Master Yuan, start!

The ownership of the land in the Weishan Lake area has always been a matter of debate between the two parties, each with its own opinion.

The reason for this matter can be found on these four southern lakes."

Yuan Shikai, Zhang Jian and Yan Fu sat around the campfire and gradually understood the epitome of rural land disputes during the drastic changes in modern China through the narration of local person Liu Qingxu.

In fact, whether it was the late Qing Dynasty or the Republic of China, whether it was the Beiyang Government or the National Government, and even during the Anti-Japanese War, the disputes here never stopped.

The South Four Lakes is a collective name for the four interconnected lakes at the junction of Shandong and Jiangsu. From north to south, they are Nanyang Lake, Dushan Lake, Shaoyang Lake, and Weishan Lake.

The total area of ​​the four lakes is more than 1200 square kilometers, of which Weishan Lake occupies more than half, so Weishan Lake is generally used to refer to the Southern Four Lakes.

The Yellow River burst its banks in 1851 and 1855, blocking the Grand Canal.

At the same time, it also brought huge floods, which poured into the border between Shandong and Jiangsu. In order to avoid the floods, the people of Pei County, Jiangsu, who had lived there for generations, had to leave their homes and flee everywhere.

After the flood receded, arable lakeshore silt was formed near the south bank of Weishan Lake.

Some disaster victims in southwestern Shandong crossed from the north of Weishan Lake to the south to cultivate the land.

The magistrate of Pei County at that time also expressed warm welcome in order to resume farming as soon as possible.

After all, more taxes can be collected, and this lake field is "unowned" land brought by the Yellow River, so there is no need to worry about ownership issues.

But for the Shandong disaster victims, the good times did not last long.

Residents of Pei County, Jiangsu Province, who had fled the war, returned to their hometowns one after another and soon discovered that their farmland had been "occupied" by others.

In fact, after the Yellow River floods washed away the land, it was impossible to tell which piece of land belonged to whom.

The disaster victims in Shandong felt that they had reclaimed the lake fields themselves, but the people in Pei County, Jiangsu felt that the people from Shandong had occupied their land.

In order to save trouble, the local government of Pei County did not organize people to measure and divide the land, but simply built a long dike to separate the two.

Residents of Pei County, Jiangsu Province were only a dozen miles away from Weishan Lake and could go to the lake to fish and catch shrimp from time to time.

But in this way, Weishan Lake was surrounded by a long dike and became a pond exclusive to Shandong people.

So close yet so far away from heaven.

The people of Pei County, Jiangsu Province are naturally extremely angry about this situation.

But in the same way, the Shandong disaster victims also have something to say.

It was the local officials of Pei County who allowed them to farm here. Now the fields are ripe and the land has been cultivated. Do you people from Jiangsu want to drive them away and take advantage of them?

Therefore, although there was a long dike, bloody conflicts still broke out between the two sides. Because the Shandong immigrants were more united and proficient in martial arts, the people of Pei County, Jiangsu often suffered losses.

Under the light of the bonfire, half of Yuan Xiangcheng's face was hidden in the darkness. As he listened to Liu Qingxu's reason for his visit, his brows almost wrinkled into a "川" shape.

"Could it be that the two sides have been fighting each other endlessly, and the local officials just turn a blind eye?"

Yuan Xiangcheng knew that after 1855, although the Qing Dynasty had experienced the Second Opium War and lost all its authority, the Han landlord forces had also gained control of local power by suppressing the Taiping Rebellion.

Local governance shouldn't be this bad.

This is not the remote and remote areas of southern Jiangxi and eastern Guangdong. The endless fighting between the natives and the Hakkas will not affect the safety of Beijing, and it can also divide local forces, so the government turns a blind eye to it.

This is the vast and flat North China Plain. The Nian Army's headquarters is only a few dozen miles away from here. How could the Qing Dynasty just sit there and do nothing?

Hearing Yuan Xiangcheng's question, Liu Qingxu quickly said:

"Mr. President, the Qing Dynasty was not completely ineffective.

