The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 541 Adaptation

Six years ago, Qian Sanruo, a cloth merchant from Shenyang, was exceptionally promoted from sergeant to captain because of his meritorious service in conquering the Cossacks on Sakhalin Island. Later, he followed Jiang Liuer to defend Sakhalin Island and fight in Outer Northeast China. With the help of favorable circumstances, he was promoted all the way and in just a few years, he was promoted to Ningguta guerrilla general.

Qian Sanruo had no interest in making great achievements. He was neither as determined to serve the Great Qi as Jiang Liuer, nor as always thinking about revenge for his people as Alessa.

Whether in Sakhalin or Ningguta, his goal was simple: to make money.

The origin of all the tragedies was the serious illness of the only son Qian Zexi.

Qian Zexi is the only son in the Qian family, the only son in three generations. He has been suffering from a serious illness since he was sixteen years old. His nose and mouth often bleed for no reason. The doctor said it was a serious illness. If he was not treated in time, a minor typhoid fever could take the child's life.

Qian Sanruo exhausted all his family savings just to treat his son's illness. After being treated by several famous doctors, Qian Zexi's condition not only did not improve, but became more serious.

It was not until Lao Qian heard that there was a clinic run by a businessman from Putian, Fujian in southern Liaoning. The Putian clinic was very skilled and was said to be able to bring the dead back to life. It was known as the Little Hua Tuo.

In fact, Lao Qian could also go to the free clinic set up by Kaiyuan soldiers in Shenyang City to treat his son's illness. That was a welfare provided by General Liu (who had not yet proclaimed himself emperor at that time) to the people of Liaodong.

In Liaodong, the Kaiyuan Army treated patients for free and gave away free medicine. Lao Qian was not tempted by such a good thing. He had been in business for many years and knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch. He also did not believe that the government would give benefits to the people for no reason.

Qian Sanruo didn't believe that the soldier could save people and cure diseases, and he didn't believe that Liu Zhaosun, who talked about benevolence and morality but killed people like crazy, was a good person.

It just so happened that there was a rumor in Liaodong at that time that the Kaiyuan soldiers were going to use a sharp knife to cut open the patient's chest and take out the heart to make medicine.

So Lao Qian went to find the Fujian Medical Clinic. After mortgaging all his shops and handing over all his savings to the Putian Medical Clinic, he spent the next six months using the "Ten-Ingredient Soup" and "Hard Steel Powder". However, the child's illness not only did not get better, but became more serious. Lao Qian spent all his money and was burdened with hundreds of taels of debt.

In order to save money for his son's medical treatment, during that period, Lao Qian got up early every morning and ran to Guangjimen City Wall to queue up for porridge. The porridge provided by Kaiyuan soldiers was the conscience of the industry, and it was so thick that it could be used directly to build walls.

According to the rules set by Xie Yang, each refugee and starving person was entitled to three bowls of porridge and two steamed buns per day. Old Qian only drank one bowl of porridge each day, and the rest of the food was placed in a broken bowl and taken back to his son.

Fortunately, this Putian medical clinic still had a conscience and finally cured Qian Zexi's illness before taking advantage of the patient's family.

The son was finally rescued, but the Qian family was left with a large debt. To repay the debt, Qian Sanruo had no choice but to volunteer to go to Sakhalin Island. At that time, anyone who joined the North Sea Expedition could receive an advance of 50 taels of silver. After arriving on Sakhalin Island with the expedition, whether alive or dead, they would receive a reward of 300 taels of silver. Of course, if they died on Sakhalin Island, they would receive more money.

Qian Sanruo dealt mainly with cloth and silver in the first half of his life, and began to come into contact with swords, guns, sticks, muskets, bows and arrows in the second half of his life. But in the final analysis, he still loved money, especially after being forced into a desperate situation to treat his son's illness, he had a new understanding of silver and money.

