Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 57 Settling down
This morning
As soon as the sky was getting light, the boatman of the fleet began to get busy, paddling hard with bamboo poles and adjusting the position of the boat in preparation for setting sail.

There were also some sailors adjusting the ropes, and the sound of them walking back and forth on the boat could be heard.

Soon, the densely packed northbound merchant ships anchored at the Kunshan County wharf came alive, as if they had all woken up.

Not long

Zheng Guohui appeared on the road in the morning light on horseback with his personal guards. He was in Kunshan County last night and rushed back to the dock early in the morning.

Zheng Guotai, the chief advisor of the Qing army, and Hu Zuqing, the captain of the Qing army, who stayed behind in the fleet, hurriedly got off the ship to greet them.

After the greetings, everyone surrounded Lord Zheng Guohui and brought him to the official ship.

After Zheng Guohui stepped onto the official ship, he scanned the river with his eyes like an eagle, and saw a large number of merchant ships moored at the dock, stretching all the way to the end of the embankment.

At the very least, there were at least fifty or sixty merchant ships.

He sneered and asked, "Are all these merchant ships following me north?"

Zheng Guotai glanced back, a bit bewildered, then nodded and said, "Your Excellency, the merchant ships heading south weighed anchor and set sail before daybreak. Of the merchant ships still stranded here, eight out of ten are heading north."

"In that case, why wait?"

"Oh, maybe they want to follow behind my official fleet and get protection. After all, the bandit attacks two days ago were too scary, and these merchant ships are very scared."

"If so, have any merchant ships come to comfort the troops in the past two days?"

"Reporting to the General, several ships have brought back some fish, chickens and ducks. The quantity is not much, only a few dozen kilograms."

"Humph, as expected, merchants are only interested in profit. They won't leave even if you pull them along. We can't give them a good face." Zheng Guohui snorted coldly, took a few steps forward, turned around and gave orders;
"Mr. Guotai, please take your men and go and notify all the merchant ships heading north.

In view of the heavy casualties suffered by the government troops in the fierce battle the day before, and the urgent need for compensation silver, a special collection of 300 to 500 taels of public silver will be levied on each merchant ship that benefits, depending on the value of the goods.

Each ship reported its own cargo. The cargo for grain and rice was 400 taels of silver per ship, while the cargo for brocade, salt and iron ranged from 500 to taels.

Notify them immediately and pay within half an hour.

Those who fail to pay the public offering silver on time will be treated as accomplices of the Nian bandits. Merchant ship owners will be executed without mercy, and their cargo will be confiscated and turned over to the government. This is a special decree."

It makes me angry just thinking about it. He has been staying in Kunshan City for the past two days to handle affairs, and none of the merchant ships heading north have come to comfort the officers and soldiers, taking it for granted.

My ship is fighting hard in front to clear the way for you. Most of the merchant ships are pretending to be stupid, and the few that are there are just dealing with some rotten fish and shrimp.

If the tiger doesn't show its power, people will think I'm a sick cat!
In that case
Then we will severely scratch the surface of the land and make these cargo owners suffer even if they don’t die.

We will soon organize the second team to head south. There are so many places to spend money, so we have to plunder it.

"General, I will follow your instructions." Zheng Guotai was only slightly stunned and immediately agreed.

He randomly picked out Zheng Fu's team and followed him along the coast to loudly notify the merchant ships to come and pay the public silver within half an hour and declare the types of goods for audit.

If the declared goods do not match the actual goods, the penalty will be doubled.

As soon as the sound of the gong was heard, the originally quiet river bank suddenly became lively, and the owners of the merchant ships groaned in pain and regretted it one by one.

I was hoping to save a few bucks, but I didn't expect to end up spending so much money this time.

This is a typical case of "not moving when led, but moving when beaten". In the words of the general, he is a "cheap bastard".

The official fleet was at the front, fighting for their lives. Any sensible person would have pooled a few thousand taels of silver from dozens of ships and sent it to the official fleet as a tribute.

It is both face-saving and substantive, which is what should be done.

But they all kept their heads down and acted like quails, and now they are in trouble.

half an hour later

The cargo owners of the merchant ships lined up with bitter faces to pay the silver. Many of them had to scrape together the money with great difficulty.

Some cargo owners had no choice but to take out their gold hairpins, jade bracelets, collections of rare calligraphy and paintings, or cloth and iron materials carried on the ship in exchange for silver, and carry them over in loads.

It was a busy period for a long time before things gradually calmed down.

By noon, Zheng Guotai had counted and collected a total of more than 13700 taels (note: including goods converted into silver), which was a huge profit.

As for the review, you can just make some threats, but there is no need to actually do it, and you don't have the time for that.

When I reported to Zheng Guohui, he was drinking tea and reading on the second floor. He put down the book and asked, "Have you confiscated everything?"

"My Lord, except for the two boats of the An family, all others have been confiscated."

"An family, what's your background?"

"My Lord, it's the An family in Lu Province, the salt merchant who served Master Nalan Mingzhu during the reign of Emperor Kangxi."

"It's his family..."

After hearing this, Zheng Guohui was shocked and stood up involuntarily. This was truly a well-known family!

No wonder Zheng Guohui was shocked, this An family is amazing.

It can be said that this family is the richest family since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, bar none. However, it has long since declined.

But a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The An family in Lu Province should be just a branch, but it can be as famous as Kong and Pan, and is well-known in Lu Province.

The story that Shen Wansan paid for the construction of Nanjing City is a folk history, and it is all bragging by storytellers.