Later, the matter bypassed the magistrates of Pei County, Jiangsu and Yi County, Shandong, and went directly to the prefects of Xuzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu and Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong, and was delivered directly to the desks of the governors of Jiangsu and Shandong.

Li Hongzhang, who had just been promoted to the governor of Jiangsu for his contribution in suppressing the bandits, negotiated with the governor of Shandong, and the two provinces agreed on a result that put an end to the fighting.

Upon hearing that Li Hongzhang had also intervened in this matter, Yuan Xiangcheng asked, "Oh? Then why do I still encounter people from Jiangsu coming to complain today?"

Hearing this, Liu Qingxu smiled bitterly and said, "The President, even Li Hongzhang, was unable to completely resolve this matter.

Because the result of the negotiation between the two parties was to use "lakes and fields as the boundary", the two provinces had different understandings of lakes and fields.

Generally speaking, the lake fields change with the water level in the lake. When the water level is high, there are fewer lake fields, and when the water level is low, there are more lake fields.

As the locals say, wherever the water rises, that's Shandong; wherever the water recedes, that's Jiangsu."

After hearing the cause of the incident, Yuan Xiangcheng looked at Weishan Lake in the distance and sighed.

The two provinces have been fighting for decades, with hundreds of lives lost, but there is still no follow-up.

"A piece of silt land by the lake has such a tortuous history."

However, after sighing, Yuan Xiangcheng changed the subject, staring at Liu Qingxu and asked:

"The civil war over land has been going on for a long time. I don't blame you if something goes wrong.

But did you know about the Shandong miners who caused a fatality at the Jiawang Coal Mine?

"I" Liu Qingxu was speechless again after hearing this, and could only hear the crackling of the fire.

Just as Yuan Xiangcheng was about to continue asking questions with a stern look on his face, there was suddenly a commotion in the distance.

"Chief Instructor, Chief Instructor!"

The visitor was Wei Tianming, chairman of the Xuzhou Regional Security Association.

Seeing that Yuan Shikai's convoy had not arrived in Xuzhou, he sent people out to inquire about the news. Later, he learned that it had been stopped, so he hurried to meet him.

A moment later, Wei Tianming, holding a torch and with a sparse beard, approached Yuan Xiangcheng.

Seeing the main person coming, Yuan Xiangcheng didn't even raise his eyelids and said lightly: "Wei Tianming, representative of the first batch of graduates from the Northeast Civil Affairs School."

Wei Tianming hadn't realized what was happening yet. He only had Yuan Xiangcheng in his eyes and said excitedly:

"Yes, Head Instructor, it was me. You once shook my hand and gave me words of encouragement!"

Yuan Xiangcheng looked at Wei Tianming with admiration in his eyes: "In the first year of the Republic, you did not wait for the New Year to reunite with your family, but accepted the mission and braved the wind and snow to go south to Xuzhou.

In less than three months, the Xuzhou Jiawang Coal Mine dug five mines using the new mining method, which increased its efficiency by more than four times compared to the Qing Dynasty.

The first blast furnace of the Xuzhou Iron Works has also been erected, waiting for me to ignite it and start smelting the first batch of steel."

Zhang Jian, who was sitting by the campfire, raised his head in confusion when he heard Yuan Xiangcheng praising Wei Tianming.

That shouldn’t be the case. If you wanted to protect this person, why would you ask Liu Qingxu for details?

Weiting, what are you up to?

Yan Fu, on the other hand, looked somewhat unhappy.

In his opinion, Wei Tianming's act of shielding the Shandong-born mining supervisor was a foregone conclusion, and Yuan Xiangcheng's listing of his achievements at this time was simply because he felt that his merits outweighed his faults.

However, in Yan Fu's opinion, is this really good for organizational construction?

As for Liu Qingxu who was standing behind the two of them, his expression flickered in the light of the bonfire, and his eyes shifted back and forth between Yuan Xiangcheng and Wei Tianming. It was unknown what he was thinking.

