Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1421 Shandong Severe Drought ([-])

"Has the Qing army made any moves recently?" Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Zhiqing, the captain of the Southern Exploration Team and Southern Security Commander who participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new city in Cixi County, asked Navy Captain Liu Fubo.

Captain Liu Fubo has been busy transferring back to China recently. Because Gein is in the Far East, the navy really has no use for it, so there are naturally very few opportunities to make contributions.Moreover, the position of the Blackwater Temporary Task Force he is in is also very vague, because it does not belong to any of the three major fleets, and the local Navy Department does not take care of it. It is only responsible for sending wages and some supplies. The assessment and promotion of personnel are so poor that many young officers with self-motivation have to find ways to transfer back to the mainland to serve. No one wants to dawdle in the stagnant water of the Blackwater Temporary Task Force , Captain Liu Fubo also had this idea.

After all, he is only in his early thirties, and he has already climbed to the high position of captain. If he wants to continue to improve, he must take the post of captain of a main battleship (such as the "August [-]th" class), otherwise it will be very difficult. It is difficult to take up the post of commander of the squadron or even the commander of the main fleet, so he is eager to return to China to develop.In addition, he even heard that the mainland plans to abolish the organization of the Blackwater Temporary Task Force. As for how the ships under his name (actually, there are not many) will be merged, there is no clear statement yet, but at least this rumor makes Many people think that this temporary fleet is a pit, and want to climb out to find another job.

However, before he was officially transferred, Captain Liu Fubo was still a member of the fleet, and he was a naval officer specifically designated to cooperate with the Southern Exploration Team, so he was basically active in the East China Sea and the Yangtze River most of the time.This time, Jiang Zhiqing came to Cixi County to inspect the newly built city, and he also followed him, and urged the naval ships to bring a batch of supplies from the near sea (because of the poor traffic conditions in Cixi, we can only use small boats when the tide is high) shipped).

"There is no movement, everything is as usual." Captain Liu Fubo immediately replied: "There is no movement in the neighboring Shaoxing and the Qing army in Hangzhou. After the death of Luke Dehun, Le Erjin is currently in charge of the Hangzhou camp. Among them The more than [-] Qing troops under his command are still conducting daily drills, except for a small number who were suspected of being transferred westward to the Jiangxi border a while ago, the rest are stationed near the Hangzhou camp, apparently guarding against us."

"What's going on with the troops transferred to the Jiangxi border from the west? How many are there? Who will lead the army?" Jiang Zhiqing asked sharply immediately.

"I don't know." Liu Fubo shook his head, and said honestly: "Captain Guo of the military police has no clue, and the information is contradictory. What can be confirmed so far is that the Qing army transferred to the west is probably dominated by green camps, and the number should be There are no more than [-] people, and it may be used to support the main force of the Qing army in Hubei going south. However, the southern expedition of the Qing army seems to have come to naught, and this support force probably has no effect, but now I don’t know where to go. Yes. Our ability to infiltrate the intelligence of the Qing army next door is still too weak."

"The reason why the Qing army did not fight this time is because there were relatively severe droughts in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and northern Jiangnan provinces. In other places, it is okay to say that the disasters are at most certain prefectures and counties, and relief can be provided, but Shandong is the whole country. The province was hit by a disaster, and it was impossible to save them. Therefore, it is a wise choice for them to abandon the long-planned southern expedition and calm down." Jiang Zhiqing looked at the crowd who were setting off firecrackers at the top of the city, with a serious expression on his face. He said solemnly: "But the drought can last for half a year or a year. Can it last for two, three or even longer? If not, then after two years of recuperation, the Qing army will still go south in a big way. At that time, Dashun, Nanming They will still face a major life-and-death threat, not to mention that they are still keen on fighting and fighting internally, what a bunch of idiots they can't help, it's disappointing!"

When the immediate boss Jiang Zhiqing said so, Captain Liu Fubo could only agree with him.In fact, he was also somewhat dissatisfied with the Shun Army, because this group of people always had the idea of ​​expanding their territory and population, frequently encroaching on the prefectures and counties under the Nanming court, and wooing some so-called "traitors" who had defected to Nanming in the early years The head of the camp, the purpose of wanting to cheer up is very obvious.Naturally, this point will not please the people on the east coast.

