Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 595

During the Qianlong period, the people could not ban muskets?The answer is yes and no.Since the Shunzhi era, the Qing court has been vacillating about folk firearms.

On the one hand, no dynasty would be happy to see the people possessing advanced weapons. The more rubbish the people's armed forces, the lower the government's cost of suppression.This is like before the advent of muskets, the government of all dynasties banned crossbows and armor.

According to the relevant provisions of the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty", for all privately owned private vests, side cards, torches, cannons, flag banners, and belts that should be prohibited from military weapons, a stick is eighty, and each piece is plus one.Those who create privately will add one class to their private crimes, and each crime will be stopped with one hundred sticks, and the flow will be three thousand miles.

Hehe, the above regulations are completely copied from the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", word for word.

But then again, from the perspective of ancient government management capabilities, it is impossible to completely ban civilian firearms.Therefore, in the 48th year of Kangxi, in response to the request of the Ministry of War to ban shotguns forever, Kangxi's answer 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 can have more firearms than Wu Sangui?Firearms are not enough, so let's do it!

Even so, in the Yongzheng period, there were still clear regulations on firearms, that is, the length of the gun should not exceed one foot and five inches, and each family could only have one.And if you need to use firearms, you must report to the government.The one-foot-five-inch long matchlock gun was at best a handgun, and the government's strict control over sulfur and saltpeter made it difficult for civilian firearms to pose a threat to the rule of the Qing court.

It was during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods that a large number of firearms entered the people in the Qing Dynasty. The reason why they were strictly controlled for a period of time was that firearms frequently appeared in the large-scale fighting between natives in Fujian and Guangdong, and even native cannons were used.This Nima is too much!

In fact, in North China after the mid-Qianlong period, the laws prohibiting people from possessing firearms and saltpeter were almost empty words. Two-meter-long shotguns were very common, and there were also examples of buying [-] to [-] catties of sulfur saltpeter at a time.Among the local officials, as long as they don't cause a big mess, they will turn a blind eye and close their eyes.

Another interesting thing is that although there are many firearms among the people in North China, in the process of 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, and the barrel made of wrought iron is dead heavy.

In the 42nd year of Qianlong, Guotai, the governor of Shandong at the time, in view of the low combat effectiveness of the green battalion when the Qingshui sect rebelled, once asked his subordinates to practice shotguns, which had the tendency of "hiding soldiers among the people".However, Qianlong severely reprimanded this and secretly ordered the governors of all provinces. The reason was:
"The gunpowder is very expensive, and it is not easy to distribute it to the slaves. If you practice shotguns and improve your proficiency in a series of methods, it will not help you in the fight against violence. Besides, there are many people in the provinces who are skilled in firearms training. People have to guard against its disadvantages. For example, in the case of Wang Lun's harassment by the rebel bandit in Shandong last year, fortunately, a mob of people was not good at firing guns, so they were killed in one fell swoop. This is also the experience. The states and counties have established The people are strong, they should be strict and disciplined, train with all their heart, practice ordinary skills, and defend with the same resources as soldiers, so as to achieve actual results. The shotgun is one. There is no need to practice."

What Qianlong meant was that thanks to the fact that the Qingshui Sect was a gang of mobs who were not good at guns, they could be calmed down quickly.According to Cathay Pacific's idea, the rebels in the future might all go into battle with guns and cannons, and the court still plays P.
After Wendeng County was taken down, Yu Shun embarked on a reconnaissance trip to Ninghai Prefecture with one of his men.As soon as the two passed Tangquan Town, they felt that the atmosphere on the official road was obviously different from usual.

No one walking alone can be seen, and there are few couples like them. The people on the road range from a group of a dozen people to a group of a hundred people at most. Armed with knives, guns and earthen guns, guarding the mule cart, staring, aggressive, hurried to the west.Yu Shun wanted to ask for directions, but those people stared at him and rolled their eyes like thieves, as if they were ready to copy someone and fight if they didn't speak the right words.

The ravines along the way and the villages by the river were all desolate as if they were all dead. The children who usually played at the entrance of the village were nowhere to be seen. The doors of every house were closed tightly, and even the crowing of chickens could not be heard.Occasionally, a few dogs barked, and soon there was no movement.

