The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 613 Moore: It turns out that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is quite progressive!
November of the seventh year in the Tianli calendar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The locust trees on both sides of the official road in Dengzhou, Henan Province, had long lost their branches, and the dead leaves and yellow soil were flying everywhere. Three hundred Henan militiamen, under the command of a dozen officers from the old camps in Guangxi, carried muskets discarded by the regular army of the Taiping Army to clear the way. The fields on both sides of the official road were scattered with bones left by wild dogs, and half of the iron chain was still on the wrist bones.
"A few months ago, the news that the Heavenly Kingdom was going to distribute the land equally in Henan reached Nanyang," Dengzhou Magistrate Liu Tiesuo spat, a murderous look flashing across his scarred face, "The landlords in Dengzhou slaughtered livestock and burned granaries overnight. Those who couldn't bear to run away put their land in the names of their relatives and hid their family wealth." He pointed his whip at the charred house, "Did you see that? Three hundred kilograms of salt and fifty stone of moldy wheat were found in Mr. Zhao's cellar - the old dog would rather feed them to rats than share them with the tenants!"

Riding a big blue mule, Friedrich pointed to the bloody handprint on the broken wall in the distance and said, "So you burned down the manor?"

"Burn? That's too easy for him!" Liu Tiesuo grinned, revealing his yellow teeth. "The farmers' association nailed him to the door and paraded him around the village, letting the tenants poke him with bamboo sticks - this is called 'returning the property to its original owner'!"

Bai Siwen huddled in the mule cart and muttered, "Barbaric." Before he could finish his words, the mule cart ran over a frozen corpse. Half of the festering face was revealed under the straw mat. It was obvious that the person had starved to death.

Wanzhen clutched the curtains of the car and said, "Didn't you say that after the land is divided?"

"After the land is divided, the crops have to grow slowly!" Liu Tiesuo sneered, "More than half of the landlords in Nanyang Prefecture have fled. Before they fled, I don't know how much food they burned, how many livestock they killed, and how much gold and silver they took away. They all deserve to be killed."

Moore frowned, "It seems that other landlords don't resist like this."

Liu Tiesuo clenched his fists: "It was all Huang Ba Pi's instigation!"

"Who is Huang Ba Pi?"

"Huang Shijie, the governor of Henan Province of the Qing Dynasty," Liu Tiesuo said, "he is also the chief minister of the famous sect in Henan Province. The gentry and landlords in Nanyang Prefecture all regard him as their savior and hope that he will attack them! What a dream!"

It turned out that Zeng Guofan's good student Huang Shijie did not become the governor of Yunnan as he wished, but instead became the governor of Henan, guarding half of Nanyang and Shanzhou and keeping an eye on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's threats.

Although his territory was not large, Henan's famous religion developed well under his leadership, and there was a sign that it could compete with the Datong Society.

The group walked forward for a while and arrived outside a large castle. Liu Tiesuo suddenly rode his horse forward and said, "Da Fu! Your f*cking soldiers are more wealthy than my Dengzhou Camp!"

This castle is Zhangcun Town, a "hushi town" located between "Neixiang in the Qing Dynasty" and "Dengzhou in the Heavenly Kingdom".

Under the earthen wall of Zhangcun Town, dozens of guards wearing sable hats hurriedly put away their foreign guns. Mayor Zhang Dafu came forward with a bulging belly, several gold rings gleaming in the sun: "Thank you for your hard work, Magistrate Liu! Xinghua Village Restaurant has prepared a whole lamb banquet."

"Feast your ancestors!" Liu Tiesuo whipped the other man on the belly. "The Henan Treasury is still waiting for silver to cast cannons, but you can afford a hundred foreign guns?"

Zhang Dafu laughed: "Isn't this to prevent the yellow skin from being peeled? Liu Zhizhou, what are you doing?"

At this moment, Moore suddenly noticed seven corpses wrapped in straw mats thrown randomly beside the official road outside Zhangcun Town, and several pale-faced civilians were digging a pit listlessly.

Liu Tiesuo looked in the direction where Moore was looking and saw the corpse. His face immediately turned pale. "What's going on? Your Zhangcun Town is so rich, but people are still starving to death every day?"

Zhang Dafu waved his hands quickly, "They didn't die of starvation, they died of freezing. There is a porridge factory in Zhangcun Town, and there are merchants coming and going from the south and the north who are willing to give alms. Even the beggars from Qingyao next door 'go abroad' to beg for food. It's normal for a few to freeze to death when the weather gets cold."

Liu Tiesuo glared at him and said, "You only know how to quibble! The National People's Congress has passed the Anti-Corruption Law, which is designed to deal with people like you!"

Hearing the words "Anti-corruption Law", Zhang Dafu shuddered. He was really greedy! When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom officials in Huguang were greedy for money, they would find ways to exploit loopholes - that is, to make some money legally. If they were really investigated, they could still make excuses, but he was making money blatantly!

"My dears, Huangshi Chen Shiwan is here again!"

Chen Shiwan, the richest man in Daye County, Hubei, arrived at Zhangcun Town with Moore and his party. It turned out that most of the Daye iron he consumed was sold to the "Qingtian Market" in Zhangcun Town!
He lifted the door curtain of the Xinghua Village Restaurant and shouted, and then the aroma of wine and food mixed with the scent of cosmetics wafted to his face.

A horse dealer from Shaanxi saw him coming in and slammed the table in Qinqiang, saying, "Manager Chen, three hundred Hequ horses for five hundred dan of pig iron, is this a good deal?"

Chen Shiwan sneered, "Manager Li, don't I know what your horse looks like? It's as skinny as a donkey, and it can only carry 300 dan at most!"

