The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 328 Stealing the Railway
May 1733, 5, Guide Prefecture (now Shangqiu City), Ningling County.

A train was quietly parked in the wilderness. The windows on both sides were filled with heads looking out, wondering what had happened to the train and why it suddenly stopped.

Parking is an unsettling experience, especially when you don’t know how long you will have to wait, and a feeling of anxiety spreads to all passengers in a short time.

"Your Highness, the conductor said that there was a problem with the railway ahead and we need to wait for a while." An officer of the Royal Guards rushed to Prince Jin Sun Youyu and reported softly.

"How long do we need to wait?" Although Sun Youyu was a little annoyed in his heart, he still remained calm in front of several cabinet ministers and ministry ministers.

"...About one to two hours." The guard officer said with his head down.

"I don't know what this railway envoy from Guide Prefecture is doing. The Xuzhou-Luoyang Railway is a major east-west transportation artery, carrying a huge amount of personnel and material exchanges, and it cannot be delayed for a moment. I didn't expect that the trains would be unable to pass now. It's really speechless." A vice minister of the Ministry of Works couldn't help but complain.

"Is it because the train ahead of us broke down and blocked the railway line, so our train had to stop here temporarily?"

"Not really, right? Even if the train ahead breaks down, the nearby Ningling Station will definitely send out another locomotive to tow the train away, or divert it to a nearby branch road, so it won't delay the passage of the two trains."

"What caused the temporary railway interruption? Doesn't the Ningling Station ahead know that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin is on this train? If this delays His Royal Highness's journey, aren't you afraid of losing your head?"

"In my opinion, it is mostly caused by human factors."

"Human error? Who is so bold as to deliberately stop the train?"

"Maybe some unruly people... dug up the railroad tracks."

"Ah? Are there still unruly people digging up the railroad tracks?"

"Money can make people's hearts flutter. There will always be people who are not afraid of death and will take risks and do such evil things."

"Is there anyone who dares to collect these torn-off rails?"

"Hehe... those small iron shops and forging workshops in the countryside can melt dozens of meters of rails for you in a few days as long as they are quick enough, and then make them into farm tools. Where can you find them?"

"How dare you, thief?"

Yu Wenke, a cabinet councilor and student at Wenhua Palace, stole a glance at Jin Prince Sun Youyu, only to see that he was still leaning back in the soft chair calmly, and did not seem to show any anger at the discussion in the carriage. He could not help but praise him secretly.

Prince Jin, you are really generous!

"Grand Secretary, do you think there have been any cases of civilians stealing railway tracks in Qi?" Sun Youyu asked in a relaxed tone with a smile when he saw Yu Wenke looking at him.

"I think... there should be some." Yu Wen Ke said, "I heard that the inland area of ​​Qi is a large desert area with no human habitation for hundreds or thousands of miles. Under such circumstances, it is definitely impossible to take care of it. There will be daring people who will take risks and steal the rails laid on the ground, melt them down and exchange them for money."

"I heard that Qi produces tens of millions of tons of steel every year. Based on this, steel should not be very valuable in Qi, right?" Sun Youyu shook his head and said, "Also, I heard that ordinary people in Qi have a high income, with a monthly income of more than 30 taels of silver. Would they steal the railroad tracks?"

"Uh..." Yu Wen Ke paused for a moment, but after thinking for a while, he defended himself, "Even if Qi State has not had any civilians stealing railroad tracks, there must have been some decades ago. After all, this is an extra item, which will always stimulate those daring people to do such dangerous things."

"..."Sun Youyu smiled and did not comment.

You can say that the people of Qi are overbearing, and you can also despise their undisguised greed, but you cannot doubt the wealth and power of the people of Qi, nor can you question their way of governing the country and the people.

Although he had never been to Hanzhou, nor had he dealt with too many people from Qi, as a member of the royal family, what he had the most was the timeliness and comprehensiveness of the information he had.

There is a Public Opinion Department under the Jing'an Division, which is dedicated to collecting various intelligence information of Qi State, including various newspapers and publications published and distributed in Qi State and overseas territories.

Although the collected information has a certain time delay, he can still learn about the latest developments in Qi State from many newspapers and periodicals, including their politics, economy, military, and various people's livelihood affairs, all kinds of things, no matter how big or small. Through all kinds of complicated information, he can clearly outline the general picture of Qi State.

It is true that Qi is richer and more powerful than our Great Qin, but there are still various violent crimes in its territory, such as robbery, kidnapping, murder, wall-stabbing, thousand-door, and human trafficking.

However, there are very few cases of destructive theft of important national infrastructure such as railways, bridges, and telegraph lines. In addition to the fact that the Qi army and police will severely crack down on and punish this, it is also extremely uneconomical to do such things, and even the gains do not outweigh the losses.

