Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 408: Jiawu Year

Autumn harvest and winter storage, another year has passed.

In the blink of an eye, the 19th year of the Guangxu period passed and the 20th year of the Guangxu period, which was the Jiawu year, arrived.

The Qing dynasty was in decline, and all kinds of strange things happened.

At the beginning of the Jiawu year, the first confirmed case of plague appeared in Guangzhou, located in the southernmost part of the city. In late February, it broke out in Nanshengli, where the bannermen lived on the south side of the old city.

By early April, the plague had spread all over the old town and broke out suddenly.

The sudden outbreak of plague spread rapidly through contact between people.

The speed of death and the number of deaths were so horrifying that the local coffins were out of stock and in short supply.

However, the Qing court was corrupt and its officials were incompetent.

In addition, due to the influence of feudal superstition, local officials not only did not attach importance to reporting, but instead prayed to gods and Buddhas in order to appease the wrath of heaven and eliminate natural disasters.

The relief agencies specifically responsible for epidemic prevention are non-existent and have hardly played any role.

The royal relatives far away in the capital had never even heard of it. They were enthusiastically preparing for the Empress Dowager's sixtieth birthday celebration.

At the same time, the settlers in Mushi River and other places under Changchun Hall launched a struggle to "obstruct the land survey."

They destroyed the Qingfu Bureau and the Official Salt Bureau in Shuangchengbao and surrounded the Patrol Police Bureau.

The Qing court ordered Ding'an, the Minister of Military Training in the Three Northeastern Provinces, to transfer 500 soldiers from the Jilin Training Army's "Ji Camp" and the Heilongjiang Training Army's "Qi Camp", each to be under the command of Jilin General Changshun.

Changshun ordered the guard lieutenant commander Wen Yuan and the commander Ming Shun to lead the training troops to the west of Changchun and open fire to suppress the rebellion.

The Mushihe Thirteen Jia Yuedian Society was forced to lead an uprising, with no less than two thousand participants, including three or four hundred Chaoyang Jindan Taoist uprising masses.

Due to unfavorable combat conditions, more than 80 insurgents were killed or burned to death, and more than 200 were captured.

The rebel leaders Yue Dianhui and Liu Wanyou were killed one after another, and the rebels had to retreat separately to Shuangchengbao, Nong'an and other places.

Afterwards, the Qing army entered Shuangchengbao and Chaoyangbao, killing more than 700 tenants and causing a huge bloody massacre.

However, due to this uprising and other reasons, the Qing government no longer insisted on land surveying.

"Sir, the inspector, Lord Chen sent me here to deliver a letter, ordering you to go to the county town immediately."

In early April, Qu Shaoyang was handling affairs in the yamen when suddenly a runner led people from the county yamen in. When the other party saw Qu Shaoyang, they immediately said.

"Master Chen? Let me go to Tonghua City immediately?"

Qu Shaoyang was stunned. He didn't understand what was going on and why Lord Chen was so eager to let him pass.

"Yes, the master said there was an urgent matter and wanted to discuss it with the inspector." The other party nodded in response.

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, he quickly put down the documents and pen in his hand, stood up and walked out. "Come on, prepare the horses, hurry up."

County Magistrate Chen would not issue such an order for no reason. There must be something important going on above.

In the twelfth month of last year, Daotai Yuliang was transferred to Hedong Dao in Shanxi.

The successor was named Yilin, also a Manchu, who was transferred from Hedong Prefecture in Shanxi.

Before leaving, Yuliang specially called Qu Shaoyang over and the two talked for a long time.

Yu Liang had received a lot of benefits from Qu Shaoyang in the past few years, so he specifically reminded Qu Shaoyang that he didn't know the temper of the new governor and asked Qu Shaoyang to be careful.

When Yilin arrived in Phoenix City and took over the post of governor of the Eastern Circuit, he indeed reorganized a group of people.

Fortunately, Qu Shaoyang was far away and his rank was not high, so he was able to escape.

