Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1186 Progress
In the letter, Fenghua reported the seed production situation of Wang Siniang and her daughter in the villa under the guidance of the technicians of the Agricultural Committee. From the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, a female agricultural technician from Lingao was sent from Lingao to train They produce seeds.According to Zhao Yingong's plan, in 1632, seed production was carried out first, and silkworms were not raised.The second seed production in spring and autumn can produce about 1633 silkworm eggs. From [-], large-scale sericulture was promoted—so he had half a year to annex enough sericulture gardens to prepare for large-scale sericulture. Material preparation.

The spring seed production is going well, and the cold storage for storing silkworm eggs has also been completed.The bigger problem is that since March and April this year, there has been no rain in Hangzhou. The newly planted mulberry orchards on the hillside are irrigated by using wind-powered waterwheels built last winter to lift water from the Qiantang River below the mountain. However, Hangzhou’s wind resources It was not stable, and from time to time it was necessary to use oxen to pull water, which consumed a lot of animal power, and the existing few oxen could not do it at all. Fenghua asked him in the letter if he could make a report to the Senate and get a steam engine to pump water.

This is not difficult. The steam engine-powered water pump kit has already been quite mature and systematic in the Lingao Machinery General Factory. It is widely used in agriculture and mining. If you want to apply for one, it is estimated that it will be approved. The problem is this Coal is hard to come by - or just firewood?

Zhao Yingong thought and continued to look down.The second part of the letter is a report on the Xiushantang, a euphemism for the quarantine camp, on the newly purchased vacant lot at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain Villa. In 1632, Zhejiang Province suffered from a severe drought, and it did not rain since March—this It is a devastating blow to agriculture. Failure to plant rice seedlings in time in spring means that there will be no harvest for the year.Seeing that the time has entered summer, this year's severe drought has become a foregone conclusion. A large number of people have begun to flee from famine, and the roads are full of refugees.

Economic collapse triggered by agricultural disasters is particularly pronounced in industrial and commercial economies

The Senate's demand for population is endless. Zhao Yingong came to the south of the Yangtze River, and taking in refugees from Zhejiang was originally on the agenda.Since the end of 1631, he has taken in thousands of people in batches and shipped them out through Shanghai Port.

Naturally, no one will intervene when a small number of people are transported away, but the reception and transport of a large number of refugees in a catastrophe year is bound to attract the attention of the government.Therefore, Zhao Yingong still followed the successful experience of the Guangzhou station in the past - building philanthropic halls.

The name of the philanthropic hall is "Charity Hall", and Zhao Yingong introduced the model of a charitable foundation to attract a group of gentry to join the association.The first is to recruit a group of gentry from the south of the Yangtze River to participate and act as good directors.

The main target of the introduction is of course the Xu family.Xu Guangqi's banner of elders must be used. Not only is Xu Guangqi himself an elder, but his only son Xu Ji married the daughter of Gu Changzuo, the richest man in Shanghai. Wealth and power.

In order to get enough support from the Xu family, Zhao Yingong, with the support of Father Jin Lige, carried out a key strategy on the Xu family, trying to close the relationship between the two parties.Therefore, the current friendship between the two parties is very high, and the establishment of a charity hall is objectively helpful to the spread of Catholicism, so the Xu family has agreed to help - not only providing an umbrella, but also promising to provide part of the funds.Xu Guangqi's in-laws, including Gu Changzuo's family, also agreed to pay several hundred taels of silver.

The second is the Catholic gentry under the Hangzhou church system-a few people have also been recruited to serve as directors through the Society of Jesus.In this way, at least in Nanzhi and Zhejiang, the work of Cixintang has a certain degree of security
The Hall of Compassion is located on a piece of newly purchased wasteland outside the Phoenix Mountain Villa.There are "Interrogation Office", "Men's and Women's Bathhouse", "Men's Hall", "Women's Hall" and "Orphan Hall", and there is also a "Qingjie Hall" specially used to conceal people's eyes and ears - sheltering lonely widows.Naturally, there are also places like "Artwork Institute" that specialize in extracting the surplus value of refugees.In fact, the first factory that Zhao Yingong plans to open is to recruit as a charity workshop.

There is open space beside the Qiantang River, abundant water sources, and fast water transportation. It can also be developed as an industrial zone in the future.It is also very convenient to engage in large-scale agriculture.

Refugees were accommodated by the Qiantang River, not only away from the downtown area on weekdays, so that they could be easily concealed from others, but they could also be directly transported out to sea by boat at night. This was Zhao Yingong's plan.

The letter reported that [-]% of the progress of the construction of the shantang had been completed—a large number of refugees provided abundant labor, and the veteran architect of Lingao Construction Corporation estimated that the construction should be completed on schedule.

Zhao Yingong was very satisfied.As long as it can be completed on schedule, the Zhejiang part of the engine operation will be half the battle.

Although the main purpose of the engine operation is to transport refugees from Shandong, the veterans also have a great interest in the population of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.Zhao Yingong knew: Abandoning all kinds of high-sounding reasons for the population industry and the theory of decisive victory, many elders are actually looking forward to a steady stream of Shandong girls and Jiangnan beauties.Zhejiang has a reputation for beautiful women since ancient times. Otherwise, the vice-commander's "chosen concubine" would not have set his sights on Zhejiang.

