Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1520 Shandong Earthquake ([-])

To some extent, the Qing Dynasty was actually quite unlucky.Apart from other things, among the 15 earthquakes with a magnitude of 8 or above in Chinese history, 8 of them occurred in the Qing Dynasty, and there is no one else!The 8.5-magnitude earthquake that occurred in the Tancheng area this time is also the largest earthquake in the history of East China. More than 150 states and counties in the province have been affected, which can be called a super earthquake.

An earthquake of this magnitude is extremely destructive to the agricultural society, especially in the areas controlled by the Qing army.Dozens of counties in nine prefectures, including Shan* Dongxisifu, HN Guide, Jiangnan Huai'an, HB Hejian, Daming, Guangping, etc., have undertaken extremely heavy burdens in order to support the more than [-] indigenous troops in Qingzhou and Jinan. Heavy taxes and corvee tasks, it is too much to say that they are squeezed into human labor, but it is true that life is hard, the family is desolate, and there is no food left. ——At least in these provinces, the area of ​​land reclamation is expanding year by year, the population is increasing, and the economy is becoming more prosperous. Compared with the above-mentioned provinces where the people are suffering and the economy is stagnant, they are indeed not at the same level. of.

Of course, transshipment of grain and grass and corvée service were heavy burdens for the millions of people in the above-mentioned nine prefectures, but it did not mean that their life was much worse than that of the people under Nanming or the Shun army.First of all, after the war in the late Ming Dynasty in the north, the population dropped sharply, the old rural order was hit hard, and the number of gentry was greatly reduced. Except for people (the land enclosure was soon stopped later), most of them were distributed to the local people.

There is no doubt that this behavior of equalizing land rights can greatly activate the local economy, release the bound productivity, and increase the population.Therefore, although they have been responsible for part of the food and payment of the [-] Qing troops in Shandong for many years (the rest was transferred from other sources by the Qing government), their life may not be as good as that of the militaristic Dashun and the endlessly fighting Li How much difference is there between Wu Sangui Chuanzhong under the rule of Zheng Erbu and the violent expropriation of Wu Sangui, and the southwestern provinces that supported a large number of idlers and a large number of garbage troops in the Ming government agencies, everyone is just each other.

However, this relatively fragile economy is based on normal years. Once there is a disaster that cannot be overcome by the agricultural society (such as the Tancheng earthquake), the millions of people in the nine prefectures mentioned above will rush to the streets. It is unavoidable—prefectures such as Guide, Daming, Guangping, and Hejian, which are a little farther from the epicenter, may be better off. After the local government participates in relief, they should be able to survive. As well as Huai'an Prefecture in Jiangnan Province, this earthquake is nothing less than a devastating blow, a devastating blow to their fragile agricultural economy!

According to the first-hand information obtained by Dongan Detective Cavalry who ventured into Qingzhou Mansion, the order of the twelve counties, one state, and one guard in Qingzhou Prefecture at this time has probably been greatly affected. It may be an exaggeration to be completely paralyzed, but in It is an indisputable fact amidst the great chaos.Especially when the traffic was cut off and a large number of houses collapsed (this is at least the core hinterland of the 8th District, and Jiaozhou City, where Liang Xiangjian was located at this time, was also at the edge of the 8th District), the states, counties, and guards were not communicating with each other. It is a high probability event that the soldiers and horses of the various battalions stationed in the four places have poor communication.

As for the common people, they don’t have much food left over on weekdays, and they have just been baptized by several years of drought and locust plagues. Many people have just returned home from other places where they fled famine. Can describe.Therefore, Liang Xiangjian guessed that these Shandong people might flock to the east bank control area on a large scale to "eat".You must know that during the drought that just ended last year, some people from the four prefectures of Shan* who fled to the east bank control area earlier sneaked back home. These people were brought to Qingzhou and Jinan by the Qing people It destroyed the reputation of "benevolence and righteousness" of the people on the East Bank, and slightly broke some of the negative effects of the Qing Dynasty's demonized propaganda on the East Bank for many years.What's more, the people in Changyi, Gaomi, Lingshanwei and other places near the east bank control area of ​​Laizhou Prefecture are not fools. Undoubtedly, these have given the East Bank a positive publicity, so that the people in the West Fourth Prefecture are no longer full of resistance to Wang Denglai's escape.

