Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 468 Annan's Ambition

In mid-October last year, just before Deng Fei signed the contract with the Qing government on behalf of Beihai Town, Zhao Xin sent a telegram to Xu Zhuang, ordering Xu Dayong and Wang Changsheng to return to Xu Zhuang and prepare to receive the refugees.

Since Xu Dayong and Zhang Beihai were both in Chongqing at that time and did not carry a radio, Wang Changsheng sent someone to Chongqing to deliver the message.The distance from Xuzhuang to Chongqing is thousands of miles, and it is also the dry season in winter, so it is not easy to travel by boat. When the messenger arrived in Chongqing, it was already the eve of the 55th year of Qianlong's Spring Festival.

At this time, Xu Dayong had already gained a firm foothold in Chongqing. He opened a cotton cloth store in Jiangbeiting City on the north bank of the Jialing River, and a grocery store in Ba County.On the surface, Wu Desheng was in charge of the business, but in the dark, Luo Sankui helped recruit the trackers.At the same time, with the help of Chamei, they quietly rescued the abducted women from various brothels in the Jiangbei barbarian camp.

It is said to be rescue, but in fact, except for a small amount that can be bought with money, most of them are directly robbed.When those brothel bosses found that they couldn't beat these people at all, they began to sue the officials.

However, the Jiangbei barbarian camp has long harbored filth, trafficked people, coerced prostitution, and done all kinds of evil things.Xu Dayong was sure of this point, and while he was spending money to bribe the government officials, Zhang Beihai led his men to deal with the brothel bosses one by one in secret.After four people died in a row, the brothel bosses in the Jiangbei barbarian camp gave in one after another, and no one dared to go to the yamen to file a complaint.

As I said before, the local government in Chongqing has a different system of "receiving missions" that is different from other provinces. Officials and servants must use this kind of gray income to maintain their salaries and administrative expenses; without these gray income, the government will have to close in minutes.

The government of the Manchu and Qing dynasties could pretend to be deaf and dumb even when buying and selling people, and even publicly covered them up, so it was nothing to lose a few young women in the brothel.In such an absurd and unruly reality, the officials and yamen servants had to support him after they collected the money and things used by Xu Day.

So in the second half of last year, Xu Dayong, a foreigner from the north, seemed to have become "a tyrant in Jiangbei".Outsiders thought that what he was doing was also human trafficking, but in fact the rescued women were sent to Xuzhuang one after another.

After finally the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Xu Dayong left two of his men behind, and entrusted the shop business in Chongqing to Wu Desheng and Luo Sankui temporarily, and then hurried back.

When the group of them arrived at Qingjiangpu and contacted the intelligence point located there, they realized that Xuzhuang had been completely exposed, and the contacts of both the Huai'an government office and the Funing county government office could no longer be used for the time being.

Although the Qing court escorted the captured refugees to Xuzhuang one after another, in order to ensure the safety of the canal, Jiangsu Governor Changlin and River Governor Kang Jitian sent a large number of soldiers to surround Xuzhuang on the north, west and south sides. Leave an exit at sea so that Beihai Town can transport people.

Except for the refugees who were escorted, it was difficult for outsiders to get in and out.At this time, if he wanted to go over from Funing again, he would tell the Qing soldiers clearly that he was from Beihai Town.

So after discussing with Zhang Beihai, Xu Dayong decided to go north to Shanghai Prefecture first, and then find a boat to go back to Sheyang Lake by sea.In order to deceive others, a group of more than 30 people took two sandboats, and finally ran into Liu Qirong.

After the three of Liu Qirong were tied up, they were sweating profusely in pain, yelled, knelt on the ground and kowtowed non-stop, which meant that they had something to say and wanted to talk to Xu Dayong.

Xu Dayong also wanted to learn about the influence of the Sanyang Sect in Hubei through Liu Qirong. Before that, Zhao Xin had warned him to be careful of the refugees in the old forest in Nanba, and it is estimated that there will be many Bailian Sect members.

So he threatened Liu Qirong first, and then someone took out the rag that was stuffed in his mouth.Liu Qirong knew that these people were not even afraid of the imperial court, and killing the three of them would not be a joke, so he didn't dare to shout at all.Afterwards, like beans poured into a bamboo tube, he told all the details of the Sanyang Sect that he knew.

Two years ago, Xu Dayong was extra careful and sent someone to set up an intelligence point in Haizhou City.So on the next day, with the help of my own people, I found a [-]-stone sandboat from Shanghai in the afternoon.

The bow of the boat was also a ruthless character, and he often did business with smugglers. Hearing that Xu Dayong had more than 300 of them, he asked for [-] taels of silver, and he had to pay first.

Although his asking price was extremely high, it was actually not expensive.Half of the 300 taels of silver will be bribed to the customs of Yuntai Mountain.