The Shaanxi man slammed the table again and said, "Nonsense! I'll take you to the stable later. They are all fine horses from Hequ. They can be used as war horses!"

At this time, the obscene words of the pipa came from the private room on the second floor: "I touched it and I touched my sister."

Following Chen Shiwan, Friedrich frowned and pushed away the waiter who handed him the tobacco paste: "Didn't the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ban opium?"

"Banned?" Zhang Dafu followed with his belly sticking out. "You can sell it if you put up a 'foreign businessman' sign - look!" - Under the plaque of "Xi'an Tobacco House" opposite, a shopkeeper with pigtails was handing opium to a young man with cut pigtails and dressed like a scholar.

"This is called taking what you need." Chen Shiwan leaned close to Moore and whispered. He had been very close to the two "foreign masters" in Hankou, and then they went north together. "Pig iron from Daye, military horses from the northwest, and gunpowder from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau can all be traded here!" He suddenly lowered his voice, "Five months ago, Marshal Li's staff bought twenty 6-jin smoothbore cannons here."

In the private room on the second floor, Wen Xian finally found a familiar feeling. He seemed to be in a good mood and was scanning the street market with a telescope: "Is the 'Shaanxi woman' hanging at the door of the brothel really from Shaanxi?"

"There are also people from Gansu!" Zhang Dafu rubbed his hands. "Shaanxi and Gansu have been in chaos in the past two years. From time to time, people rebelled. The soldiers of Li Yaotou and Zeng Yaotou went to fight. They broke into the villages and captured the girls."

"Beast!" Wanzhen threw the tea bowl.

Suddenly there was a cry from the corner of the street. A girl in mourning knelt beside a straw mat, with a sign on it that read "Selling myself to bury my father, twenty silver dollars".

Bai Siwen suddenly had a kind heart and thought of his lost children. He took out his money bag, but was held down by Chen Shiwan, who whispered, "This girl has been sold for two or three years and has cheated many people."

"Ah, is this still possible?"

Zhang Dafu smiled and said, "Just to make a living. There are too many beggars in Zhangcun Town, so I have to find new ways to beg for food!"

You have to roll for food!

Friedrich took shorthand notes of the street scene: "The smuggling of iron for horses, the trade of opium and gunpowder, and the scam of exchanging human flesh for silver dollars. Is this the 'prosperity' of the border trade?"

"At least fewer people died of starvation." Chen Shiwan seemed to have seen the expressions of the two foreign Taoist priests, so he pointed at the porridge stall and said, "The porridge provided by the Qing Dynasty has only a few corn kernels. At least people can survive here for a while!"

In front of the steaming pot under the shed, more than 20 beggars were licking the bottom of their bowls. A militiaman from Zhangcun Town kicked away a lame old man who was trying to squeeze forward and said, "If you've drunk three times, get out!"

"Isn't there anyone here going to Southeast Asia?" Moore suddenly thought that it would be a good idea to go to Southeast Asia to help the natives release their productivity.
Zhang Dafu shook his head: "No, if you want to go to Nanyang, you have to go to Xiangyang Prefecture to find a way, but there are not many. After all, the farther you are from Haikou, the higher the toll."

Coming out of the Xinghua Village Restaurant, Moore and the others suddenly heard the sound of childish recitation coming from a private school on the side of the road: "When a man is born, his nature is good." - Through the half-open door, they could see several young masters in silk clothes shaking their heads, and the old gentleman was tapping a copy of the Three Character Classic on the table with his ruler in a rhythmic manner.

"Is this a new-style school?" Wanzhen was surprised.

"That's not available in Dengzhou," Zhang Dafu whispered. "The scholars in Dengzhou all believe in orthodox teachings and are unwilling to learn Western things. The King of Wu's set of Elementary Mathematics won't sell in Dengzhou!"

As he spoke, he secretly looked at the "British master" Wenxian, who nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay, it's better not to learn from the West, it's better to just recite the scriptures honestly."

Bai Siwen said sarcastically, "It's too late. It's too late to know the good of the Qing Dynasty now!" As he spoke, he took out a letter and handed it to Liu Tiesuo: "Master Liu, this is my handwritten letter to Huang Shijie. Find someone to deliver it."

"Do you know Huang Baopi?" Liu Tiesuo's face suddenly turned gloomy.

"I know him," Bai Siwen nodded, "but I'm not here to help Daqing. Daqing is dying, and I'm here to see him for the last time."

"No longhairs allowed!"

In front of the Neixiang County boundary marker, thirty Hunan warriors stopped the convoy with their guns drawn. Although these soldiers carried brown bass guns made in a traditional way, their swords were sharpened to a gleaming shine - the red silk wrapped around the handles had been soaked in blood and turned dark brown.

This group of people glared at the Taiping Army under Liu Tiesuo like ferocious monsters, and Liu Tiesuo's men were not to be outdone and all put bayonets on the brown bass!

Huang Shijie's sedan chair with eight bearers appeared at the right time. This disciple of Zeng Guofan, the former "Mr. Huang" of Etang Town, Daozhou, now had an undisguised look of fatigue on his face. He was in his thirties and his braids were a little gray.

He bowed to Bai Siwen who was walking towards him with a smile and was about to speak.

A Geshaha came up and said, "The tenants in Zhaojiabao resisted rent and injured Mr. Wang!"

Huang Shijie's smile suddenly turned cold: "The leader will be beheaded, and the followers will have their ears cut off."

Turning around, he smiled again: "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Yang - unruly people are hard to tame!"

Moore noticed at this moment that the passers-by kneeling beside the official road were all trembling all over - this kind of fear had never been seen in the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If the original China was like this, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still very progressive!

(End of this chapter)