Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 414: A big fight between natives and Hakkas!
The host of the gathering of heroes estimated that the time was almost up, and shouted in a long voice:
"The auspicious time has arrived, ring the gongs and set off the cannons."

Firecrackers crackled, gongs and drums roared, and earthen guns blasted.

"Master Chen, I haven't seen you for three years. How are you?"

"Okay, okay, how is Mr. Huang these days? How old are you?"

"So-so, 60."

"Old but still strong, old but still strong."

The masters and the captains exchanged greetings and the atmosphere was harmonious. Everyone tried to keep pace and walked into the venue in unison.

……

Worship Guan Gong first, then worship the God of Wealth.

Righteous and wealthy~
Everyone had a respectful expression, lit incense and performed the ceremony meticulously before taking their seats.

There is no seating arrangement at the big round table.

There is a set of Kung Fu tea in front of everyone.

For Chaoshan people, drinking tea is far more important than eating.

The emcees all bowed and smiled:

"Everyone, according to absolutely reliable information, the Wu army has taken control of Jiangxi, and the vanguard will soon reach northern Guangdong along the Guangdong-Jiangxi Ancient Road."

Everyone's eyes turned to Huang Taigong.

Everyone knows that Huang Taigong's granddaughter Huang Zhaodi was the concubine of Lai Er, the Deputy Minister of the Commercial Bureau of the Wu State.

……

Huang Taigong stood up slowly, leaning on the brass-decorated dragon-head crutch:

"My fellow heroes, please give way to me, an old man. I will not be polite. Can you please say a few words?"

Everyone was in a mess of giving way to each other.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Tiandihui's Captain Chen suddenly felt that the old guy's hunchback had straightened up a lot.

"The Qing lost its power, and the Wu Kingdom rose."

"The great change of dynasty is just around the corner. Even if we old guys don't consider ourselves, we should consider the descendants of our clan."

All the grandfathers nodded.

"And fellow captains, the martial arts world is ultimately a minor path, and being an official is the major path."

All the helmsmen nodded.

Although they were usually heroic and valiant, they considered it a great shame to surrender to the Tartar court and become its lackeys.

Chen, the chief leader of the Tiandihui, nodded slightly.
Now the emperor of Wu is a Han Chinese, and since we are all family, it is not shameful to join them.

Rounding it off, it's equal to overthrowing the Qing dynasty and restoring the Ming dynasty. As a human being, the most important thing is to be flexible.

……

Chief Chen pondered for a moment and asked the most important question:
"Taigong, when Guangdong is restored, what kind of official positions can the Wu court reward us with?"

Huang Taigong preached:
"That depends on how big our territory is. If we don't have an inch of land, and we just shamelessly stick to it, we will be regarded as a maid at best."

"We understand what Grandpa means. We must start an uprising, kill the Tartars, seize the territory, and take back the silver and women that originally belonged to us."

Huang Taigong gave a thumbs up:

"Chief Leader Chen is a man of quick words, always able to reveal the truth. If you don't have the strength these days, who would be willing to look at you? Start a rebellion first, control East Guangdong, then we can speak loudly!"

"Oh, by the way, there is something I have to tell you. We made the plan to start the rebellion without telling my grandson-in-law. He didn't know about it."

Some people were surprised, some were suspicious, and some were thoughtful.

Huang Taigong saw that the effect had been achieved, so he sat down and tasted the Kung Fu tea slowly.
……

Those present today are all talented people.

The number of soldiers in each family ranged from 300 to 500, to 2,000 to 3,000.
The weapons and equipment of the heroes in the martial arts world are a bit shabby, mostly cold weapons.

Instead, each of the grandfathers had a musket team composed of the descendants of their clans.

Huang Taigong even owns an artillery team, which is a powerful weapon that makes all the gang leaders jealous.

"Grandpa, what position does your grandson-in-law hold over there?"

"He is the vice minister of Wu, which is equivalent to the minister of Tartar."

"Great, great! Your Huang family is going to be prosperous."

“Help each other, support each other.”

After arguing for most of the day and when the old men were almost exhausted, they finally came up with a plan that everyone agreed to.

Send out troops on New Year’s Eve!