Whenever a ship goes out to sea in these years, the customs of the Qing court will register each occupant on board and issue a customs stamp.And if you are not a sailor on board, you must have a ticket issued by a dental bank; it must state your place of origin, age, appearance, what you are going to sea, and return home within a time limit.At the same time, there must be a "guarantee" issued by the Chamber of Commerce, the Dental Bank, and Baojia. Once an accident occurs, they must bear responsibility from the beginning to the end. Not only fines, but also a board.

Taking advantage of the few days before sailing, Xu Dayong spent two days repeatedly interrogating the three of Liu Qirong, and recorded the Sanyang Sect's strongholds in Hubei and Henan and the situation of its believers.As Liu Zhixie's eldest disciple, Liu Qirong knew the situation in the sect best, and confessed many secrets that were unknown to outsiders.

When Xu Dayong couldn't ask any more questions, the three of Liu Qirong were dealt with secretly, and their bodies were tied with stones and thrown into the Yanhe River.

On the fifth day after arriving in Haizhou, Xu Dayong and his party of 29 people boarded the sandboat in the dark and hid among the cargo in the corridor bucket.Sure enough, during the inspection before sailing, the customs officials and soldiers just pretended to look through the hatch, and did not go down to the cabin for inspection at all.

After the sandship set sail, it first sailed northeast out of Dapukou, and only then did Xu Dayong and the others come out from the bow of the ship.After sailing southeast past Kaishan Island, the sand boat clings to Wutiaosha and Dasha all the way south.

Xu Dayong's plan was to wait for the boat to arrive at the mouth of the Sheyang River, and then go ashore in batches by firewood and water boats.Unexpectedly, just after passing Dasha, I saw a large sailing boat moored outside the mouth of the Sheyang River. ! That's our ship!"

Looking at the big ship with dense masts that is more than twice the size of his ship in the distance from the bow, he was also shocked, and blurted out: "You, you are Bei"

Last year, when Deng Fei and the others intercepted ships to buy soybeans forcibly, as those ships returned to the south, it has spread wildly in various commercial, dental and shipping companies.Seeing that the tea trade season is about to start, those ship owners and merchants who bought the needle map at the beginning of the year ordered a lot of tea from Fujian and Hunan, and they are waiting to go to Jeju Island to sell it at a good price.

When the sand boat approached, Xu Dayong saw the words "Beihai No. [-]" on the bow, and immediately waved his arms excitedly.He definitely didn't know Guo Xuexian, but he was familiar with the captain of Beihai No. [-]. He had served as a sailor on the Thor before.

Two hours later, when Xu Da used the last one to board Beihai No. [-], he saw the captain standing on the deck, and immediately went up to give him a bear hug.

"Heihachi, why are you here?"

"Master Xu, long time no see. I have changed my name now, and the lord also gave me the surname Hai. You have to call me Hai Pingzhi."

"Okay, Heihachi. You still haven't answered my question?"

"That's it," Hai Pingzhi ignored Zhuang Zhu's rudeness, and took him to the captain's room and said, "Now the Jinglei and Thunder God are responsible for the transfer of people, and the Beihai No. [-] went to the south to pick up the fleet. The task is to guard here at the mouth of the Sheyang River to prevent the Qing army ships from coming to harass."

Xu Dayong said, "Did you participate in the naval battle last year?"

Hai Pingzhi said: "Don't tell me this, I will get angry when I mention it, there was a battle, and I haven't caught up yet. That kid Guo Xuexian has a good life, and he showed his big face."

"Guo Xuexian?" Xu Dayong said he had never heard of this person.No wonder, when Zheng Yi, Guo Xuexian and others were taken to Beihai Town by Zhao Xin, Xu Dayong had already landed in charge of the refugees.

The two entered the captain's cabin to find a place to sit down. Xu Dayong found everything fresh and looked around.

Hai Pingzhi brewed tea for him before saying: "Didn't the Ministry of Trade buy a ship from Siam before? Last year, Zheng Yi was sent back by the adults mainly to be responsible for this matter. According to the number of days, Beihai No. [-] should have arrived in Guangdong. "

After the Spring Festival in the 55th year of Qianlong, Zheng Wenxian, who had successfully impregnated his new wife, took Lin Daosheng, members of the Hongqi Gang, and more than 300 sailors recruited to the Siam Shipyard in Bangkok to pick up the ten Tang ships that had been waiting for a long time in Beihai Town. .

At this time, Siam had entered the era of the Bangkok Dynasty, and the Thonburi Dynasty had been overthrown eight years ago.However, the Bangkok dynasty still pursued a policy of preferential treatment for Chinese.Rama I himself had half of Chinese descent. Before he took the throne, he learned about the economic strength of the Chinese. After he took the throne, he still reused Chinese officials and did not harm the interests of Chinese businessmen.

For customers who can order ten large ships at a time, King Rama I sent his ministers to meet them after hearing about it, as a show of preferential treatment.

In fact, the shape of the so-called Tang ship is the Canton ship in the Chaoshan area of ​​the Qing Dynasty.The reason why it is called the red-headed boat is because the Qing court stipulated that the bow and the upper part of the main mast of Guangdong merchant ships should be painted red. The most obvious feature is the big eyes painted on both sides of the bow.This kind of ship has huge sails on the middle mast, and each mast has a sail at the bow and stern. When the wind is downwind, the speed is quite fast.