You say, taking huge risks, spending half a day to install a dozen rails, only to earn a few dozen or a few hundred dollars in the end, how stupid that is!
It would be better to steal a few sheep in the vast pastoral area, and it would be easy to sell the stolen goods. At worst, you can find a rich family, break into the house, pick the lock, and take out a few things, which can also be exchanged for a lot of silver.

But if you carry a few rails back with you, the noise will be too loud and the target will be very obvious. It will be easy for someone to find you and kill you in one fell swoop.

You can count on your fingers who the next buyer of the railroad tracks will be. Without connections in both the black and white worlds, you simply cannot survive.

What kind of country is Qi?
It was a deeply centralized empire that extended its rule all the way to the countryside. There were village leaders appointed or assigned by grassroots governments, militia organizations that were regularly convened for training, and many cooperatives and pastoralist mutual aid organizations established under the guidance of local governments. Whenever there was any disturbance, the county and provincial governments at all levels would be informed of the news first and would quickly take countermeasures.

And what about our Great Qin?
Basically, the political system of the pre-Ming Dynasty was followed, the Confucian concept of governing the country was adopted to strengthen grassroots management, and the village agreement was continued. In this case, the power of local gentry and clans was generally used to strengthen control over the local area and incorporate grassroots social management into the entire political management system.

The gentry were familiar with the local situation and, with their various privileges, were active in all areas of society, controlling all aspects of local and grassroots society and influencing the peace and stability of the local area and its ups and downs. The gentry also had a voice and could express their opinions on local affairs. They were also the objects of government officials’ reliance on to understand the local area and consult on the pros and cons.

Many officials in the court also always believed that "the advantages and disadvantages of the local area and the well-being of the people cannot be fully known without consulting the gentlemen."

It can be said that if some major incidents occurred in the local countryside, and the gentry or clans insisted on concealing the truth, the government would be completely unaware of it.

"Your Highness, do you think that the theft of rails along the railway must be caused by the involvement of local evil gentry?" Yu Wenke was surprised by the reasoning ability of Jin Wang Sun Youyu. "Perhaps, there are also people inside the railway who are connected with it." Sun Youyu's eyes flashed with a fierce look, "The rails were stolen, and the Railway Supervision and Management Department will apply for a sum of money to purchase a new batch of rails for repair? Can the many officials take advantage of this and share some of the profits?"

"Your Highness..."

"I know, Grand Secretary." Sun Youyu waved his hand and said, "The main purpose of this northern tour of various provinces, prefectures and counties is to investigate the people's livelihood and economy in the north and the selection of new capitals. It is inconvenient to cause trouble. However, stealing the railway and disrupting transportation, in a small sense, is just a matter of local governance and collusion between officials and bandits. It seems to be a minor problem and will not affect the overall situation of the court. However, in a big sense, it blocks the east and the west, cuts off transportation, worsens the local people's livelihood governance of our Great Qin, and breeds the trouble of rebels and thieves. Stealing the rails, if not careful, there is a danger of the train overturning. If we ignore it and let it develop, it will sooner or later cause a major accident."

"..." Yu Wen Ke suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

"It has been more than 50 years since the founding of the Qin Dynasty. Although the national power... is thriving, the seas are clear and the rivers are calm, and the world is peaceful, the trend of local extravagance has risen wildly. Many officials have been corrupt and perverted the law to enrich themselves in pursuit of a life of luxury. In addition, the population is growing endlessly, and land annexation is becoming more and more serious, resulting in a more acute and difficult to control contradiction between people and land. In addition, the local unscrupulous gentry and merchants are exploiting and profiteering, making countless people more difficult, and finally forcing them to take risks and commit various illegal acts. The Grand Secretary believes that if the local people of Ningling can live a worry-free life and get what they deserve, how can they do such a crazy thing as stealing the railway?"

"Your Highness wants to challenge the local officials and hold them accountable for this matter?"

"Since we have encountered them, we must take action to clean them up, so as to suppress the anger in our hearts." Sun Youyu sneered and said, "Otherwise, if we allow them to spread their poison to other places, wouldn't it corrode the foundation of our Great Qin?"

After hearing this, Yu Wen Ke was speechless.

This Prince of Jin probably took advantage of this northern tour to try to interfere in local affairs, wanting to put on a strong "political show" to enhance and strengthen his own political prestige.

A few days ago, when he was staying in Xuzhou, he expressed strong dissatisfaction with the local merchants' control of mines.

He believed that both coal mines and iron mines should be strictly controlled by the imperial court and should not be allowed to be operated by private merchants. You know, those who operate mines often employ thousands of miners, and if something happens, it will be difficult for local officials to control it.