"Wei Tianming, Wei Tianming, among the first batch of graduates, even if you are not the best-performing one, you are definitely among the top 5.

I feel extremely relieved that Xuzhou Coal and Steel is in your hands.

But why would you protect a mine supervisor who committed a murder?

Do you think that being a mine supervisor means you can take human lives lightly and not report to the authorities?

Or is it that the Jiawang Coal Mine can no longer operate without this mine supervisor? ! ! "

"Bang!" The dry firewood exploded with a loud noise.

Wei Tianming suddenly woke up from his dream at this moment. He suddenly looked up and looked at the faces of people with different expressions around the campfire, feeling indescribably aggrieved.

"me..."

Zhang Jian did not expect that Yuan Xiangcheng, who had just praised Wei Tianming generously, would suddenly blame him.

However, Zhang Jian and Wei Tianming were both from Jiangsu, and he did not want this rising star to fall into trouble because of this matter. So, without waiting for Yuan Xiangcheng to continue, Zhang Jian quickly scolded him:

"What do you mean by 'you', Wei Tianming? You have to report everything. Didn't the Civil Affairs School teach you that?

Having caused such a huge mess, why don't you quickly confess the whole story and admit your mistake to the head instructor?!"

Yuan Xiangcheng understood the meaning of Zhang Jian's words, but he had no intention of exposing them. He took over the conversation and asked:

"I am not an unreasonable person. If you tell me the whole story, I will not let the heroes of the Red Confucian Society feel disheartened."

Chapter 365: The Opportunity of Huaihai Province

"Are you saying that the Jiangsu resident who died at the hands of the miners killed his biological father 10 years ago?"

"That's right... Chief Instructor!"

"So, even though the miner accidentally killed someone, he was actually avenging his father?!"

"Yes, that's right!"

After some questioning, Yuan Xiangcheng finally understood why the Mine Supervision Committee chose to shield the miners who caused the accident, and why no one in the Xuzhou Red Confucian Society reported the matter.

When a person kills someone, it doesn't matter whether he is punished according to the Zhenguan Code of the Tang Dynasty, the Kaiyuan Code of the Song Dynasty, the Ersong Criminal Code of the Song Dynasty, the Ming Code of the Ming Dynasty, or even the Qing Code of the Qing Dynasty.

They all have to pay with their lives.

However, whether it was Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty, or Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, there were precedents of pardoning murderers who "avenged their fathers."

The cause of this fatal incident is not complicated.

According to Wei Tianming, the father of Liu Yan, a miner from outside the pass who beat a Jiangsu citizen to death, had a dispute with Zhang Shi, a Jiangsu citizen, when they were reclaiming wasteland 20 years ago and was beaten to death in public.

Zhang Shi was usually quite domineering in the countryside, but because he was strong, no one dared to provoke him.

Afterwards, his mother reported the incident to the authorities, but the local Manchu magistrate dismissed the matter with the excuse that "it was a fight between villagers and no one would investigate whether they lived or died."

Unable to file a complaint with the authorities, his mother was repeatedly threatened by the murderer "Zhang Shi" at home. She cried all day long and died of fright in less than a year.

This miner lost his parents at a young age and had to beg for food all the way to Tianjin and outside the Great Wall. He later settled down in Jilin and made a living by mining.

After the Red Confucian Society established large-scale ironworks and mines in the Northeast, he was recruited because of his rich experience in coal mining.

When miners from outside the Great Wall were allocated years ago to support the construction of Xuzhou Coal and Steel, this person was the first to sign up in Benxi Coal Mine.

This person may just want to "return home in glory" and has no intention of taking anyone's life.

Perhaps it was because he met his father's murderer again that he couldn't control himself.

Faced with such a difficult case, Yuan Xiangcheng gradually came up with an idea in his mind.

The miner did not kill for no reason, and the person killed was actually not a good person.

However, how to exonerate the miners became Yuan Xiangcheng's primary concern.