The old city walls of Cixi County were damaged a lot due to the war in the early years, and repairs are still not very effective.Over the past few years, people on the east coast have taken advantage of the favorable opportunity of peace to mobilize the young and strong in the county to renovate and repair the damaged city wall. Many heavy artillery pieces have made this small city located on the front line have a certain degree of protection since then.

Stationed in Cixi County is the Sun Shouzheng Department of the Third Division of the Zhejiang Xinjian Army. The division has a total of 500 soldiers and is stationed in Cixi County all the year round. A green battalion of the Qing army—there has been no big battles throughout the year, but small-scale provocations, sneak attacks, and fighting have not stopped much. It seems to be a kind of "game" played between the two sides, but since it is actually Since the peace talks, such small-scale raids and killings (such as attacking your woodcutters, etc.) have disappeared, and the two sides have officially entered an era of peace.

Cixi County now only has a population of 9 to [-], and it can only be ranked behind in the control area on the east bank of Ningbo.However, two or three years before the peace talks, as the war gradually subsided, the economy and population of Cixi County began to recover slowly. Today, the production capacity of salt, tea, silk, cotton, and hemp in its territory is already quite large, and it is the most important place in the south. The pioneering team and the Bank of Taiwan contributed enormous profits.

However, in last year's storm of destroying mulberry and changing grain, Cixi County also suffered a great impact. A large number of mulberry fields and cotton fields were replanted with overwintering wheat, and it is said that some tea gardens will also be destroyed after the spring of next year. Potatoes and sweet potatoes with a short growth period, and even beans should be planted at worst, in order to increase food reserves as much as possible and prepare for the continued famine in Shandong. Which one is more important, money or people?

And such a blunt administrative order will naturally cause dissatisfaction among many people in the local area, including many gentry and wealthy businessmen who joined the Stability Maintenance Association.Especially in places like Cixi County, the recovery of the silk, tea and cotton industry is not too long. Many people have not had time to taste the sweetness of the profits, but they are poured down by a pot of cold water. It can be said to be mixed flavors.No, some fierce gentry may feel that the people on the east coast now rely on them for local governance, so they unite and refuse to carry out the action of destroying mulberry and changing food, so they are quickly beaten by officers and soldiers of the [-]rd Division of the New Army Go, get out some black materials, put them directly into the prison, and then a series of judicial procedures of trial, fine, and exile, directly frighten those who still have a little naughty heart, and have to obey the orders from above.

Of course, the action of destroying mulberry and changing grain does not require that all fertile fields have to be planted with grain, but the output of cotton and mulberry fields in the eight counties of Ningbo Prefecture has dropped significantly (it may not even be enough to pay for the prescribed share of sales to the Dutch East India Company. It is an indisputable fact, after all, there are countless victims in Shandong who are in urgent need of food relief.The main task of the three development teams in the Far East has always been not to trade or make money, but to collect people. On this point, the gentry in Ningbo Mansion and the East Coast probably have a fundamental contradiction.Moreover, in the short term, you still can't understand any possibility of resolving this kind of conflict. People don't care about your demands, and you won't even be allowed to invest in the equity of the Bank of Taiwan, so that you have no place to spend the money you earn; But you have to listen to other people's opinions, and you have to obey them, otherwise you will face catastrophe.And this seems to be the reason why more and more Ningbo gentry children have immigrated to the east coast in recent years. In Ningbo, a small pond, doing anything is quite restrictive. It is better to immigrate to South America first. In addition to being a national of the east coast, the resistance to doing things like that will be much smaller.

Not far from the city wall is a large wheat field, which is the overwintering wheat sown in autumn a while ago.Everyone on the east bank is very concerned about this, because these grains are likely to be the life-saving rations for the disaster victims in Shandong next year!God knows how long the disaster will last, and God knows how many disaster victims from Xisi Prefecture will flood into the Denglei area!

