The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 292 The Dawn of a New Era (Request for subscription and votes)

The autumn wind was howling, the sky was blue and clear, and there were no clouds in the sky. The hustle and bustle of Suzhou City had gradually subsided. People in and outside the city finally escaped a massacre and saw the dawn of a new era that had arrived ahead of schedule.

A brand new "King's Flag" has been put up on the ancient city wall, and the Xiangmen Gate in the east of the city is wide open. Both sides of the long street inside and outside the Xiangmen Gate are crowded with gentry and common people who are carrying food and drink to welcome the king's army.

The opening of this ancient city was almost bloodless. As the Jiangsu Governor Yi Liang led his men to escape from the Changmen Gate to Taihu Lake, the Chaoyong who was in charge of the rear guard immediately launched an uprising under the instigation of the Tiandihui and the Xiaodaohui, took over the panic-stricken city, and then opened the Xiangmen Gate in the east of the city, welcoming Zeng Tianyang, Li Shoucheng, and a newly reorganized Taiping Army infantry regiment who had been waiting there into the city.

After entering the city, this group of Taiping troops immediately displayed the demeanor of a royal army. Not only did they maintain strict military discipline and did not harm anyone, they also posted notices everywhere to reassure the people. In the name of Wu Wang Luo Yaoguo, they announced the policies of "dividing land outside the city, while things remain the same inside the city" and "protecting the mulberry gardens and silk industry."

On the second day after the vanguard troops entered the city and took over the defense of various important places in Suzhou, Luo Yaoguo, the holy angel of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the commander-in-chief of the upper army, the military advisor of the Westernization Movement, the chief lecturer of the God Worshipping Society, and the King of Wu, led a large group of troops and marched into this prosperous ancient city that was better than heaven, greeted by the gentry and common people of Suzhou.

Suzhou City is much larger than Shanghai County. Shanghai County covers an area of ​​only about 2 square kilometers, while Suzhou City covers an area of ​​14.2 square kilometers, which is more than six times larger.

Moreover, the urban area of ​​Suzhou City had extended beyond the city walls hundreds of years ago and in the four directions of southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest. Now it has formed four huge towns connected together, covering an area of ​​more than ten square kilometers.

Along the long street leading out of Xiangmen Gate, there are two- and three-story shops, inns, restaurants, and warehouses, one after another. A little further away, there are garden villas, pavilions, and towers of the rich in the city, each with its own unique style. Further away, there are houses of ordinary people, which are simple but can provide shelter from the wind and rain. All of these buildings are built by the water. There are docks in front of and behind the houses. A street is an island. Countless arch bridges are built over the flowing water, connecting these islands into one.

The water in Suzhou is all running water, which is part of the Jiangnan water network. It can be used for navigation, can be connected to the canal, the Yangtze River, and the East China Sea. It can provide extremely convenient, large-scale, and low-cost water transportation for all industries in Suzhou.

As the starting point of China's industrialization, there is no place more suitable than the Jiangnan water town.

There is no need to build railways or roads. You only need to buy a small steamer to tow a long line of open boats around the south of the Yangtze River. A small steamer with 100 or 200 horsepower can pull ten barges with a load capacity of 100 tons. The logistics cost is much lower than that of railways.

Moreover, these tugboats and barges can drive directly to the factory gate or even into the factory area!
Obviously, there was no shortage of labor in Jiangnan. At the outermost part of Suzhou City, there were now countless refugees fleeing the war. Most of them occupied a piece of barren farmland and built a simple shack. Fortunately, Suzhou City was only surrounded on three sides, and food could still be transported in through Taihu Lake. The rich families in Suzhou City were more powerful than those in Hunan, and they had spare money to provide porridge to these refugees, so that they could at least survive.

Now these refugees were mobilized by Zeng Tianyang and Li Shoucheng who had entered the city in advance, and Zhou Lichun and Liu Lichuan who were responsible for connecting with the Suzhou Tiandihui and Xiaodaohui. They sang "Welcome Taiping" in Suzhou dialect on the street outside Xiangmen.

It's soft and somewhat melodious, but it just doesn't have much strength!
No wonder there are so few Suzhou rebels in history.
However, Luo Yaoguo still controlled the Hunan-Jiangxi border headquarters of the God Worshipping Society, and the Yangtze River waterway was also unobstructed for him. He could easily hire soldiers who had been allocated land from Hunan, and there was no need to mobilize the people of Suzhou to help fight.