Therefore, in order to prevent problems before they occur, such privately-controlled mines need to be supervised by the government, or directly implemented as a joint venture between the government and the private sector, so as to strengthen the court's control.

These remarks immediately frightened the local private mines in Xuzhou, and they came to visit King Jin with valuable gifts, trying their best to prove their innocence.

So, if we businessmen open a mine, we will have a potential opportunity for rebellion! ?
What an injustice!

Although His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin did not take any coercive action against the local private mines during their stay in Xuzhou, the careful Yu Wen Ke still observed that when the delegation continued on their journey by train, the clerk of the Prince of Jin's mansion stayed behind for some reason, presumably to handle some "private matters" for the Prince of Jin, which were probably related to the mines.

Well, he "could not bear to see" the theft of the tracks in the Ningling railway section, and he probably wanted to stir up a political wave.

The problem is, a strong dragon can hardly defeat a local snake!
-
That day, in the evening.

At Dingjiaao, six kilometers southwest of Ningling County, a fierce battle to capture the criminal is underway. A team consisting of more than 200 railway guards, county yamen runners and conscripted men have surrounded a manor tightly.

The wall, which was less than 1.5 meters high, was riddled with holes. There were dense lead bullet holes and countless arrows sticking diagonally into the wall. There were seven or eight dead bodies lying scattered under the wall.

Ding Yihai, the owner of the "Ding Ji" ironworks, hid behind a high wall, his eyes bloodshot, looking out with anger on his face and cursing under his breath.

"Brother, look at the situation outside, they obviously want to kill us." The third brother Ding Yiwu came over with a long knife in his hand, looking a little panicked. "Just now, the second brother went out to discuss the matter with Zhang Du and his men, but he was shot dead before he even had a chance to speak. Brother, what do you think they want to do? Just because we collected some rails, they killed us like this? ... Are they going to kill us all and divide our money?"

"Hehe, Zhang Dushi is so determined. He must have received secret instructions from that bastard Yang Weiming, the railway supervisor, to kill us all in order to cover up our connection with him. No doubt, Third Brother, let's fight them to the death today and kill as many as we can to get back our money!"

"Brother, it would be fine if we die, but what about our wife, children and the elderly in the house?" Ding Yiwu looked like a bereaved family member, and turned his head to look towards the inner house unwillingly.

"..." Ding Yihai's ferocious face twitched a few times, and then he gritted his teeth tightly, "Now that things have come to this, do we in the Ding family still think that someone can be spared?... Forget it, forget it, let's all go to see the King of Hell in one piece."

As he spoke, he tightened the dagger in his hand, turned around and walked towards the inner house.

"Brother...Brother, what are you going to do?" Ding Yiwu looked at his brother leaving in astonishment, feeling even more panicked.

"Boss, Third Master, the green dogs (railway guards wear green uniforms) and policemen outside are about to attack! ... They are pushing the crouching tiger cannon!"

At this moment, the farmhand behind the wall shouted in fear, with a tremor in his voice.

The earthen wall of the manor could not withstand the bombardment. The officers outside only needed to suffer some casualties and drag a few battering rams to break down the wall.

However, these cowardly officials surrounded the enemy for most of the day, and only when they got a tiger-crouching cannon of unknown age from the county did they clamor and launch an attack.

Then do you still fight?

Not to mention resisting the government, that is a serious crime that will lead to the confiscation of property and the extermination of the entire family. Even if you want to resist, you are powerless!

There were more than two hundred officers, more than twenty of them were armed with muskets, more than ten archers, and the rest were equipped with swords and guns, and many even wore leather armor.

On the other hand, our side consists of no more than 30 farmhands, craftsmen and apprentices. The weapons they possess include three old-fashioned matchlock rifles, a crossbow, and a dozen long and short swords privately made by the ironworks. The gap in strength is so huge. Do we have to follow our boss to the end and resist arrest by the government?
With a loud bang from the tiger squat cannon, although no one knew where the cannonball flew to, it completely shattered the resistance confidence of the people in the manor. With a shout, they dropped their swords, ran down the wall and fled inside.

"Sir, the manor is on fire!" Zhang Rongsong, the railway guard commander who was watching the battle from a distance, was about to order the entire army to take advantage of the situation and attack the manor when a confidant beside him pointed his hand forward and exclaimed in a low voice.

"Hmm?" Zhang Rongsong looked stern as he looked at the manor that was on fire. He immediately ordered his men, "Go into the manor quickly and don't let anyone escape! ... If you see the Ding brothers, kill them without mercy."

"Yes, my lord!"

(End of this chapter)