Yu Shun and his companions finally saw an old man going out to fetch water, and their speech was also hesitating and slurring.Some said that Wendeng City was completely killed by the North Sea pirates, leaving no dogs or chickens behind; others said that the county magistrate in Ninghai Prefecture ran away, and that all the people in Fushan County also ran away; they also said that the North Sea pirates came to Jiaodong to arrest people Yes, they will be sent to the extreme north to be sold to red-haired ghosts. There are all kinds of rumors.

Worried that there would be inspections on the official road, Yu and his companions walked to the southern foot of Kunlun Mountain, and then headed north in the direction of the Jinshui River.When they were fifty miles away from Ninghai Prefecture, they saw a shadowy village lying in front of them not far away, with steep fangs, strange rocks and trees.The two were tired after walking for a day, so they decided to go to the village to rest for a night.

The village is on the bank of Jinshui River, and there is a street from south to north according to the mountain and water.But what surprised Yu Shun and his wife was that all the villages and towns along the way were lifeless with cold streets and empty alleys. Dodging like a thief.

But this 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 decent people in long gowns and jackets; besides, there are also old people leading animals, women with children...even on the east hillside, shepherds can be seen in the distance. The whips were yelling, and there were women in twos and threes washing clothes with wooden sticks on the river beach.

How strange!

The two walked almost once from south to north, and all the shops were full, and finally found a mule and horse shop at the northernmost end of the village.The houses here are quite big, with a horizontal row from east to west, and the tops are connected. The interior is made of reed grass to form a partition as high as a person, and it is pasted with mud to form a partition wall. Yu Shun guessed that this place might be a barn .

There is no restaurant frontage on the side of the inn facing the street, only a door for entering and exiting carts on the north side.There is a coal-fired stove in the northeast corner of the courtyard, which is convenient for boiling water and cooking; if you want to eat something good, you have to go out and find another restaurant on the street.

The store clerk led the two of them into a room in the north house, and Yu Shun saw that the walls of the house were blackened by smoke, the paper on the windows was dilapidated, and there were cobwebs and dust on the beams.Even the door of the house is covered with grass thatch as a curtain.A few fir planks were erected on the knee-high low wall made of earth and rocks to form a bed, and the straw mat was spread in a mess, and there were actually two mice rattling on the rotten mat, and when they saw someone coming in, they snorted He got into the hole under the bed.

Seeing Yu Shun's companion frowning slightly, the waiter in the shop knew that Yu Shun's companion was slightly frowned, and knew he was not satisfied, so he smiled and said, "Don't be disgusted, you two, someone has booked a room like this, and they said they came here yesterday, maybe it's too chaotic outside, so it's okay Come on. If the two of you want to stay longer, I will call a clerk to tidy up tomorrow. If you don’t want to cook, I will go to the restaurant in the south to bring you a food box. It takes a long time to leave. Reward a few big coins and you will have everything..."

"We'll just stay for one night." Yu Shun replied with a smile, and then stood around the door and looked around for the way in and out of the store.The companion behind said to the store clerk: "Just get two basins of hot water and a charcoal basin to keep warm at night. Oh! And take a broom and we will clean it ourselves. We should 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 room, mixed with obscenities, 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 the military master who came from the county. Do you know? Wendeng, he said he wanted to occupy the entire territory of Shandong! The county was afraid that the soldiers of the North Sea pirates would come around from Kunlun Mountains, so they sent more than 30 people to our village, and they all lived and ate in our shop. Ladies and gentlemen, those masters It's really hard to wait on, ye, don't provoke me!"

The guy said and backed out.At this time, a soldier next door seemed to be drunk, and began to sing a sentimental song with his throat squeezed: "Sister-in-law has a beautiful face, just like the colorful clouds flying into the sky at sunrise, with a pretty melon-seeded face, fresh without rouge. Xingzi eyes, Sai Diaochan, two eyebrows are curved and curved, although she is not a Chang'e girl, she looks like a fairy sitting in front of the bed~~~"

"it is good!!!"

All the green battalion soldiers applauded in unison, and then poured wine in high-pitched voices, hugged and kissed each other, hiccupped, gossiped, and vomited, laughed, cried, and made noises.

The companion whispered angrily: "Lvying has such a virtue, and still wants to fight with us! Sooner or later, we will clean up these guys!"

Yu Shun laughed and said: "This kind of place, this kind of people, just like this! This is the first time for you, I have seen too many before."

