Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 590 Disaster relief is a big question

Li Bi didn't tell Kong Shaoan what to do when he came up, but based on his experience in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, he explained in detail how the government did it, so that the other party could realize how deep the water was; If you please, you will be scolded by the people, which will affect the reputation of Beihai Town.

The official disaster relief in the Qing Dynasty was also known as the "Famine Policy", and the methods adopted mainly included deferment of collection, relief, pensions, and grain adjustments.In terms of measures, it is actually no different from later generations, except for the difference in administrative execution.

Since the "Gansu False Relief Case" in 46 of Qianlong, a large number of officials including Li Bi have been punished.Among them, 47 officials were executed, 82 were dismissed and sent to prison, and [-] sons of criminals were exiled to Yili.Even Min Eyuan, the governor of Jiangsu at the time, was banned three grades for hiding three taels of stolen silver for his younger brother, and the distribution of Yanglian silver was suspended for three months.

However, after the incident, although the local officials in Gansu took the precautions and dared not to falsely report the famine and false relief, many malpractices in the disaster relief process in other places are still common, from disaster reporting and disaster investigation to selling, lending, and extorting money. , Adjustment exemption, adjustment delay, the disadvantages are everywhere.Those who participated in the fraud included not only the undertaking officials and subordinate staff, but also Libao, noble gentry, rich merchants, health supervisors, family servants, local sticks and other people of all kinds.

Kong Shaoan asked suspiciously: "What is an earthen stick? Can't we tell the difference between those who are fleeing famine and those who have enough to eat?"

"The earth sticks are idlers. This generation is the most aggressive and aggressive. If there is a relief porridge, they will clamor and scramble. They will also grab the rice from the hungry households. They are not allowed to check the households. If it fails, throw bricks and stones, splash water and mud, capsize boats and destroy bridges."

Yu Shun interjected: "I've seen even worse ones before. More than 20 people drove the people sent by the government into an empty room, poured several buckets of manure into the room, and refused to let them out. "

Li Bi smiled wryly and said, "There are many disadvantages here. Those wealthy households don't need to come forward at all. They will collect refugees and beggars from the four townships, or let their servants come to collect them, and then share the profits in private. Moreover, since Jiaodong was hit by the disaster last year , there must not be much grain in the Changping warehouse, or even none."

"Damn! They should all be shot!" Kong Shaoan cursed through gritted teeth, and then asked, "How do you know those people need relief?"

Li Bi looked at the other party's face, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and then said: "A trial household. In a county, the people who are most familiar with the situation of the ten miles and eight towns are the people in the household, the government servants, and the local Jia. long."

"Reviewing households?" Kong Shaoan asked: "Is it just checking households? Determining the number of people affected by the disaster?"

"Exactly." Li Bi continued: "There are two purposes for checking households. One is to verify the disaster-stricken relief households and make a record. As the basis for receiving relief in the future. Apart from omissions and misreporting, the most common methods used by government officials and precedents are to make false statements and create false names."

"For example, if one household is divided into several households, or one person is moved to another, the household registration book has a name, but there is no one there. Furthermore, it is to report more households under the current household, as long as the government officials are paid. For example There are those who mix the servants and tenants of the squire's family into the Ding Register in an attempt to impersonate them; There are many merchants and tooth dealers who pretend to be the starving people's leaders on their behalf."

Kong Shaoan roughly understood that it was actually a matter of classifying poor households, and then determining the standard of relief according to the different levels.Since the classification of ranks is determined by the people in the government, there is room for manipulation.

"What's more, there is the need to extort and extort prices. Originally, the Qing government stipulated that the food, food, and paper and pen money of the relief personnel should be paid by public funds. It is a big public nuisance. When inspecting households, booklets, tickets, meals, paper, fodder for husbands and horses must be distributed according to households."

Ding Shun on the side interjected: "I saw it when the Henan disaster occurred in 51 years of Qianlong. The servants went to the countryside, and the peasants had to pay 'employment money' if they wanted to report hunger, and 'ticket money' to receive relief tickets. Who If you dare not to give it, the family will be included in the deleted households, even if the food for disaster relief is piled up in the Changping warehouse, but you can’t get the food if you don’t have money to buy a ticket.”

Li Bi sighed: "Exactly this is what Li summed up in fourteen words: only bribery is regarded, bribery is included in the book, and non-bribing is not in the book."

Kong Shaoan couldn't help shaking his head, got up and walked a few steps in the cabin, stretched his stiff neck, and said, "Is there anything else?"

Li Bi then talked about the various means of embezzlement during the disaster relief process, such as "debt deduction", what "the silver is short in two, and the money is short in the amount", what is "mixed with chaff, and the shortage is raised", and what " "Pre-requisition" and so on, it can be said that everything is used to the extreme, and it is shocking to play tricks.

Kong Shaoan's back was sweating when he heard this, and he thought that if the other party hadn't talked about so many disadvantages, he would have opened a warehouse to release grain as he thought before, and he would easily be cheated by those big households and subordinates without even leaving his underwear.

