Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 77 Preparations for the Second Trip to Southeast Asia
From July to August, Jinling City entered the hot summer season. The continuous high temperature weather made the poor people who relied on physical labor for a living complain bitterly.

These two months
Li Hezhang was in charge of planning and classifying everything, running Zheng Guohui's huge industry in an orderly manner, demonstrating his extraordinary abilities.

Its main policy measures were to refer to the six ministries of the imperial court, with slight modifications, so that each staff would perform its duties.

"All matters concerning soldiers and civilians, money, grain, household registration, taxes, labor service, and lawsuits shall be adjudicated and implemented after signing by the chief of staff and reported to the general."

In fact, it is just selling dog meat under the guise of selling mutton.

With the current official position of Zheng Guohui, the deputy general of Jiangnan, it is far from enough to establish a government office. However, the industries under his jurisdiction are huge and numerous, so strengthening management is imperative.

Li Hezhang started from this and formed a staff group of more than a hundred people, each with a clear division of functions, responsibilities and powers, to carry out the work of "various officials".

Mainly divided into four categories
Following the Song Dynasty system, there were registrar-in-chief, manager-in-chief, judicial officer and household officer. Their duties were basically the same, but their titles were different.

They are called the Recorder's Staff, the Manager's Staff, the Judicial Staff and the Household Staff. They are all responsible for the same affairs and are all under the command of the General's Office.

Three deputy chiefs of staff were appointed, namely Zheng Guotai, Zheng Jialiang and Li Jinghui.

Deputy Chief of Staff Zheng Guotai was in charge of foreign affairs, responsible for external liaison and procurement, socializing and entertaining, purchasing supplies, dealing with foreign merchants and companies, as well as matters such as shipping and horse riding.

Deputy Chief of Staff Zheng Jialiang was in charge of internal affairs, responsible for controlling the three newly established gangs in Jinling City, illegal salt, brick kilns, charcoal kilns, sawmills, coinage and iron smelting, wineries and vinegar warehouses, rice and oil mills, real estate and store rental collection, charity schools, construction and other matters.

Deputy Chief of Staff Li Jinghui was in charge of criminal cases. Because he had few connections with the existing Zheng family and was upright and hated evil, he was responsible for handling cases involving corruption, bribery, and embezzlement by officials in various positions, thus creating a check and balance on power.

This was a unique "separate interrogation and adjudication office" system in the Song Dynasty. After Li Hezhang reformed it, he applied it to the affairs of the general's office, and the effect was very significant.

The most obvious thing is that the efficiency of handling affairs has been improved. When there are difficulties, the subordinates know who to turn to. When problems arise, there is someone responsible and no one can shirk responsibility, and conflicts will not be escalated.

Zheng Guohui used to have to spend a lot of time dealing with trivial matters, but now nine out of ten of them are handled under the staff group system, except for extremely important matters, which makes his life much easier.

Three new gangs have emerged in Jinling City. The first is the Shogunate Gang, the second is the Jianghai Gang, and the third is the Zhongyi Society.

The Shogunate Gang was a gang based in brick kilns, charcoal kilns, lumber mills and a dozen villages around Yaohuamen in the north of the city. A large number of small mule and horse carriage business owners also joined the gang, and its power expanded rapidly.

This gang developed rickshaw shops, rickshaw drivers, dock guilds, peddlers, peddlers, etc. in Jinling City, and the number of gang members reached several thousand.

Named after Mufu Mountain near Yaohuamen, it quickly rose to become the largest gang in Jinling City.

The second gang was the Zhongyi Society, which was composed of construction workers who built houses in Jinling City. It united with small business owners such as workers in wineries, restaurants, blacksmith shops, tofu shops, and spinning mills to open gambling dens, opium dens, lend money at high interest rates, and collect protection fees.

The third gang is the Jianghai Gang, which is mainly composed of men who travel by boat or on horseback. Its influence is mainly in Xiaguan, Shuiximen and other places in Jinling City, and it gradually develops and infiltrates into the city.

Behind these three major gangs is actually Zheng Guohui's power, which is secretly controlled remotely by his staff.

This was also one of the changes promoted by Li Hezhang, allowing these forces that were originally subordinate to Zheng Guohui to become semi-independent.

There is no need to continue to invest money to support them, and you can continue to collect tributes and let them develop on their own.

If the gang fails to develop or the tribute money is too little, then just change the leader. It's very simple.

The mansion near the Drum Tower

The tall trees block out the sun and provide a rare cool breeze in this hot summer.

under the shade

The maid pulled up a bucket from the well, and immersed in the well water was a large watermelon with a mottled skin. After cutting it open, the red flesh and black seeds looked very beautiful, making people salivate.

After the watermelon was cut, it was placed on a tray and brought to the stone table where the chess game was being played under the shade of a tree.

Zheng Guohui and Li Hezhang sat opposite each other, one on each side of the stone table. They did not ask other maids to fan them, but each of them took a large cattail fan and fanned themselves gently while playing chess and chatting.

After the maid served the watermelon, she quietly left.

"My dear nephew Jinghai, you really know how to give me a difficult problem. Ten thousand people are not enough to go to Southeast Asia. We need to bring ten thousand more. Do you know how much supplies we need to prepare for ten thousand more people?" Li Hezhang was wearing a gauze gown and gently waving a palm-leaf fan, looking like an immortal.

"Uncle San, eat some watermelon. This is the best watermelon from Yuhua Village. It's crispy, sweet, and delicious."

