The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 36: Mr. Huang, I just want to ask you if you are afraid? (I just want to ask everyone to follow me? Please read it!)
The biggest local tyrant and evil gentry in the border area of ​​Lingling, Ningyuan and Daozhou is Mr. Huang Shijie from Etang Town, Daozhou!

This Mr. Huang is not old, he is only twenty-five or twenty-six this year. The reason why he is called "Master" is because his family has a lot of land. The richest family in Daozhou is his. All the land around Etang Town belongs to the Huang family, and it all belongs to him!

The second reason is that Huang Shijie passed the imperial examination a few years ago and was a scholar with a great reputation!

Don’t think that being a “scholar” is worthless, you’ll find out how difficult it is when you take the exam!
Normally, the admission rate for scholars is only about one percent.

Among a hundred scholars, only one can pass the examination to become a scholar, which is very difficult.

Hong Xiuquan was so capable, but he only passed the first stage of the examination for a scholar - the county examination. Then he was rejected when he went to Guangzhou to take the prefectural examination. He failed several times in the examination. In the end, he had no choice but to rebel and become the king.

When Mr. Huang Shijie was 22 years old, he passed the imperial examinations successfully and became a scholar with the first place in Yongzhou Prefecture.

There is no doubt about the quality of this scholar, he is definitely a top student.

However, "Huang Xueba" had great ambitions, so after he passed the examination for a scholar, he did not rush to take the examination for a juren. Instead, he went to study at the famous Chengnan Academy in Changsha Prefecture, and became a disciple of Mr. Luo Zenan, a famous Confucian scholar of the Jingshi School.

This Jingshi School was not a school of rote learning, but a school of practical application. Officials from the Jingshi School were more capable of doing things and were more likely to stick together. During the Daoguang period, Tao Shu, He Changling, and Wei Yuan, several famous officials and scholars from Hunan, emerged and became role models for the younger generations in Hunan.

Therefore, Mr. Huang Shijie also wanted to follow in the footsteps of Tao Shu and He Changling, two predecessors from the same province. He not only wanted to learn how to write eight-legged essays, but also to learn practical skills so that he could rise to a high position in the future after passing the imperial examination!

This ideal is certainly very hopeful, but the reality is... a bit skinny!
Mr. Huang had not yet learned all the skills of Luoluo Mountain, nor had he had time to pass the imperial examinations and become a Qing citizen who could serve the court, but the Taiping Army was about to reach his "doorstep" - almost all the land in Etang belonged to him, and even half of the land in Lingtang and Shuangpai next door had the surname Huang! The Taiping Army had already reached Lingling, north of Lingtang, which was equivalent to reaching his doorstep, wasn't it?

However, to Mr. Huang Shijie, the Taiping Army's attack was not the most terrifying thing. Aren't they just a group of traitors who believed in heresy?
There has been no shortage of rebels in the Yongzhou area since the White Lotus Rebellion several decades ago!

The White Lotus Sect, the Green Lotus Sect, and the Heaven and Earth Society would cause trouble every few years. Therefore, local tyrants and evil gentry like Huang Shijie had long been accustomed to rebellions, and had a mature plan to deal with rebels - that is, to organize militia, which could not only protect themselves, but also earn some fame by cutting off a few heads.

What really made Huang Shijie feel upset and even deeply frightened was that there were too many, too many poor people in and outside Etang Town, and they were getting poorer and poorer!
Although Huang Shijie was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and was also the famous "Jiangxia Huang Lingling Branch Huang", his ancestors were all big landlords. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, his family became industrial and commercial landlords! Not only did they buy land and collect rent, they also controlled the shipping on the Xiaoshui River. At its peak, the Huang family's old ship sailed north to Changsha and south to Guangzhou!
But since he was old enough to understand, everyone he knew, including his father, uncle, maternal uncle, and of course himself, had become poorer and poorer.

And they are getting poorer every year, with no sign of improvement.

Since the "Gengshen Incident" more than ten years ago, when the foreign devils came to the door, the Huang family's old shop, which had always been prosperous, has been in trouble. Business has been getting worse and worse every year! Except for the business of selling foreign cigarettes from Guangzhou to Hunan, which can still make a little money, there is no profit in other businesses.

The massive import of foreign cigarettes and the declining shipping on the Xiaoshui River made the once prosperous Etang Town extremely depressed!
In this huge town, apart from opium dens, teahouses, gambling houses, brothels and pawnshops, there seemed to be no prosperous business.