At this time, I saw the shop assistant come in with hot water, with a broom under his arm. Yu Shun stepped forward to drain the hot water, and asked casually, "I've come all this way, but it's not safe here. I'm afraid it's because I'm here." Soldiers?"

"Rely on them?" The store clerk glanced at Westinghouse, with a sneer on his face, and said softly, "Don't talk about the North Sea Pirates, the bandits are here, and they must run faster than rabbits! There has been no such thing in our village for more than 100 years." Banditry and military chaos are purely because of good Fengshui! You two didn’t look at those robes and jackets on the street. Many of them came from Ninghai Prefecture. We are not on the official road and far away from the county seat. If something happens, go directly to Kunlun Mountains That's it."

Yu Shun and his companions cleaned the guest room briefly, and then soaked their feet in water.Originally, they wanted to rest in the guest room after eating some dry food, but it was too noisy next door, so the two had to go to the street to find a restaurant, and listened to other guests' discussions while eating, and didn't return to the restaurant until it was up.At this time, the group of soldiers next door seemed to be asleep, snoring like thunder, snoring, talking in sleep, grinding their teeth and farting, but even so, they were quieter than the ruckus in the evening.The two of them thought that they had to hurry tomorrow morning, so they blew the lanterns and went to sleep with their clothes on.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, the group of people next door started making noise again.Yu Shun and his companions were light sleepers, and their eyes sparkled when they made a loud voice; they could only hear people arguing and yelling, mixed with women crying.Then there was a clang, as if a copper basin had fallen to the ground.

Yu Shun and his companions put on their coats and shoes, took out their assigned pistols from their respective bags, and stood in the dark at the door to listen carefully.The cries of the women before seemed to be silenced. After a moment of dead silence, a rough voice said: "Damn it! Why do you dare to ask me why I take people? Gathering people at night to gamble, and playing brothels to prostitute women !"

"Master Jun..." At this time, a man in the room said tremblingly: "This is all my family... It's okay to be free, and I'm playing poker at home... This, this... this crime What kind of method? This... this is from my family, this is my sister, this is Xiaoxing... she is... a girl... no, no outsiders..."

While the man was talking, he heard a shrill voice shouting excitedly: "Aha! You're such a lucky grandson! These three little girls are so tender that they spit out water when pinched, and your wife is also a living beauty"

At this moment, a guy with a rough voice interrupted: "Ye said you are a family, who can be a witness?!"

"Officer...we fled here from Ninghai Prefecture, where are the witnesses..."

"Don't listen to his fucking nonsense! Just now we went into his house to catch gambling, and they ran around in fright. If this is a family, why hide? Huh?!"

"Master Jun... we thought he was a strong... strong man."

It was still the same rough voice: "I don't have time to talk to you! These bitches stay here and take 20 taels of silver, it's none of your business!"

"Official, official, official, official!" The man before him stammered and begged: "We have the silver, and we are afraid of being robbed, and we store it in the bank here... I beg you to give me one night's grace, and the sun will come out tomorrow." Just send it over..."

As soon as the words fell, he said with a gruff voice, "Success! You go, they stay here...hehehe...bring money to redeem them tomorrow morning!"

At this moment, a group of people cheered in unison: "Head Li Shengming! You go back to get money, and the women stay!"

"It doesn't matter if you can't deliver it tomorrow, the day before, no, the day after tomorrow!"

"That's right! It will be even better in the future!"

So far, Yu Shun and the two of them have understood that these bastards from the green camp are using the pretext of catching gambling to extort money from hotel guests, and even rape women from good families.Just this bunch of bastards still want to fight Bei Haijun, it's not wrong to behead and shoot everyone!
At this moment, a woman was heard crying "Wow", and then the other three women also mourned one after another.The woman cried and complained: "He who kills a thousand knives... I said the city is safe, even if the North Sea pirates broke into the city, is it so bad? In the first few years when they attacked Wendeng, they didn't even kill the government office." Rob, there is nothing wrong with my sister's house... Even if the bandit kidnaps the ticket... there is still a rule... You dead man! Eight generations have no virtue... On the contrary, I have long hair but short knowledge..."

Yu Shun couldn't help nodding slightly when he heard the other party mention four years ago.Thinking that the only army in the world that has done nothing to the people is the Beihai Navy, which is loyal to itself, and a sense of pride can't help but well up in my heart.