Everyone talked for almost two hours. Seeing that it was getting late, Kong Shaoan finally concluded: "In this case, Mr. Lao Li should write a booklet on relief matters, and write down all the tricks and tricks used by the subordinates. , let the troops and the task force use it as a reference."

"Respect is worse than obedience!"

At the same time, the four gates of Rongcheng County were closed in the middle of the night, and lanterns were hung on the city wall to light up the torches. In addition to the third class of yamen servants, there were also some young men who were temporarily recruited, each holding a knife, gun, bow and arrow, watching nervously outside the city. movement.A curfew was also enforced in all parts of the city. People were not allowed to walk around in the streets at will. Chief Jia arranged manpower to watch the night in every neighborhood, and if something happened, they would ring the gong to call the police.

A few hours ago, the rumble of guns in Yangyuchi Bay was faintly heard in the county town. Afterwards, with the defeat of the Qing army who escaped back by chance, the news of the arrival of the Northern Navy quickly spread throughout the streets and alleys.Before the city gate was closed, many people outside the city fled with their families into the city to avoid disaster.

Four years ago, Beihai Town took nearly 10 people from Rongcheng and Wendeng. Although this number of people is nothing compared to Dengzhou Prefecture, which has a population of more than 300 million, there is no news about those people who can leave. This has also led to various speculations among the people.Some people say that those people were sold by the short hair to the red hair in the extreme north, and some said that they went to the outer islands to become pirates and lived a life that was inferior to cattle and horses every day. People everywhere regard Beihai Town as a devil.

The retreat hall of the county government office was brightly lit, and the new county magistrate Yang Naiming, who was sitting on the main seat, was full of worry and frown.Sitting below him were the Master Registrar, the County School’s Instructor, and several big gentry families and elders from the Bi family, Ding family, etc., all of them sighed.

Rongcheng is located on the easternmost side of Shandong, facing the sea on three sides. The military relies entirely on the Chengshan flood garrison, and there is no regiment training in the county.Now the Beihai Navy has come up and wiped out the water village, and it looks like it will attack the county seat tomorrow.Although Yangzhi County has sent people to Wendeng, Jimo and other places for emergency, they can't quench their thirst far away, and it's not certain whether they can survive tomorrow.

"The northern sea pirates are attacking, do you have a plan to retreat from the enemy?"

At this time, everyone in the hall heard the county magistrate questioning, you look at me, I look at you, no one speaks.Yang Naiming was anxious and angry when he saw this, he got up suddenly and was about to roll the roll, when Master Qian Liang suddenly appeared from outside the door and winked at him.He knew something was wrong, so he went to the back hall under the pretext of changing clothes, and after a while, the master followed him.

"Master Zhou, what did you mean just now?"

"My lord, I know a thing or two about this matter. Everyone in the hall actually has an idea, but no one is easy to say."

"Oh? How do you say this?"

"The great talent has not been here for long, and a lot of inside information is unclear. The humble job only found out what happened from the housekeeper of the Bi family. Four years ago, the North Sea pirates came to Rongcheng, and robbed nearly 10 people from Rongcheng and Wendeng counties. , Some villages are completely gone, like ghosts. The former county magistrate Li then reported to the governor, and then he transferred refugees from Yanzhou, Taizhou and other places to make up for it."

Yang Naiming's eyes lit up, and he said, "You mean, the Northern Sea Pirates are here for Dingkou?"

Mr. Zhou said: "I think that I have to send people to negotiate with the North Sea pirates to find out. If it's just for Dingkou, then we can agree not to attack the county, and let them toss outside the city. As long as the city However, the county lord can also have an explanation with the governor."

Yang Naiming asked strangely, "Why didn't everyone in the Caitang talk about it?"

Master Zhou said: "Thinking about it, I'm afraid of taking responsibility, and I just wait for the county lord to speak. At present, the imperial court punishes the North Sea pirates fornication very severely. Once they are found out, they will be arrested and imprisoned.

"Oh!" Yang Naiming sighed, thinking that he still had no money, if he had money to do activities, he would never have come to Rongcheng.

"I have been promoted and commissioned by the Emperor Longen. Just when I am trying my best to repay him, but I have no soldiers in my hands. Otherwise, I really want to fight the North Sea pirates to the end!"

Master Zhou knew that the other party was committing hypocrisy. He wanted to be a whore and wanted to set up a memorial archway, so he comforted him and said, "It's not true what your lord said, but it's just that it can't go on in this world. The so-called 'those who seek good fortune and avoid evil For a gentleman', the city is safe, and I will be able to serve the court even more in the future."

Afterwards, Yang Zhixian returned to the hall alone, and seeing that everyone was waiting for him eagerly, he decided to ask the Patriarchs of Bi and Ding to go to Chengshanxun to contact Bei Haijun tomorrow morning, and wrote a letter to the magistrate himself in front of everyone. Stated the "strategy of defeating the enemy", stamped the big seal, and ordered people to send it to Dengzhou overnight. Several big families just fell to the ground, and they praised Master Yang for his dedication to the people. .Of course, filial piety is also indispensable.