The targets of the Chaoshan Allied Forces were: Chaozhou Prefecture, Jieyang County, Huilai County, Haifeng County, and Lufeng County.

The target of the Cantonese gang coalition is Sanshui County, Hua County, and Fogang County.

Then he sent an envoy to Wu Ting to negotiate a good price.

The lowest psychological expectation of the bigwigs present was to become a county magistrate or a guerrilla general.

Huang Taigong was not interested in the provincial capital as that was the territory of the Cantonese people.

He just wanted his son to sit on the throne of Chaozhou prefect and get permission to open the sea, so that the Huang family would be loyal to the Wu Kingdom forever from generation to generation.

……

Miao Youlin was riding on a horse and was quite satisfied with the marching performance of the 5th Corps.

The miners are highly disciplined, able to endure hardships and have perseverance.

Carrying muskets, ammunition, bayonets, dry food and various miscellaneous items, they followed the flags and walked with their heads down.
They will never ask any more questions unless someone in front of them stops.

If it was the 4th Corps composed of Jiangnan soldiers, the rationality would have been discussed long ago.

"Commander-in-chief, find a local guide."

A dark-skinned man immediately knelt on the ground. He looked honest, but it was obvious that he was not a cowardly farmer.

"I am from the Central Plains, a Hakka from Meizhou Prefecture. I have been working as a tooth dealer on the Ganyue Ancient Road for five years."

"What exactly?"

"We contacted porters, arranged food and lodging for merchants traveling from north to south, and introduced merchants to them."

Miao Youlin took a look and ordered:

"Reward him five taels of silver."

"Thank you, sir."

"Tell me about Guangdong's geography, culture, climate, hydrology, strange stories, and folk customs. Tell me whatever you want. If you tell a good story, there will be a reward."

……

If you can be a dentist, you must be good at dealing with people.

Due to the closure of the Guangzhou trading port, the number of caravans traveling on the Guangdong-Jiangxi Ancient Road has dropped from 500 people per day at its peak to only single digits today.

Thousands of porters lost their jobs.

Zeng Zhongyuan also lost his job.

The imperial court had issued a maritime ban, and he had no way to resist.

But seeing his family's life becoming increasingly difficult, he became extremely anxious.

Now, we have the opportunity to turn things around and we must seize it.

"So that the general knows, this province is divided into Cantonese, Hakka, and Chaoshan. Hakka people are mainly in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong, and Chaoshan people are in southeastern Guangdong. Western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta Plain are the territory of the Cantonese."

Miao Youlin was very interested and asked:

"Any idea?"

"The Cantonese arrived in Guangdong first, followed by the Chaoshan people, and we Hakka people were the last. Because of farmland and water sources, the Cantonese people and we Hakka people often fought with weapons."

……

Miao Youlin was not surprised and said with a smile:

"It's nothing. I'm from Guizhou, and we often fight with the Miao people for land, and people die every time."

"May I ask, General, how many people usually die?"

"There are two or three people at the least, and more than ten at the most."

Zeng Zhongyuan was silent and said softly:

"We usually have hundreds of deaths, sometimes thousands."

Miao Youlin reined in his horse in surprise, turned his head to look at this guy, and asked incredulously:
"You call this a fight?"

"Yes."

"How do you fight with weapons?"

"When the fight started, they each sent their own troops, and then every village and clan sent out people, using swords, spears, bows and arrows, and earth cannons to dig pits. The fight got bigger and bigger."

"How big is it?"

"When there are fewer, there are thousands of them; when there are more, there are 100,000. If a large group of soldiers and officers bring in artillery to suppress the rebellion, they will give the government face and stop fighting."

Miao Youlin took a deep breath and looked at the guy again.

After a while, a sentence popped up:
"Isn't this just two armies fighting each other?"

……

Zeng Zhongyuan smiled helplessly and continued to explain the situation.

The ancestors of the Hakka people came from the Central Plains.

On the road of escape, the refugees from various groups continued to merge and merge again.

In the end, no one could figure out where he was from. All we knew was that he was from the north and had moved south to escape the war.