Just as 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 acquainted. Why do you have to drive people to death? I, Shen Jiabao, am not an unknown person in Dengzhou Prefecture. Shen Yixian, the county magistrate of Penglai County, is my cousin, and Lord Lan, the prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture, is also mine. Friends, I’m not an official relative, I still don’t leave Ninghai Prefecture! In this way, I said that you choose one of the two regulations. According to me, the two good ones are good, and they will be friends afterwards; if you don’t, you simply killed my family of five tonight. Yes! Just a word of advice to you, if you want to kill, kill a person and don't keep a single person, so as not to cause disasters in the future!"

What he said was neither humble nor overbearing, neither fast nor slow, with a loud voice, and immediately calmed down the group of soldiers.After a moment of silence, I heard the rough voice surnamed Li laughing: "He is a man, but he still has such a hand! He is not afraid of the poor who owe debts, but the hero who collects debts. We will not force you. What are the regulations? Tell me!"

Shen Jiabao said: "First, I will write you an IOU of 50 taels and let my family go; second, I will stay as a pawn and let my family go. I will bring up the money tomorrow morning, which is also 50 taels. Brothers, it is not easy to maintain law and order here. , I want to play with women and send money to Huacui Pavilion. If you don’t like it, I’ve said it just now, so listen to it!”

There was a rustling sound, and the green battalion soldiers in the room seemed to be discussing, and the surnamed Li said in a rough voice: "100 taels! You walk! Tell you, don't think about having any fucking government backing you, Dengzhou If you lose it, he will lose his head at that time! I have worked hard here, not to mention that I don’t have a single penny, even the previous salary has been owed for almost a year! If you don’t make decisions from you people, I will drink the northwest wind?”

The monthly salary of the green camp soldiers in the Qing Dynasty was first set in the first year of Shunzhi, and it was revised again in the fourth year of Shunzhi. The standard is: the horse soldiers in each town pay two taels of silver and three buckets of rice every month; Money; the guards give one tael of silver every month.Since then, a fixed system has been formed and has not been changed.

However, compared with the actual living needs of the green camp soldiers, this amount of money is simply beyond their means.As I said before, for such a small amount of salary, in addition to the generals taking the opportunity to deduct it, they also have to deduct "small Jianyin", "friend deducting silver", and "pengma silver" according to the green management system.And when the green battalion soldiers practice shotguns, they have to pay for all the gunpowder and lead at their own expense, which further reduces their salaries.Finally, the prices in the late Qianlong period were three or four times higher than those in the early Qianlong period, and eight or nine times higher than those in the Kangxi era!
You must know that the total salary of a man in this year is only three taels a month, and the general salary 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 surnamed Li finished speaking, that Shen Jiabao was also stunned.

I could only hear the ink being rubbed and the pen being scratched in the room next door. The two parties seemed to be writing notes and pressing fingerprints. When Shen Jiabao left with his family, he could still hear faint crying.

Seeing that everything was fine, Yu Shun breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to sign with his companions before going back to sleep, when someone next door asked, "Have you collected everything? Xiao Wu, how many are there?"

The shrill voice called Xiao Wu said with a light smile: "It's almost the same. Even those with the surname Shen are more than 400 taels. Some of them only stay for one night." Xiao Wu paused, and continued: "It's exempt It's gone. If it spreads out, it will get a bad reputation."

But before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by a guy surnamed Li: "Qiao Mao! If you want to do good deeds, become a monk! I just went to the cabinet to check, and there is no identity or guide. Maybe there is a good person or a bad person. Maybe it's the North Sea Pirate's spy!"

Yu Shun and his companions felt tense when they heard this, and realized that the other party was talking about them, they lost all sleepiness. 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 time, I heard a sound in the next room, a dozen Green Battalion soldiers carrying sticks and knives, clanging when they collided, followed by a sound of footsteps, and then I heard the door next door slam shut.

Yu Shun and his companions didn't light the lanterns or turn on the flashlight, but in the dim light of the moon, they saw the straw curtains "huh" lifted, and five or six soldiers in jackets rushed in.

　Kangxi's original words: "I think the way to govern the world is in the gains and losses of political affairs, what is the difference between firearms? Who has more firearms than Wu Sangui? Because of his rebellion, he will perish. Looking at this, firearms are not enough to rely on. You can know it. What you play doesn’t have to be done.”

　　
　
(End of this chapter)