Perhaps because he was previously terrified of poverty, Qian Sanruo spent the five or six years he was in charge of Ningguta constantly obsessed with making money. From the moment a common prisoner entered the Ningguta government office, Qian Sanruo practically stripped him of his skin if he wanted to leave alive. He extorted money for beatings, food, charcoal, and ice, and even for festivals. He demanded countless favors from prisoners. For those he didn't want to give or couldn't, he simply shackled them with over ten pounds of shackles and threw them into a dungeon, where they were trapped, unable to live or die.

The main population of Ningguta was ethnic minorities from border areas (Mongol, Korean, and Jurchen) and relatives of criminals. The customs and habits here were very different from those in the interior and even from those in Liaodong. Taking these circumstances into consideration, Emperor Wuding did not implement the "Qi Dynasty Land System" here. People could engage in business freely and private property was not abolished.

Ningguta, like other border cities, is a testing ground for the Da Qi style of totalitarianism.

During the Taichu era, the system of the Great Qi Empire, to use the words of the later Celestial Empire, was a system of management with three systems (totalitarianism, capitalism, and serfdom):

Totalitarian politics was adopted in most areas of the interior of the Great Wall and Liaodong. The state severely exploited the people's power. In order to survive, the people had to cede their privacy, reputation, name, etc. to the court.
Some prosperous counties in the south of the Yangtze River (such as Huating, now Shanghai, Shaoxing, Hangzhou, etc.) adopted the capitalist system, allowing some people to get rich first through "hard" labor, and then help others to bear the responsibilities.

Serfdom will be adopted in Outer Manchuria, Korea, Japan, and later conquered Annan and Thailand, which is similar to the policy the Qing Dynasty adopted towards the Han people after entering the Pass. In a nutshell, it is to take advantage of them and drain them of their blood.

Emperor Wu Ding started to manage Outer Manchuria very early. After conquering Sakhalin Island, the retired emperor was busy with affairs within the Great Wall and had no intention or ability to care about the situation in Ningguta in the north. He completely left the military and political affairs here to Jiang Liuer and Qian Sanruo (later a military supervisor Shi Yousan was added).

In this unregulated and unconstrained wild environment, power and corruption complement each other and grow wildly.

Qian Sanruo, who was born into a merchant family and was good at business, thrived in Ningguta. He did not have the propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame of the literati, and had no bottom line in doing things.

Through bribery and women, Shi Yousan, a newly-minted Jinshi sent from Shenyang, was soon dragged into the affair.

Shi Yousan was a Jinshi in the first year of the Tianqi reign, and he was appointed as the magistrate of Wendeng County when he entered the government. It can be seen that the retired emperor intended to cultivate this person. At the beginning, Magistrate Shi worked under Chen Xin (the prefect of Dengzhou). Because of his outstanding political achievements, Emperor Wuding appointed him to Ningguta as the prefect. The promotion from magistrate to prefect was equivalent to a two-level promotion.

Even though Liu Zhaosun trusted this man so much, not long after arriving in Ningguta, Shi Yousan finally succumbed to the erosion of the sugar-coated bullets of slavery. He forgot his original intention as an official of the Great Qi, began to indulge in beauty (Ningguta has never lacked the families of criminals), and began to accept bribes from Qian Sanruo.

Facts have proved that the officials have lived a hard life in the interior for too long. Once they encounter these temptations, they quickly lose their loyalty to the emperor and the country. They really deserve to die.

Qian Sanruo and Shi Yousan were in charge of government affairs, leaving the military to Jiang Liuer.

While Jiang Liu'er and his troops were slashing through the Outer Northeast, fighting bloody battles against the Cossacks, in Ningguta, Qian Sanruo and Shi Yousan, through mergers and acquisitions, plunder, and collusion with wealthy families, had seized tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland. They also controlled nearly 30% of the ginseng, tea, mink fur, and brothel trade around Ningguta. These two corrupt officials were more than rats; they were practically kangaroos. Jiang Liu'er was only seventeen or eighteen, after all. He might be capable of leading troops in battle and driving back the demons, but he was certainly no match for Qian and Shi, two seasoned veterans.