However, it is indeed recorded in official history that the An family paid for the construction of Tianjin City. This was even after Emperor Yongzheng had confiscated more than 200 million taels of silver from the An family, which shows how wealthy they were.

Kangxi period
An Sang-in, once the richest and most prominent family, has a very legendary person. He is neither Manchu nor Han, but a genuine Korean.

According to historical records
An Sang-in's father was abducted from Korea by imperial troops and taken to Shenyang as a slave during the "Bingzi Campaign" in 1636. He belonged to the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner and became a "banner", that is, a slave.

There is a saying that An Shangren was a bondservant, which is totally wrong.

Baoyi and "people under the banner" are two classes. Baoyi refers to the bannermen in the Eight Banners who cannot serve as soldiers and fight in wars, and can only do jobs such as serving tea, making beds, and cooking.

Although their status is low, they are free citizens.

"Subordinates" are slaves, and they have been slaves for generations.

After Emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to eliminate the Eighth Prince's followers. The An family was the big money sponsor behind the scenes, so they were naturally suppressed and declined.

An Shangren's eldest son An Tu was executed. The main charge was "marrying a master with a slave". As a "subordinate", he actually married a Jurchen woman as a concubine, which was a clear capital crime of "using a slave to deceive the master".

In the early years, An Shangren's father was captured and taken to Liaodong, where he was given to the family of Nalan Mingzhu, the powerful prime minister during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, as a slave.

An Shangren grew up with Nalan Mingzhu. After Nalan Mingzhu took over the family, An Shangren became the chief steward of Mingzhu Mansion, and his status rose along with his master's.

Nalan Mingzhu became successful very early. He had a successful career when he was young and was deeply favored by Emperor Kangxi.

As the family grew richer, they began to get involved in the salt business. From then on, their wealth grew like a snowball...

After Zheng Guohui's shock, he thought for a moment and then gave the order, "Bring the head of the An family here. I want to interrogate him personally."

"As you command, General."

not long

Two middle-aged men in brocade robes were brought onto the boat. They looked arrogant and when they saw Zheng Guohui, they simply clasped their hands in greeting and introduced themselves.
"Greetings, sir. I am An Qixu, the sixth child of the An family, and I am the head of the merchant ship."

"Greetings, sir. I am An Weikang and Gong is your deputy."

Zheng Guohui glanced at them indifferently, feeling rather unhappy, but he did not show it. He simply asked, "What's on board?"

"Sir, the ship is carrying some Shu brocade and mountain products, which are prepared for the sacrifice at the Confucius Mansion. I believe you should be aware of the many taboos. I don't need to explain them explicitly, right?" An Qixu had a look of confidence, and could hardly hide a hint of arrogance.

Sacrifices were held very frequently in the Confucius Mansion. Sacrificial activities were held every month, even on some important solar terms, Confucius' birthday, etc., and local officials participated enthusiastically.

The Confucius Mansion has an extraordinary status and huge influence, and is also one of the largest landowners.

It owns farmland in more than 30 counties and cities widely distributed in the five provinces of Zhili, Shandong, Anhui, Huizhou and Jiangsu, with a total area of ​​1.4 million mu, making it the undisputed number one wealthy family in Shandong Province.

Seeing An Qixu mention the Kong family's name, Zheng Guohui calmed down. He smiled slightly, sat down, and asked calmly, "Is this your reason for not paying the public offering?"

"Please forgive my rudeness, but I have been a merchant for over two hundred years and have never heard of a public fundraising campaign on the Grand Canal. This is sheer extortion and nothing a wise man would do."

"Oh... haha, it's a pity that I'm just a warrior, not a wise man." Zheng Guohui lost interest in the conversation and shook his head, saying, "Chop off the heads of these two idiots, nitrate them, and put them in the pile of Nian bandit heads. More heads means more military merit."

"As you command, General."

The personal guards behind him immediately came up and violently knocked down the two An family members. These rough actions frightened An Qixu. An Weikang's face suddenly changed. He struggled and shouted in fear.
"Sir, please spare my life!"

"You are killing innocent people to claim credit for your crimes. This is an unforgivable crime. Where is justice?"

"I don't accept it... What kind of world is this? How can a crooked official take advantage of others and rob others?"

The sounds of the two men struggling and shouting could be heard far away. They were dragged to the bow of the boat, stripped of their clothes, and their heads were chopped off with two "snap" strokes. The world immediately became quiet.

As the saying goes, the people should not fight against the officials. These two idiots are determined to get into trouble, so we can only help them.

Zheng Guohui smiled bitterly, shook his head, and sighed, "The legendary An family is nothing more than this. They've become stupid from reading so much. It's simply ridiculous."

"Pass the order! All officers, soldiers, and sailors on the fleet will be rewarded. Officers will be rewarded ten taels of silver each, sailors will be rewarded three taels, and officers will be rewarded double. The entire fleet must work together. No matter how many bandits there are, they will be nothing but chickens and dogs."

"General, you are wise. We all admire you." The injured officers, soldiers and sailors were excited and cheered loudly.

Zheng Guohui issued another order: "The two merchant ships of the An family will be confiscated and charged with collaborating with the bandits. They must set sail tomorrow morning without delay."

"As you command, General."

a

The northbound fleet continuously crossed the border of Shandong Province, entered northern Zhili, and then sailed to Tianjin.

Although there were some twists and turns, including a large group of unidentified people rushing onto the canal embankment during the voyage, which caused the officers and soldiers of the fleet to be on high alert, the voyage was ultimately safe.

If there is an intention to attack, it is more like intimidation.

(End of this chapter)