Zheng Guohui quickly picked up a large piece of watermelon and handed it over. Seeing Li Hezhang accept it, he picked up a piece and started eating it, the juice overflowing in his mouth.

He finished a piece of watermelon in a few bites and wiped his mouth with a towel.

Zheng Guohui then said;
“There’s no need to prepare too much. There’s already food stored in Zamboanga. Even though Davao took some effort, we managed to capture it.

What is needed now is to consolidate the occupation and lay the foundation with a large population to promote the colonial policy.

The news from the advance team was that there were too few people and they would be stretched to the limit if the area was too large.

This time, I am leading my army south to establish a stable, long-term route between the two places and to begin a continuous flow of people to Southeast Asia. This is crucial to the future of the country. Last month, we transported over 1700 people to Penghu, establishing a stable transit base.

This time when we go south, I plan to implement maximum loading of personnel, with each 300-stone Fu ship carrying about people.

We'll have to endure some hardships on the journey, but it'll only take about seven or eight days, so just bear with it and it'll pass."

Li Hezhang sighed softly, finished eating the melon in his hand, wiped his hands and said;

"General's plan is feasible. Over the past two months, more than 4 refugees have flooded into Chongming Island, greatly depleting our food reserves. We must evacuate some of them.

If we only take the young and strong men to Southeast Asia, what will we do with so many women and children?"

"We can't take care of so many things. Some young women can be brought with us, but the children will have to stay on Chongming Island and study with the children from the Tzu Chi school. We'll talk about it later." Zheng Guohui also looked a little sad. After a pause, he continued;

"The voyage to Southeast Asia was rough and the conditions were harsh. Children with fragile constitutions could not bear the seasickness and vomiting and the crowded conditions.

If you force it to go, it will most likely end in tragedy.

We can only wait until conditions are better and the children have grown up before we can reunite as a family."

"We have to do this as it is an emergency," said Li Hezhang.

Nowadays, ocean voyages are like the gate of hell. Many strong men find it difficult to endure, let alone young children?

These two months
Under Li Hezhang's vigorous planning, various resources were continuously delivered to Chongming Island, along with the victims affected by the war in Shandong and Henan provinces.

After Prince Senggelinqin was trapped in a siege and died in battle, the imperial court became even more ruthless and ordered Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, two important officials of the court, to lead their troops to kill him, advancing from the north and the south.

He also recruited the famous general Zuo Zongtang, who was nearing the end of his campaign to suppress bandits in Zhejiang and Fujian, to go north to Shaanxi and Gansu to suppress the Hui rebellion and quell the endless local rebellions.

Millions of people who suffered from the war in the two places rushed south with their families, especially along the Grand Canal, from northwest Shandong to northern Anhui, Hunan and other places, forming a pattern of multiple groups of disaster victims moving south.

Even if they picked up a little bit, the number of disaster victims on Chongming Island exceeded 4.

Originally, there were over 3 settlers on Chongming Island. After deducting the 4000 or so people who went to Southeast Asia and the 7000 or so people who joined the army, the total number of people was less than 1.9.

This sudden influx of more than 4 refugees flooded into the island, and the population soared to more than 6, and the island immediately felt under great pressure.

Zheng Guohui also changed his plan. This time he decided to bring more people with him to Southeast Asia. After he gained a foothold, he would immediately order the fleet to return and transfer these refugees to Southeast Asia one after another.

There is no need for mobilization nowadays. As long as they can have something to eat and hope to survive, these refugees are willing to go to the ends of the earth, let alone Southeast Asia.

Such a good opportunity must be utilized.

Summer harvest in mid-July
Taking advantage of the fact that there are more people than there are women, the entire Chongming Island population was mobilized to rush to harvest and plant, resulting in a total harvest of more than 230,000 dan of summer grain. Now the granaries are full and the people are full of confidence.

As a major landlord in Jinling City, Zheng Guohui also stockpiled 70,000 to 80,000 shi of grain in the prefectures and counties surrounding Jinling, which was enough to support the next step of continuing to shelter and provide relief to disaster victims.

The Zheng family's large fleet frequently traveled up and down the Yangtze River. While transporting grain, they also carried a large number of refugees, who gradually gathered on Chongming Island.

Today, the Zheng family is the province's leading grain merchant. They have grain warehouses in several provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Hunan, and have also expanded their private salt business to various places.

Under the cover of these businesses, transporting some refugees becomes inconspicuous.

After August
The busy harvest and planting season on Chongming Island has ended. Taking advantage of the cooler hours in the early morning and evening, the island organizes military training for refugees in case of emergency.

All the accompanying children were enrolled in schools without exception, where they received semi-military education and loyalty education under completely closed-door management.

This time, more than 2 people will go south, including more than 8000 settlers, more than 2000 Green Camp soldiers, and more than 2 refugees, totaling more than people.

With the experience of the last voyage, the preparations for this voyage are more sufficient and targeted.

All those who go south must first go through the test of cage rotation.

The so-called "rotating cage" is a round wooden board placed on an iron disc with a diameter of 3 meters, which can accommodate more than 8 people at a time.

Driven by human power, the "cage" will start to rotate and last for up to 10 minutes.

Those who had particularly severe reactions, such as vomiting and diarrhea, were eliminated. If you can't even handle this little bit of dizziness, you can't get on a boat.

There is no choice but to stay and farm.

Anyway, Chongming Island is so big, and it still needs people to farm, graze, fish and smelt copper. Anything can be arranged.

More people who have passed the "circulation" are looking forward to going to Southeast Asia and starting a brighter chapter in their lives.

(End of this chapter)