The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 622 The world has changed! (Please subscribe and vote)

The snow on the Shangluo Ancient Road creaked under the wheel tracks. Wen Xian wrapped his mink coat tightly and looked at the khaki team winding along the mountain ridge: "These salt-carrying porters look like Indian slaves in the South American silver mines."

"They carry the lifeblood of the Zhou Dynasty on their backs." Friedrich wrote furiously in the bumpy mule cart. "I asked Yao Baiwan, the green salt in the northwest is selling very well, and the government takes 30% profit from each bag of salt. These salt taxes support at least 50,000 Yellow Turban Army - look!"

In front of the boundary stone of Neixiang County, Taiping sentries wearing red turbans were tearing up notices. The notice of the Great Zhou Dynasty, "Nine Generations of Revenge Have Been Avenged Today", had just been posted when it was torn into pieces by the newly arrived Taiping Army, and replaced by a notice announcing that the Taiping Army would distribute land throughout Neixiang County.

The sky in Neixiang has changed!

No matter how hard the landlords in Neixiang tried and how solidly they built their fortresses, they were still vulnerable to the industrialized power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!
When the mule cart passed through Zhaojiabao outside Neixiang City, Moore suddenly grabbed the curtain and shouted, "Look there."

On the bluestone archway of Zhaojiabao, the one-armed Mr. Wang was hanging in the air with a hemp rope around his neck, his empty sleeve dangling in the cold wind. The crowd under the archway cheered, and several barefoot men swung hoes and smashed the plaque of "Zhao's Ancestral Hall" until wood chips flew everywhere.

"The evil bully Zhao Chengsi has killed more than 70 people. His crimes are extremely heinous!" Li Laosan, who was blind in one eye, wore a faded patched red robe and a red scarf on his head. He held up the complaint and said with gritted teeth, "He forced thirteen tenants to death last year alone!"

"Skin him!" An old farmer with wrinkles on his face suddenly pounced on the Zhaobao master who was tied to a stone lion. He was beaten black and blue and had one eye blind. He used his fingers like dry branches to forcibly pick a piece of bloody flesh from his body. "My son was thrown into the turbulent river by this beast."

Zhao Chengsi was also a stubborn man. He was still stubborn even when facing death: "Who asked your son to join the Farmers' Association? How hateful!" He glared at Li Laosan, who had become the head of the Farmers' Association, and said, "Mr. Li, I really should skin you alive!"

A farmer's association cadre sent from Neixiang County said to Li Laosan: "Old Li, this Zhao guy is too hateful, kill him quickly!"

"Wait a minute!" Li Laosan gritted his teeth and laughed, "Divide the land of the Zhao family first, and divide it in front of him! After dividing his land, kill his son, and then kill him. This is called killing someone and destroying his heart!"

"Kill people and destroy their hearts? Great!" The farmer's association cadre waved his hand and shouted in Henan dialect, "Fellow villagers, let's divide up Zhao's land first, and then kill his people. What do you think?"

"middle"

All the tenants and poor peasants present were excited.

Moore held the "Angel Order" given to him by Luo Yaoguo, squeezed through the boiling crowd, and grabbed a hunchbacked old man who had just been allocated a five-acre land deed: "Brother, can you keep this land deed?"

"The Taiping Army has stamped it with a red seal!" The old man trembled as he unfolded the document with the seal of "Dengzhou Farmers' Association". "Captain Liu said that whoever dares to seize the land will be shot!" He tightly grasped the land deed. "The Zhao family has treated me like a beast for thirty years, and now..." Turbid tears rolled down the land deed.

"What are you peasants so proud of?" Zhao Chengsi suddenly struggled and roared, "In three years, at most five years, most of you will go bankrupt and sell your land! You can't keep it."

"kill!"

The blade of the broadsword flashed coldly, and Zhao Chengsi and his two sons were beheaded one by one. The scene was filled with jubilation.

Friedrich's pen tip recorded in the notebook: "January 1858, 1, Neixiang County. When the Farmers' Association used machetes to enforce justice, the rule of the gentry in the countryside completely collapsed, and was replaced by the order of the Datong Society and the Farmers' Association. Although the farmers' land will still be gradually lost in the future. But the new order established by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can last for at least three generations, and this new order will clear all obstacles in the way of China's industrialization."

Moore crossed his arms, looked at the jubilant farmers around him, and said to Wen Xian beside him: "Sir, if we Europeans had not discovered the New World, this scene might have also happened in England, right? The concentration of land in the UK is far greater than that in China!"

Hearing what Moore said, Bonham suddenly felt a chill down his spine - 7000 percent of the land in Britain was concentrated in the hands of 400 large landowners, and among them, about land nobles owned a quarter of the land.

And these 400 land nobles and 7000 big landlords are almost all descendants of Norman conquerors. That is the real feudalism!
The "Ruxianlou" tobacco shop at the crossroads of Zhangcun Town was sealed with seals, and soldiers in brand new gray cloth uniforms were pouring boxes of tobacco into the manure pit. When Zhang Dafu, who was wearing shackles, saw Moore and his group getting off the carriage, he suddenly broke free from his escort and threw himself in front of Moore: "Master Yang, help me."

"How many people have been harmed by your opium den and casino?" A Taiping Heavenly Kingdom inspector in a red robe kicked the fat body away. Moore recognized the wooden sign on his chest - "Old brother, Henan Provincial Inspectorate".

"It's unfair! It was the people from Shaanxi who lured me into doing this."

"Shaanxi's dishonest merchant, Shopkeeper Zhou, has been killed." The inspector shook out a verdict, "You have committed more than just these two crimes. Last year on the winter solstice night, you drugged a woman and made her faint. Do you remember the daughter of West Street tailor Zhang?"