One of the reasons why Zheng Wenxian brought people from the Red Flag Gang to pick up the boat was to let these guys who only see the sea outside the Pearl River see what Beihai Town is like.Another purpose of his is to deter those pirate gangs who have defected to the Xishan regime.

After Nguyen Hui and his son sued for peace three times within one month last year, Qianlong believed that the Li Dynasty had lost the hearts of the people, so he sent officials from the Ministry of Rites to go south, and on October [-], Nguyen Hui was canonized as King Annan.Since then, the Ruan family and his sons have been in charge of state affairs in a legitimate manner. This is the Xishan Dynasty.

Due to Annan's long-term war damage, the treasury was empty and financial difficulties.Therefore, Guangdong pirates Chen Tianbao and Mo Guanfu, who had been in touch with Annan, suggested to Ruan Hui that they should recruit Haiyang to die, grant him an official title, fund military rations, and go abroad to plunder, so as to supplement the national use.

Ruan Hui adopted his suggestion, dispatched more than 100 Uship ships, and opened up [-] positions of general military officers, and granted them seals (Yizhao).He asked Chen and Mo to go back to Fujian and Guangdong to recruit more Chinese pirates, and let these people be guides so that they could invade Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang to rob.

When Zheng Wenxian married Xu's daughter in November last year, Mo Guanfu personally came to congratulate him with a big gift, intending to attract her.If he hadn't followed Zhao Xin to Beihai Town to see the world, Zheng Wenxian, who lives in Liyumen, would have agreed.It is said that even if it is Annan's chief soldier, he is still the chief soldier, and he is also protected by the Xishan court.

So, stop saying that the pirates in the tributaries of Cai Qian and Zhang Baozai are righteous fighters against the Qing Dynasty.They were transformed from impoverished Dan people and boat owners. They had only one purpose as pirates, which was lack of money.Robbing and collecting protection fees are what they are most happy to do, and when they earn enough money, they will think about recruiting security to land.

Let alone Zheng Wenxian at this time, even his father Zheng Lianchang didn't care about the "benefits" given by Mo Guanfu.Bullshit chief soldier, go eat shit!
Zheng Lianchang and his son first pretended to be grateful, and made some probing words. Only then did they know that the pirate leaders Wu Shida and Wu Shier entrenched in the Leizhou Peninsula had already taken refuge in Annan. , and the Xu family in Fujian.The more people he recruited, the more secure his position in Xishan Dynasty would be.

When Mo Guanfu exhausted his mouth and talked dryly, Zheng Wenxian said to him at this moment: "Brother Mo, we have known each other for many years, I would like to persuade you as a brother, do you know what you are doing? Colluding with foreign barbarians, trying to harm our Chinese people!"

"Let me tell you, the Manchu court didn't care about that Ruan, but that doesn't mean others won't. If Ruan Hui and his son dare to do this, the only end is that the country will be ruined and die! Brother, let me give you one last word of advice, this kind of immoral thing , can’t do it.”

Mo Guanfu has traveled across the Pearl River for many years, and now he is an official in the Xishan court. The Zheng family's Red Flag Gang is no match.But he was taught by Zheng Wenxian's young man that his nose was not his nose and his face was not his face, and he suddenly became furious.However, due to the Zheng family's wedding, he didn't like to get angry, so he left in a huff.

Then Mo Guanfu went to Xu's family to recruit, but Xu's marriage with Zheng's is as good as wearing a pair of trousers.The eldest of the Xu family has already heard a lot about Beihai Town from his son-in-law, and it is true that he can hug this big tree, so he doesn't have a good face.Although Mo Guanfu gritted his teeth with hatred, he still didn't dare to offend the Zheng and Xu families in the open.

When Zheng Wenxian took people to Siam to pick up the boat after the Chinese New Year, the Xu family also sent a lot of people to board the big boat of Beihai Town.

However, when the crowd drove the ten large boats back, no one expected that Mo Guanfu would lead Wushida, Wushier, Majia, Dapaobu and many others to ambush halfway, intending to kill Zheng Wenxian and capture him. Those ten Guangzhou boats.

So in such a situation, Guo Xuexian drove the Beihai No. [-] back to his hometown excitedly.

　With regard to the penalty of non-return of sea-going ships, let me give an example.In the 51st year of Qianlong, Jin Deyuan, a shopkeeper in Xiamen, was fined for securing a bond with Wu Changxing, a merchant ship who had not returned for many years.After Wu Changxing sailed from Xiamen to Xinghua in March 48th year of Qianlong, he stopped going to Xiamen for several years.During the period, he packed salt three times and sold it in Taiwan. Although he did not commit any crimes, the ship's license has expired for a long time, and it is illegal to return home to replace it.So Funato was sentenced to "eighty rods and thirty boards".Jin Deyuan, the shopkeeper, did not report to the search and mention of the ship he had secured for a long time.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)