We are starting to take in refugees vigorously now, and we will be able to transfer refugees in autumn.Zhao Yingong is very clear that the refugees from Jiangsu and Zhejiang are actually more interested in the elders, because the refugees from Jiangsu and Zhejiang are not only farmers or fishermen, but many of them are handicraftsmen: they are more suitable for long hours of boring work than farmers. It is often necessary to work on the loom for more than ten hours a day.

He put down the letter in his hand and picked up the next one.This is more important, a telegram from Lingao - about the progress of the Shandong side of the engine operation.

Since Elder Lu Zeyang defeated the rebels in Laizhou, the entire Denglai battlefield fell into endless tug-of-war as expected.The entire Dongsan Prefecture is full of wars and refugees.

Shortly after Lu Zeyang's victory, on February 500th of the lunar calendar, Peng Youmo, who was originally defending Lushun's Shenwu Zuoying, joined the army and led 600 Sichuan soldiers to Laizhou by sea.On the fifth day of March, General Liu Guozhu dispatched 270 cavalry, led by general Li Jing and guerrilla Zhang Ruxing, but most of them fled midway, and less than [-] people actually arrived.

Because the troops on Qimu Island only accommodated refugees, they did not intercept the rebel transport.In order to put sufficient pressure on the Ming court, the rebels got a clear promise from Qimu Island: as long as they did not open fire on the south gate, they would not interfere if the rebels broke through the other gates.The rebels immediately began to unscrupulously transport heavy artillery and ammunition to Laizhou City, and continued to storm Laizhou City.

Although Sun Yuanhua was once squeezed out by officials and generals in the city due to the fall of Dengzhou, Peng Youmo, who came to aid Shenwu Zuoying, joined the army, and Lu Zeyang, who won the great victory at the South Gate, were both under his command, so he had to continue to rely on him. After the memorial of Laizhou Great Victory was published, he gradually became the core figure in the war in Laizhou and even Shandong.

In the fierce offensive and defensive battles, a group of officials, generals, and gentry who defended the city "martyred" one after another. Among them were the Laizhou Guard Commander Li Mengguo and Bai Zhongren, who died in a fierce battle in history. Zhang Xin, the governor of Laizhou in Qing Dynasty, also died in the "Zhongliu Shi".In short, the local gentry and local military officers in Laizhou suffered heavy casualties, and many students also died in battle.For a while, Laizhou City seemed to be in danger.

On the 27th day of the third lunar month of this year, Liu Yulie, the minister of the Ministry of War, swore to march to Laizhou as a supervisor, and mobilized reinforcements and volunteer soldiers from Jimen, Miyun and other places. The three towns had a total of 5000 cavalry and horses.On the second day of April, Emperor Chongzhen also dispatched eunuchs to send six Hongyi cannons to Shahe for reinforcements.

However, Liu Yulie and other commanders were not familiar with military affairs, and the troops from all walks of life moved forward in a mixed manner, and the discipline was chaotic.During the slow march, more than 800 vehicles of food, grass and supplies escorted by Wang Wensheng were attacked by rebel cavalry, and all were burned by the enemy, which not only caused supply difficulties, but also cut off the road.

Kong Youde ordered the recruitment of Wang Wensheng's soldiers, and sent people to spread rumors that the officers and soldiers of the third battalion were wiped out in Changyi County, where the old battalion of officers and soldiers was located.Then they attacked Changyi County with surrendered troops.Liu Yulie panicked and fled back to Qingzhou.A few days later, Liu Yulie heard that the officers and soldiers in the three towns were still there, but all the food and grass had been burned, and they could no longer fight.He ordered the withdrawal of troops.The rebels took the opportunity to sneak attack, and the officers and soldiers were defeated in Shahe. Countless people were captured, and a large number of firearms were seized by the rebels.

Next, the Ming army made an even bigger joke. Sun Yinglong, an old general in Tianjin, claimed to be brothers with Geng Zhongming, and boasted that he could get Geng Zhongming to tie Kong Youde and Li Jiuzheng to surrender.Zheng Zongzhou, the governor of Tianjin, believed his words and gave him [-] boats and [-] troops.

Sun Yinglong sent someone to talk about surrendering to Geng Zhongming. Geng Zhongming lured Sun Yinglong and the 2000-man boat of the Tianjin Navy directly to the Dengzhou Water City by means of a false surrender. Geng Zhongming then beheaded Sun Yinglong.Because of the acquisition of this navy, the rebels' water power is stronger, and they can easily communicate from all over the Dongjiang River. A steady stream of old Dongjiang troops began to pour into the Denglai area from the sea.

A series of defeats by the officers and soldiers caused the situation in the Three Eastern Prefectures to become more chaotic. A large number of defeated soldiers became bandits or directly joined the rebels. This caused a large number of people to flock to Qimu Island for refuge.Lu Wenyuan had to set up temporary shelters on the mainland to accommodate more refugees.

The Ming army's incompetence and strange defeat made the veterans of the Qimu Island Front Committee completely lose the last bit of awe they had towards Daming.

"Seize the territory! Grab the people!" Lu Wenyuan issued an order from the front committee of Qimu Island, and then the Shandong detachment began a violent expansion of the territory under the command of Zhu Mingxia who rushed back.Taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the local area, the Shandong detachment quickly expanded its army on the spot and recruited a large number of young and middle-aged men from among the refugees to train them as village warriors. Fortress, sent to Xiangyong.In the end, they actually occupied dozens of miles of land around Qimu Island, and took advantage of the chaos to occupy the Zhaoyuan area.

(End of this chapter)