be appointed by the government. Register and record with the media, so that the government can understand the number, origin and flow of the trafficked population.

To put it simply, human trafficking is fine, but the quantity should not be too large, and government orders must be obeyed.

However, in the actual implementation process, it is easy to allow human traffickers to enter Guizhou, but it is very difficult to restrain and supervise them.Therefore, these seemingly carefully considered provisions actually provided a legal basis for the trafficking of people in Guizhou, and released countless people-eating devils on the land of Guizhou.

In fact, in this era, Han women also faced the fate of being bought and sold.In the feudal era, wives, concubines and daughters were a kind of "financial tool" to some extent. When a family faced survival threats, selling wives and daughters was a means of avoiding danger.

Economists of later generations discovered that the differentiated pricing of wives, concubines, widows, and child brides in many regions of China in the Qing Dynasty was basically consistent with the pricing laws of general commodity and asset trading markets.

(The most sensational one comes from a lawsuit file in Ba County during the Qianlong period. A woman surnamed Qin was sold as many as five times in eight years.)
Not to mention Sichuan and Guizhou, it is the mule and horse market outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing. Many people in later generations only know that there is a trade in livestock, but they don't know that there used to be a "people's market" there.

Tan Qian, who wrote "Guoyan", saw it with his own eyes when he was traveling in Beijing. There are mule and horse markets, cattle markets, sheep markets, and human markets on the inner street of Shunchengmen (formerly known as Xuanwumen). There are a lot of people who come to buy and sell every day, and the Argentines usually go to the other party's house after negotiating the conditions, either taking people there, or going to see the "goods".

As for Xu Dayong who went to Luoyang to buy the Chen Jishan brothers and sisters who inserted labels and sold themselves, that is simply too common.

(End of this chapter)