The limp Zhang Dafu was suddenly dragged to his feet. A woman in a blue headscarf rushed out from the corner of the street, swung a laundry mallet and hit him hard on the knees: "You beast! You raped my daughter and threw her into the river!"

The inspector grabbed Zhang Dafu and said viciously: "Manager Zhou's crime is lighter than yours, he can be killed with one sword, but you can't! Come on, put this extremely evil guy in the prison car!" "Yes"

As the prisoner car rolled over the bluestone slabs, Wenxian noticed that every door lintel had new yellow talisman paper pasted on it. Liu Tiesuo, the governor of Dengzhou of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, who had just led his troops to pacify Neixiang County, was also in Zhangcun Town at this time and was responsible for receiving "Karl Tianshi" and his entourage. He followed Wenxian's gaze and smiled and said, "That's the 'three prohibition cards' issued by the Farmers' Association - no gambling, no smoking, no keeping maids."

"Prohibit keeping maids?" Wen Xian looked at Liu Tiesuo, "But the kings of the Kingdom of Heaven."

Liu Tiesuo's face darkened: "Please be careful with your words!"

"You have turned a good commercial port into this state." Wen Xian quickly changed the subject and pointed at the empty Zhangcun Town.

Liu Tiesuo smiled and said, "So what? Lord Wen, do you know how greedy Zhang Dafu is? The stolen silver seized from his home alone amounted to 100,000 taels. Seventy percent was used to repair water conservancy projects, and thirty percent was used to buy oxen and distribute them to farmers. Farming well is the most important thing!"

In the fields outside the town, several oxen were pulling a new iron plow to turn over the newly thawed land.
Moore withdrew his gaze from the hopeful field and asked Liu Tiesuo, "Liu Zhizhou, where is the King of Wu now? I want to see him!"

"His Royal Highness the King of Wu is in Luoyang Prefecture."

At the same time, three carriages rolled over the frozen Yellow River, leaving fine cracks on the ice. Wanzhen suddenly opened the curtain of the sedan chair, and the north wind blew snow particles in. Her shoulders wrapped in white fox fur trembled slightly, but she still stared at the other side: "Zeng Yaotou"

The wheels of the carriage suddenly slipped, and Bai Siwen screamed from behind. The former Qing ambassador to Europe was huddled in the carriage with his two sons. The twelve-year-old Ruixiang suddenly pointed at the cracks in the ice and said, "Father! Zeng Yaotou's men are climbing up!"

"Nonsense!" Bai Siwen covered his youngest son's mouth. "When we get to Shanghai Port, we'll take a steamship from the British Empire." He lowered his voice and leaned close to his son's ear. "When we get to England, you two brothers will go to Harrow School and Eton College, which are the best schools in the world!"

On the third carriage, Yao Chongjing took out his pocket watch to check the time and said with a smile: "We should be able to reach Luoyang City today."

"Master Yao" he was interrupted by Yuan Bao before he finished speaking. The former Qing imperial minister grasped the handle of the Shundao, his knuckles turning white: "Is Li Hongzhang really connected with the Taiping rebels?"

"Hush." ​​Yao Chongjing pulled aside the curtains to make sure the cavalry was far enough away. "How did Princess Mathilde sell her property in Tianjin? How did the molds for the Minié rifle and Minié bullet made in the Weinan Ironworks get transported to Shaanxi?"

"But why did the Taiping rebels do this?" Yuan Bao asked, "Is it just to destroy the Qing Dynasty?"

Yao Chongjing smiled and said, "Of course, it's not just the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They have bigger plans! They want to drive the tiger to swallow the wolf! Let Lord Li swallow up the land of Hezhong Prefecture, take away many troublemakers in Shaanxi and Gansu, and act as a buffer zone between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Tsarist Russia."

Yuan Bao snorted coldly: "Aren't they afraid of raising a tiger to cause trouble?"

Luoyang, at the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Wu Wang's headquarters, Xiao Chaogui's face turned pale: "Build a railway? Lao Jiu, do you know how much silver it costs for one mile of railway?"

"Ten thousand to fifteen thousand Taiping silver dollars!" Luo Yaoguo's fingertips slid across the Tongguan on the sand table. "But with the Longhai Railway, a steel artery, a hundred thousand troops can reach Xi'an in seven days. Only then can we truly control and develop the northwest!"

"But it's 1600 miles from Xuzhou to Xi'an!" Xiao Chaogui shook his head. "Where will 2400 million come from? Are we going to issue government bonds again?"

Zuo Zongtang shook his head: "I'm afraid it won't be able to be issued. We just issued 2500 million yuan in public debt to build the Jinpu Railway, and we have issued several million yuan in bonds for the Jintang Railway and the Jinjing Railway. The public debt is about to exceed million yuan!"

"Yes," Hong Xuanjiao nodded and agreed, "The market simply can't absorb so many bonds. Besides, we have to march into Shaanxi and Gansu to fight against Zeng. The military expenses for fighting Shaanxi and Gansu are huge. I'm afraid that without tens of millions of Taiping silver dollars, it won't be enough!"

Luo Yaoguo slapped the sand table and said, "As long as the railway is built to Shanzhou, the military expenses for attacking Shaanxi can be reduced by half. Then if the railway is built to Shaanxi, the military expenses for attacking Gansu can also be reduced a lot! So if we want to fight, we must build roads first!"

Zuo Zongtang was stunned: "King Wu, it is impossible to attack Shaanxi without two or three years! Why are you mobilizing so many troops?"

Luo Yaoguo raised his middle finger to his lips and smiled mysteriously: "Shh, don't tell anyone about this!"

At this moment, Maria's voice came from outside: "Your Highness, Sister Wanzhen is here!"

(End of this chapter)