However, the Beihai Navy's trip was destined to exceed the expectations of the officials and gentry.Just after four o'clock the next morning, the large force began to disembark, illuminated by the ship's searchlights and shore torches.After the procedures for changing defenses were handed over, the two companies that landed yesterday were also dispatched immediately, and under the leadership of two forts who surrendered to the Qing army, they went straight to the county seat.

More than 200 Beihai soldiers ran so fast that the surrendering Qing army leading the way couldn't keep up. In the end, they were dragged by two soldiers and ran wildly all the way. When they arrived outside the south gate, they were already out of breath.

At this time, the guards and young men on the city wall had been guarding all night in shifts. It was the time when their spirits were at their worst, and they were all so sleepy that they didn't even notice that someone was swimming across the moat and planting explosives.

At [-]:[-] in the morning, when the fuse burned to the end, there was a loud noise that shook the sky, and countless sawdust exploded towards the inside and outside of the city gate, and a big hole was blasted in the thick city gate.There is no distinction between men, women and children in the city, and they were awakened from their sleep immediately!

The squad that rushed into the city first quickly attacked the city wall, and then sporadic gunshots rang out.After a while, the suspension bridge crashed down, and the Beihai Navy, which was hidden outside the city, swarmed in.It didn't take long for several households who were observing the situation outside their homes near the south gate to notice that a red flag had been erected on the city wall of the south gate, with a white five-pointed star in the middle and a circle of concave and convex circles outside. The white circle is very strange.
At noon that day, Zhao Xin, who was in the North Navy Staff Headquarters, received a telegram from the "Jiaodong Detachment".He casually handed the telegram back to the staff for filing, walked to the map hanging on the wall, and looked at the various areas under his rule.

Zhao Xin in 1792 was destined to be busy, not to mention business affairs, just family affairs were enough for him to keep busy.

In March of this year, there was good news from the home of "Prince Zhao" that Shen Xuan, who had been silent for a long time, had it again.Just as Shen's family and Zhao's parents and Zhao's mother were happy, a phone call from Fuldan City shocked Zhao Xin again, and Tang Xiao was also pregnant.

Come on!Don't say anything, let's quickly build the new house in Whale Town!

Both women were pregnant with their own children, which ruined his original plan to go to India for a tour, so he had to go to Annan to leave a batch of supplies, and ran back in a hurry.

At the beginning of August, Wang Zhenyi, who was fooled by Zhao Xin to go to Siberia to see the stars, also returned to Beihai Town with A Miao.Wang Zhong didn't come back with them, but stayed in Chiyan City, and together with Jiang Fan and Jiu Zang, participated in the negotiations between Beihai Town, the Cossack Emirate and the Tsarist Russian Empire.

After more than a year of fighting, the Cossack Emirate has pushed its territory to the Ob River line, and the south is already bordering the Kokand Kingdom.Due to the backing of the North Navy, the Russians failed several times in their attacks, and finally had to seek a negotiated solution, and by the way recharge their batteries.

However, when the members of the Tsarist Russian mission saw that Krutogorov, who claimed to be the son of "Peter III", appeared at the negotiation site in Chiyan City, they protested angrily on the spot, claiming that if this person did not leave, the negotiation would not be able to proceed.Now the three-party negotiations have been quarreling intermittently for two months, but there is still no result.

When Zhao Xin was looking at the map, other people around him even lowered their voices a lot, for fear of disturbing him.You must know that many of the battle plans of the Beihai Navy were formed in the process of looking at the map in such contemplation. Everyone in the staff knew that once Prince Zhao was thinking about who, it was estimated that someone would be in trouble.

However, Xu Funan, who was the confidential secretary, was obviously an exception. At this time, he strode two meters behind Zhao Xin and coughed lightly.Seeing Zhao Xin frowning and turning his head to look at himself, he walked up to him and said in a low voice: "The island country has found out that Zhao Pingtai and Katsuyama Denzo have often met with people from the Tokugawa shogunate over the past year. By the time he came back years ago, the two had met with people from the shogunate a total of 23 times, and the Iwasaki Pavilion in Gion Kobe, Kyoto was the place where they met the most, as well as Osaka and Nagasaki.”

"What did you talk about?!" Although Zhao Xin had a premonition in his heart, he still didn't want to believe it.

Xu Funan sighed slightly, took out a bunch of bound booklets from his briefcase and handed them over.

This is a complete report on Heita's activities in the island country last year. It records the time, place and number of participants of his previous meetings with the shogunate. The content of the relevant conversations is not very detailed. Some are densely written, and more are few. Numerals.

Zhao Xin looked at it very carefully, and by the time he finished reading it all, more than half an hour had passed.Xu Funan noticed that although Zhao Xin's face was expressionless, the big hand holding the report was full of veins, as if the thing in his hand weighed as much as a thousand catties.Anyone who is betrayed by his subordinates will not feel good, let alone a cronies.

"When will you arrest people?" Zhao Xinchang hissed and closed the report, but he didn't hand it back to Xu Funan, but held it tightly in his hands.

"Our people are already in place, just waiting for your order."

Zhao Xin walked to the map with his hands behind his back, looked at the direction of the island country above, and remained silent. Xu Funan, who was behind him, only felt that the air in the staff headquarters was tense and depressing.

(End of this chapter)