The arrival of Wu Xiao, the confidant of the retired emperor and deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, broke the delicate political balance in Ningguta.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Emperor Wuding had solved the problems within the Great Wall, integrated Korea, and was now finally beginning to pay attention to the northern border.

For Qian and Shi, this not only means that the wild and unrestrained state of growth they had in the past will be gone forever, but it may also bring them fatal disasters.

As Wu Xiao's investigation in Ningguta deepened, the two rats became increasingly uneasy and began to plan an even more terrifying plan.

"Old Qian, what happened to Song Yingsheng? He had a close relationship with Liu Zhaosun, and he was killed for only embezzling 5,000 taels. We have been..."

"Prefect Shi, you don't understand the Emperor's temperament. Song Yingsheng was killed not because of greed for money, but because he almost killed the Empress Dowager Cisheng and repeatedly tried to kill Lin Yu and Wu Xiao."

"Even so, I am still worried. After all, this is too much money."

At the end of a spacious alley near the West Gate on the North-South Street of Ningguta Prefecture, a luxuriously built Qian family mansion stands proudly on the street.

The two white marble lions at the door are more than three feet tall and even more ferocious than the stone lions with the faces of the City God!

The two vermilion gates were tightly closed, and a group of aggressive guards stood at the door. They were holding sticks and kept driving away the refugees and beggars who had poured in from outside the city. A refugee with broken legs was lying on the street using his hands and feet, looking up at the blood-red gate in front of him with his head raised, muttering something, but no one knew what he was cursing.

There is a rockery near the northeast corner of the Qian Mansion. Behind the rockery is a dry well that leads directly to the secret room.

Guerrilla General Qian Sanruo and Prefect Shi Yousan gathered in a secret room, with a pale yellow whale oil lamp swaying gently above their heads.

Qian Sanruo picked up the teacup and said calmly:
"Besides, the inside and outside of the Great Wall are different. Ningguta is a place like that. The emperor is far away and we have the upper hand to cover the sky. Who dares to act rashly? That little thing can rot in the city. If no one tells anyone, there will be no evidence. Who can do anything to us?"

Qian Sanruo and the others received news these days that Wu Xiao not only did not leave, but was also investigating them everywhere.

In addition, the straw raincoat guards lurking in the city also made some movements, but they knew nothing about it. If Wu Xiao revealed the matter to others, the lives of the two would be in danger.

Shi Yousan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said cautiously:

"How about giving this Wu guy 10,000 taels of silver?"

Qian Sanruo waved his hand and said, "He's a slippery fellow. He's been following Liu Zhaosun since the Wanli period. He's not as easy to deal with as Yang Tong. Money can't buy him off."

"Then send a few women. Two just arrived from Shenyang last month. They were said to be maids from the former Ming Dynasty Huang Gelao's household. They are very beautiful. On the way, I told the yamen runners not to abuse them. Keep them well and they can still be used."

Shi Yousan stared at Qian Sanruo and rhythmically fiddled with the jade ring on his thumb.

"Wu Xiao has traveled extensively for many years and has seen all kinds of women. You're giving him the daughter of a prisoner. How dare you!"

"I won't take any bribes, I don't want money, I don't want women! So what do you say I should do? If you hadn't dragged me into this, I would be doing my job well now, without having to worry about anything!"

Qian Sanruo saw his companion getting angry and quickly comforted him:
"Well, let's find a way to resolve this crisis."

As he spoke, he walked to the map hanging on the wall, pointed at the post road eastward from Shenyang, and said after a moment of hesitation:

"It would take at least five days for the Emperor to travel from Shenyang to here. We still have three days, which is plenty of time to come up with countermeasures."

Magistrate Shi asked quickly, "Countermeasures? What countermeasures?"

Qian Sanruo stared at the flickering candlelight on the wall, and his fat face suddenly became ferocious.

"Kill Wu Xiao, destroy the account books, and burn down the granary so that he can't find any evidence."

"Are you crazy? Murdering the imperial envoy and burning the granary are serious crimes punishable by the death of nine generations of your clan!"

(End of this chapter)