Miao Youlin also regained his composure and asked:
"Who has the upper hand in the dispute between the natives and the Hakkas? Who does the government favor more?"

"We Hakkas are fearless, but the government favors the Cantonese because they are rich, have gentry, and can have a say with the government." Miao Youlin immediately realized that the Hakkas had more defeats than victories.
Because the Cantonese people occupied the best plains in the Pearl River Delta, while most of the Hakka people settled in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong.

If what Zeng Zhongyuan said is true, then the Hakka people should not live in the mountains now, but in the Pearl River Delta plains.

Just like in Guizhou,

The Miao people lived on the mountain, while the Han people lived at the foot of the mountain. This was also the result of hundreds of years of repeated competition between the two sides.

……

“Does it snow in Guangdong in winter?”

"It will snow, mostly light snow, occasionally heavy snow."

Due to the influence of the Little Ice Age during the Ming and Qing dynasties, it often snows in Guangdong and Guangxi.

This sentence made Miao Youlin's heart skip a beat.

Damn, I was careless.

When we fought in Jinchuan before, Green Camps from various provinces gathered together, and there was a Green Camp officer from Guangdong who was specifically responsible for casting cannons.

That guy said that Guangdong has spring all year round. In fact, Suzhou and Hangzhou are not paradise. Guangzhou is paradise. No one needs to wear cotton clothes. It saves money and is warm.

General Miao, who was suffering in the wind and snow in Jinchuan at that time, was deeply impressed by these words.

Miao Youlin cursed inwardly:
Damn it, don’t fall into my hands.

……

"General, I am willing to join the army. As long as you raise your arm and call, the Hakka people in northern Guangdong will gather under your command, charge into battle, and fight to the death."

Zeng Zhongyuan fell to his knees~
Miao Youlin hesitated for a long time and did not immediately agree to the request.

Instead he said:

"You will first serve the army, buy food and money, and guide the way. Let's see how you perform."

"Thank you, General."

In the past, Miao Youlin might have just waved his hand and used one faction to fight against another.

Following His Majesty,
He was well aware of the internal strife in Jiangsu, and was confronted by his fellow villagers from northern Anhui in the 2nd Corps, so he knew how terrible this thing was.

If they cursed at each other like in Jiangsu, it would be fine if it was internal discrimination. But if the conflict between the natives and the Hakkas is not handled properly, it can turn into a "fight" involving hundreds of thousands of people.

Wu Jun does not want to get involved in an endless civil war~
……

On the same day,

Miao Youlin wrote a letter to His Majesty,
How should the army intervene in this situation? Who should I side with?

The next day, Miao Youlin thought of another question.

"Will the Hakka and Tu people attack the city? For example, they will take advantage of the chaos to capture a county town or a prefectural city."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

"So you guys are just going to find an open area to fight?"

"Yes, we will also destroy each other's villages."

"How do you shovel?"

"We went into the enemy's village and killed everyone, regardless of gender, age or status. We knocked down the houses, filled up the wells and smashed the millstones."

Miao Youlin nodded, turned and left.

I thought to myself that compared with the Cantonese, the Guizhou guys are quite restrained.

……

Two days later, Mei Pass was captured without a fight.

Before the Qing army arrived in northern Guangdong, the soldiers of the 5th Corps had already stepped onto this "first pass in Lingnan" and took over the complete artillery checkpoint.

It took another half day.
The artillery was adjusted in direction - pointing towards Guangdong.

The main force continued to move south and surrounded the city of Nanxiong.

However, they did not rush to launch an attack. Instead, they built fortifications on the spot and surrounded the enemy, waiting for the delayed artillery to arrive.

It is very troublesome to transport artillery across Dayuling Mountain.

Zeng Zhongyuan made many efforts and contacted more than 600 porters to help carry the artillery.

The porters' tools were very simple, just a shoulder pole and a bundle of hemp rope.

The military officers are in charge of three meals a day, and they eat the same food as the soldiers.

It was agreed in advance that all artillery would be transported to the city of Nanxiong and each person would be paid 5 taels of silver.

The army was short of cash for its baggage, so they wrote an IOU first. They would not be paid until they captured the city of Nanxiong.