The new era ahead will require not only fighting and killing, but also a booming wave of industrialization!
After taking over Suzhou, a new era finally arrived decades ahead of schedule.

Now, the neighboring country Japan is still discussing how to deal with the Americans' "black ships", the Russian Empire has not yet begun reforms to abolish serfdom, and the chosen country across the Pacific has not yet started the Civil War.

However, China has already taken a half step ahead - a half step towards a new era of industrialization!
Next, as long as King Luo Wu could completely place Suzhou, Songshan, Taiyuan, Changzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Hangzhou under his and Zuo Zongtang's rule, roughly complete a round of land reform, and push capital and labor to Shanghai, the central metropolis where Chinese and foreigners live together, and then guide them, the first step of industrialization would be almost taken.
"Welcome His Majesty the King of Wu, and live a thousand years"

The pleasant, soft voice of Su Bai interrupted Luo Yaoguo's thoughts. He looked carefully and found that he had arrived at a long street with tall and decent Chinese courtyards on both sides. The masters wearing silk robes and hoods were already kneeling on the long street.

"Who are they?"

Luo Yaoguo asked. "King Wu, most of them are businessmen from the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce."

A middle-aged man with fair skin, handsome appearance and yellow robe stood up and answered in Su Bai: "They know that the King of Wu came to save the people and the world, and they are very moved. They have already collected one million silver dollars for the military pay of the King of Wu's army."

One million is spent right away, which seems a bit like the "Jiangsu and Zhejiang Consortium"!

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said to the middle-aged man: "Lichun, tell them that I will not touch any of their properties except their farmland, but their farmland must still be distributed to the poor tenants below! In the future, they are not allowed to annex land on a large scale. This is the way to curb annexation, which is the foundation of my kingdom!
Opium is strictly prohibited in the Kingdom of Heaven. All opium dens in Suzhou City must be closed within one month! As for brothels and gambling houses, they will also be banned in the future, but they are still allowed to operate in Suzhou City for the time being.

In addition, silk and weaving are the fundamental industries of Suzhou. This king attaches great importance to it. He wants to establish a silk guild, and all the big silk merchants in Suzhou can join. All the mulberry gardens of the members of the silk guild can also be retained and not divided up. "

"Yes."

Zhou Lichun accepted Luo Yaoguo's order with a smile, and then went to talk to the group of big businessmen from Suzhou Prefecture in Suzhou dialect.

Now, thanks to his silly daughter Zhou Xiuying, he has become the head merchant of Suzhou Chamber of Commerce, and his financial future is bright!

Zeng Tianyang, the old man, also came up with a smile, raised his hand and pointed to a magnificent gatehouse in front of him and said, "Your Highness, Prince Wu, this is Heshan Academy. The original office of the Jiangsu Governor was located here. Now it is your palace!"

Luo Yaoguo's Prince of Wu's Palace was previously located in Kunshan. Now that Suzhou City has been taken, it will naturally move to Heshan Academy on Suzhou Shuyuan Lane.

After all, this is where Jiangsu Province has always been located!
But from now on, running between Shanghai and Kunshan will become running between Shanghai and Suzhou, which is a distance of 170 or 80 miles!
It's tiring to travel back and forth, it would be great if there was a railway.

"Welcome to peace. Lately, it is hard for the poor to survive. The rent is high and the interest is heavy."

At almost the same time, the song of "Welcome Taiping" also rang out on the streets of Yangzhou City. A large sedan chair carried by sixteen people was slowly moving on the long street in Yangzhou City, escorted by thousands of elite soldiers of the Taiping Army directly under the command of Yang Xiuqing, the East King.

Yang Xiuqing lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and looked at the people kneeling to greet him on both sides of the street and the shops lined up one after another. The corners of his mouth curled up and the smug expression on his face could not be concealed.

This city of Yangzhou, the salt capital of the world, is now named after Yang!

This is all his "Yang God" territory!
He now understands that in order to truly become the "living father" in the current Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he must not only have an army and "divine power", but also territory!
Now Feng Yunshan has half of Hunan, Xiao Chaogui has Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou, Luo Yaoguo has taken over Suzhou, Songshan, Taihe and half of Changzhou. And Yang Xiuqing now has Yangzhou Prefecture. This "Eastern King" is truly stable.

Yangzhou has always been the commercial capital of the southeast, and it has Guazhou Port which connects to the outside world. What Luo Yaoguo could do in Shanghai, he could also do in Guazhou Port.

As long as Guazhou can rise, foreign guns, foreign cannons, foreign generals and so on will continue to flow in.
(End of this chapter)