Since then, Qu Shaoyang has been much more low-key and rarely shows up.

Now, Qu Shaoyang is also trying to find connections and channels to get in touch with the new Taotai, but there has been no progress. Once Yuliang is gone, County Magistrate Chen will be Qu Shaoyang's only remaining supporter, so he naturally cannot neglect him.

So when the county official said this, Qu Shaoyang immediately ordered his men to prepare horses and led his men to the county town.

As for the person who came to deliver the letter, he was arranged by the people in the yamen to eat first and then rest. After he was full and rested, he could go back to report.

Qu Shaoyang and his men rode their horses at full speed and arrived at Tonghua City the next morning.

"Your humble servant greets you, sir." When Qu Shaoyang arrived at the county government office and saw County Magistrate Chen, he hurriedly stepped forward to pay his respects.

"My dear nephew Shaoyang, please stop wasting your energy and come here quickly. I have something important to discuss with you."

When County Magistrate Chen saw Qu Shaoyang arriving, he waved to him and asked him to come closer.

Qu Shaoyang took two steps forward, and County Magistrate Chen took out a document from the desk and handed it to Qu Shaoyang.

Qu Shaoyang took it and looked at it, and he understood what was going on.

On March 18, the Qing court ordered Yu Lu to issue an order to the deputy governors of all cities in Fengtian.

Subsequently, mining was banned in all mining areas of the province, whether in the hinterland or along the border, to prevent outsiders from coveting the mines.

When the news reached Tonghua City, County Magistrate Chen could no longer remain calm and went to discuss the matter with Qu Shaoyang.

The Damiaogou gold mine had a considerable output last year. A group of officials in the county government took away 80,000 taels of gold, of which County Magistrate Chen took 50,000 taels for himself.

Without spending a penny and without having to worry about management, you can get 50,000 taels a year. It's simply a money tree and a treasure pot.

Now the imperial court has issued an order prohibiting mining, and with his source of income cut off, County Magistrate Chen is naturally unhappy.

Of course, the imperial court did not allow mining, so Qu Shaoyang suffered even greater losses.

Last year, the Sandaogou Gold Mine had a net profit of more than one million taels. The Mantianxing Gold Mine started late last year, but it had advanced equipment. At the end of the year, the net profit was 180,000 taels.

The main reason is that the veins of the Mantianxing gold mine not only contain gold, but also a large amount of silver, which is very valuable for mining.

Not only that, Qu Shaoyang also built two coal mines in Babao and Sanchazi, and started mining this year.

If mining is not allowed, won’t all the money he invested in the early stage be wasted?
Qu Shaoyang cursed in his heart. After signing so many treaties, ceding so much land, and paying huge sums of compensation, the imperial court did nothing.

Now they are making high-sounding excuses to avoid outsiders from coveting them. What a ridiculous reason.

What? Don't allow mining, and leave it all to the Japanese and Russians in the future? Bullshit, not a single hair will be left for them.

"Sir, this?" Although Qu Shaoyang was cursing in his heart, he couldn't say anything nonsense.

He just looked up at County Magistrate Chen, wanting to find out what he was thinking.

"My dear nephew, I called you here just for this matter.

You say, we were mining gold, but then we got this order from above. Wouldn't all our previous hard work be in vain?

If we are really not allowed to mine, how are we going to live in the future?"

County Magistrate Chen was naturally unwilling to stop there. How many people could refuse such a large amount of money?
After hearing this, Qu Shaoyang probably understood what it meant.

The people in the county government didn't want to give up the fat meat that was in their mouths, but they were also afraid that the higher-ups would really investigate, so they called Qu Shaoyang to discuss countermeasures.

What countermeasures can be taken? Just pretend to obey and secretly disobey, and guard against it with all your might.

Although gold mines and coal mines can be closed openly, they can still be mined in secret. Just act covertly and don't let the people above find out.

I just don't believe that after this order comes out, the Han family in Huapidianzi will really stop working obediently? How is that possible?

(End of this chapter)