Huang Shijie's three uncles and two maternal uncles were also addicted to smoking. They smoked all day long and had no interest in business or studying. They were ruined and their family businesses were ruined even faster. Now they all needed Huang Shijie's support.
However, these situations did not seem to be a big deal to Huang Shijie, the great master Huang. What really frightened Huang Shijie was that even the Huang family's most basic rent and interest were becoming increasingly difficult to collect!

Yes! It's fear!

As a scholar-official of the School of Economics, Mr. Huang could certainly realize that the Qing Dynasty he loved was gradually coming to an end through the fact that rent and interest were becoming increasingly difficult to collect year by year.

Because those who paid rent and borrowed usury were the poorest people in the Qing Dynasty. Not only were they poor, but there were also many of them, and they were increasing in number and becoming poorer and poorer.

The apparent reason why rent and interest are difficult to collect is, of course, high rent and high interest! It's not that Mr. Huang is too evil, but there are too many poor people who want to rent land and borrow money. The rent is as high as 50% of the harvest, but there are still people rushing to rent!
And if the loan sharking rate is as high as 90% out and 13% back, there is no shortage of people lending money!
However, those tenants who had to rent land and borrow money at high interest rates would always fall into poverty and debt due to poor harvests, low gold and high silver prices, and lack of money-making opportunities other than farming. It was not just one household that fell into poverty, but all the tenants of the Huang family!

They really couldn't pay the rent or the interest.

But the problem is that even if they can’t pay the rent in full, they still have to continue renting the land!

Even if they can't pay the interest, they will continue to borrow money with compound interest!
Mr. Huang, who rented the land to them and lent them money at high interest rates, was by no means a bad person who harmed them, but a kind man who saved them.

Because only by renting land and borrowing money can they struggle to survive. Even if it is only temporarily!

But the fact that there are so many such people shows that there are more and more poor people in Yongzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, and even the whole world, and they are almost unable to survive!

What would happen if so many poor people couldn’t survive?
Based on the historical experience of the past two thousand years, of course it is... rebellion!

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, wasn’t it just a rebellion of poor people in Guangxi who couldn’t make a living?
Their heresy of worshipping God was just a cover for rebellion, just like the White Lotus Sect and the Green Lotus Sect. If there were not so many poor people from Guangxi who could not survive and joined, how could the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom be in such a state?
As far as Mr. Huang knows, there are more poor people who can't make a living in Hunan than in Guangxi.
"Mr. Huang, please be kind."

"Master Huang, give me something to eat!"

"Master Huang, please buy my son, please!"

Sitting on a slide, carried by two farmhands and protected by a group of militiamen, Mr. Huang, who was patrolling in Etang Town, suddenly heard the most terrifying sound in the world. He looked up and found himself on the most prosperous Dike Street in Etang Town.

Oh, it should be said that it was the most prosperous Dike Street in Etang Town in the past. Now there is no prosperity here, only extreme poverty, extreme poverty that makes it impossible to survive!
The so-called Dike Street is actually a street market built on the dike beside the Xiaoshui River, with shops on one side and berths on the other. Mr. Huang vaguely remembers that when he was young, he followed his father to inspect Dike Street, where business was booming and merchants gathered.

At that time, as long as the poor men in Etang had enough strength, they could find a meal on Dike Street.

If you have food to eat, you won’t rebel!
When they get old and have no strength left, they will naturally not be able to resist.

At that time, Mr. Huang was quite sympathetic to those poor coolies. He even felt that the world was unfair and there were too many poor people. He even fantasized that there would be a peaceful and prosperous era in the future where all poor people would have enough food and drink.

I didn’t expect that it was a peaceful and prosperous time!
Mr. Huang's eyes, filled with concern for the country and the people, swept over the beggars and poor people selling their children on the streets, and then he sighed: "Why are there so many people who can't make a living? More and more every day."

An elderly housekeeper took over Mr. Huang's question and answered in a hoarse voice: "Master, the water transport on the Xiangjiang River and Xiaoshui River has been cut off for almost a month. The boatmen who used to have food have no food. Isn't it impossible to survive? Now it is the spring famine season. The poor people around Etang Town and Shuangpai Town go out to beg for food like in previous years, but Lingling County is besieged by the Taiping rebels again, so the poor beggars are blocked in our Etang. They are so hungry that they sell their children. Master, you are kind-hearted, how about buying a few people?"

Huang Shijie smiled bitterly and said, "You still want to buy people? We don't have much surplus food these days. The least valuable and least wanted thing is people!"

The old housekeeper sighed: "Master, we don't want these people, but there are people who do!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Shijie shuddered. Yes, poor people, someone wants them now, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants them!
It's terrible!

(End of this chapter)