Jiang Zhiqing also saw these endless wheat fields. As the first generation of traversers and the captain of the Southern Exploration Team appointed by the Executive Committee, Jiang Zhiqing naturally puts the interests of the East China Republic first. The action of destroying mulberry and changing food was exactly his order, and it was his will to arrest and try disobedient gentry.It can be said that if the gentry in Ningbo Mansion can draw a villain to curse, he will definitely be ranked first.

"Xiao Liu, I heard that the textile industry in the opposite Songjiang Prefecture has been declining over the years, and the area of ​​private land replanted with grain has increased year by year. So the local grain should be somewhat surplus. Can we think of a way? In fact, not only Songjiang Mansion is now, Shaoxing and Hangzhou can also be considered. These places are famous lands of fish and rice, and have not suffered any disasters. Presumably there is not much food shortage. Last year, the food smuggled from these three places to Ningbo Mansion was no more. It's just five or six thousand tons, and I don't know where it was obtained, and there is still a lot of potential for this potential." Jiang Zhiqing said suddenly.

In fact, Songjiang, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other Jiangnan areas have been important textile production areas since the end of Ming Dynasty. A large amount of farmland was used to grow cash crops such as mulberry, hemp, and cotton. Transported from the Huguang area.Of course, this is not to say that Jiangnan does not produce grain. In fact, the daily food of the people in Jiangnan is still self-produced, but the part that needs to be taxed is imported from the outside world. Don’t you see a super landlord named Qian in Suzhou in the late Ming Dynasty. Is the land annual income of 97 shi of various grains?However, after the Manchu dynasty took over and implemented the ban on the sea and the country, the export channels of the Jiangnan textile industry were cut off, and the domestic demand market not only failed to fill the gap in a timely manner, but declined, which naturally made it no longer possible to grow such economic crops. It is very profitable, and many people are forced to switch back to growing food, but they are also helpless.

However, the reduction in the planting area of ​​economic crops and the expansion of the area of ​​grain planting in the Jiangnan area are, to some extent, extremely beneficial to the people on the east bank who are entrenched in Ningbo Prefecture.Because this means that there is a certain amount of food surplus in the Qing Dynasty around Ningbo Prefecture, which can be exported to Ningbo Prefecture through various secret smuggling channels. After all, the price of food in Ningbo is high.This kind of grain smuggling may not have been obvious ten years ago, because it was not a scale at all, but in recent years, the scale has become larger and larger, and the trade volume has gradually climbed to the level of several hundred thousand taels of silver. I don't know how many officials from the Songjiang, Hangzhou, and Shaoxing prefectures in the Qing Dynasty were dragged into the water.On the other hand, the East Bank also acquiesced in this, and did not impose import duties, but instead provided various conveniences to encourage the smuggling of grain from the Qing Dynasty to Ningbo.

Therefore, what Jiang Zhiqing said just now actually meant something, that is, he hoped that the Qing government would smuggle more grain into the territory of Ningbo Prefecture, and he would not hesitate to give them a higher price for this.Ningbo Prefecture still has some money on hand, and the Bank of Taiwan can also provide a large amount of money. At worst, they can find a way to apportion donations among the gentry in the eight counties of the prefecture. In short, raising money should not be too difficult. The difficulty is How to turn these money into life-saving food requires merchants walking between the two countries to find a way-the difficulty must be not small, because the Qing government must also be trying to find a way to transfer food from the south of the Yangtze River to the north for disaster relief It is indeed very difficult to smuggle 10,000+ shi of grain to Ningbo on the basis of last year. Even if the smugglers of the Qing Dynasty are willing, the officials will not cooperate, so everything depends on the development of the situation, Jiang What Zhiqing meant was probably to ask the navy to help figure out a solution, and even dispatch warships to cover the smugglers when necessary. After all, everything is disaster relief!

Liu Fubo nodded silently when he heard the words, and then said carefully: "Captain Jiang, I understand! Our navy will do our best for this matter. As long as our partners in the Qing Dynasty do not lose the chain, I can guarantee that at least Smuggle 15 to 20 shi of grain from the Qing Dynasty to Ningbo to fully support the disaster relief operations in Shandong.”

"That's good! That's good!" Jiang Zhiqing immediately beamed with joy when he heard the words. The food crisis in Shandong could be alleviated a little, although the degree of relief was probably very limited.

(End of this chapter)