These porters, who had not worked for a year, had no complaints and silently carried the heavy cannons across the Guangdong-Jiangxi Ancient Road that they were familiar with.

Because of the maritime ban, rice from Siam could not be imported.

Rice prices soared.

They really need these five taels of silver!
……

No one dug the ground or buried explosives to attack the city because Miao Youlin wanted to keep the city intact through the winter.

He observed the defenses of Nanxiong City and found that there seemed to be no urn.

Moreover, the city gate is opened on the front, so it is entirely possible to use artillery to directly destroy the city gate and the drawbridge, and then the army can charge in.

The soldiers cut down trees and made siege weapons according to the blueprints.

Day 3,
The ignorant general of Nanshaolian Town led the 3rd Battalion of the Town Flag and the 2nd Battalion of Qingyuan, and came with 5 cannons to reinforce.

The 5th Corps easily defeated the Qing army without any artillery, with the casualty ratio being an outrageous 1 to 30.

The Qing army left behind more than 400 bodies, more than 300 were captured, and the rest fled.

When the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Yi Erhang, learned about the incident later, he was furious and ordered the beheading of six people including the general, deputy general, and guerrillas.

At the same time, he announced to all local officials with murderous intent:

It is our duty to defend the territory, and anyone who loses the city will be executed.

……

The morale of the Qing army in Nanxiong Prefecture, who witnessed the whole process, dropped to zero, and they surrendered after a brief resistance.

The prefect of Nanxiong committed suicide by taking poison in despair.

The 5th Corps easily occupied the city of Nanxiong and used it as a winter base.

The porters who followed were stunned and their blood was boiling.

"This is the heavenly soldiers descending to earth."

"It's time for us Hakkas to rise up. Follow the Wu army and kill the Tartars and the natives."

"Correct."

The news spreads to ten, and the news spreads to hundreds.

After entering the twelfth lunar month, young and strong people from the Hakka villages in northern Guangdong began to head to Nanxiong, bringing their own dry food.

the reason is simple,
Once you join the Wu army, you will have swords and guns and can take legal revenge.

Secondly, it saves food for the family.

The maritime ban has far-reaching consequences.

Even the common people in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong were affected, and their already difficult lives became even more difficult.

In the winter of 1777,

It is destined that the storm will rise and heroes will emerge~
……

And 3000 miles away in Suzhou,

The snow just stopped.

The Daoqian Street meeting hall, which was equipped with floor heating, was warm as spring. Li Yu sat at the head of the room, with civil and military officials sitting on both sides, all with serious expressions.

The atmosphere at the venue was so solemn.
This is because Your Majesty has raised a very expensive issue - water conservancy!
To put it more bluntly, it means digging a river.

……

The Yangtze River estuary is incredibly wide, and there is almost no risk of flooding.

But the absence of floods does not mean there is no waterlogging.

There are many alluvial plains in the south of the Yangtze River.

During the Qianlong period, waterlogging in the entire Jiangnan region became increasingly serious, and everyone could see it.

the reason is simple,
No money or manpower has been invested in dredging the river for at least two or three decades.

……

"Digging a river kills two birds with one stone. When there is a lot of rain, it can drain the water quickly and discharge it into the East China Sea, the Yangtze River, and Taihu Lake. When there is little rain and drought, it can help irrigate farmland."

Huang Wenyun, director of the Water Resources Agency, asked hesitantly:
"May I ask, Your Majesty, is the river digging limited to the two prefectures of Su and Song?"

Li Yu smiled, stood up and pointed to a large map behind him, saying:
"Songjiang, Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Taicang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing~"

Fan Jing was startled:
"Your Majesty, do you mean to dig rivers in all ten prefectures?"

"Exactly."

Everyone's heart skipped a beat at this moment.

It seems that corvée labor was abolished too early. How many workers would be needed for such a large project? How much would the wages be?

The Director of the Agriculture Department, Fan Zhongmo, had a trembling voice.

asked:

"May I ask Your Majesty how many strips do you want to dig? How long do you want to dig?"

"Like a Go board, the river runs straight, running from north to south and from east to west. In 50 years, the Jiangnan Plain will be a paradise on earth."

(End of this chapter)