People on the east bank have not yet fully realized such a change, but if a large number of disaster victims from the four prefectures of Shan*, East and West, come, they will understand.Don't think this is impossible, although more than 20 victims of the drought and locust plagues in the past few years have fled Denglai (plus Pingdu, Jiaozhou and other places that took over, the total number of victims is as high as 40 million), it seems The "potential" has been exhausted.But you must know that the magnitude of this earthquake was as high as 8.5, and it was extremely destructive. Of course, the order in the vast area around Tancheng was completely destroyed, and Qingzhou, Jinan and other places were also quite uncomfortable, and houses, farmland, water conservancy, etc. The damage has been serious, and this year's grain harvest has become settled. If there is no one to provide relief at this time, then the formation of famine is inevitable, especially in the local garrison. The intensity of intercepting the victims has been reduced), and there will be a large number of victims of the West Fourth Prefecture fleeing to the east bank control area on the cliff.

Therefore, this is why Liang Xiangjian asked Captain Liang in Jiaozhou City, should the victims of the disasters in the four prefectures of Shan* be used on a large scale again?Is Denglei Second Mansion fully prepared again?No one can answer this, and no one dares to answer it, because it involves great political risks. Now it depends on what the supreme commander Liang Xiangjian does—if he still has a benevolent heart, he should naturally open up to help The victims who have no food and clothing, even if they are powerless, should give some relief; and if he cherishes his feathers and is unwilling to bear possible criticism from his political opponents, then he will stand by and watch, and even the reasons are ready-made, That is to say, the Denglei area has just recovered from the drought that lasted for several years, with limited food reserves and a huge debt, there is really no room to help the victims of foreign disasters.

The military and political officials in Jiaozhou City are also looking at Liang Xiangjian at this time. If he shows a certain tendency, then they will start preparations according to the corresponding steps in the next step, or open warehouses to release grain, or tighten fences, everything depends on the situation. mean.And Liang Xiangjian didn't keep everyone waiting too long. On August 8, after news came that sporadic disaster victims from Xisi Prefecture had arrived in the east bank control area, he finally made a decision to open a warehouse to release food and relieve the victims. Quickly restore local order, rectify the water conservancy of the farmland damaged by the earthquake and secondary flood disasters, replant grain immediately after rectifying a piece of land, especially the short-growing period corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, etc., can be replanted How much is how much, maybe it is these miscellaneous grains that save lives in the end.

Of course, Liang Xiangjian did this after careful consideration.First of all, he felt that although the Tancheng earthquake was tragic and the local order had already collapsed, in the past few years, the east bank had gathered 40 million victims from Shandong. More than one hundred thousand.This number, although the pressure on the Denglei area is not small, but it is definitely not unbearable. With the North Korean cash machine and the ability to borrow from the Dutch East India Company (Liang Xiangjian may be a little optimistic about this, Gein people on the east coast still owe the Dutch more than 150 million guilders in principal and interest), no matter how tight they are everywhere, they can almost fool them.

In addition, the immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty (including 30 HN prisoners of war sent by the Shun Army, the Dan people and GD immigrants collected from the south, and the "individual tourists" collected by the East Bank) will almost be shipped out this year. The total number of 1673 immigrants needed must be made up of some of the disaster victims collected during the drought. More than 74 disaster victims are actually enough to emigrate for five years, not to mention that a considerable number of them are destined to settle in places such as Denglai, Heishui, and Ezo. Exhausted, the number of GD spontaneous immigrants is limited, so almost until the [-]-[-] immigration season, the Far East San Francisco will face the dilemma of no immigrants again.

Therefore, when there is an opportunity to "reserve" immigrants in advance, Liang Xiangjian feels that he should try not to let it go.On this point, he is confident that he can also get the understanding of the members of the executive committee. He can't understand the thoughts of these people best.What's more, in this crisis, it is not impossible to cross the border to reap benefits. The premise is that the speed must be grasped, and the "news is too big" to make the higher-ups feel that this matter has touched the red line. just fine.

Finally, there is one more point, Lao Liang is already a person who is determined to enter the executive committee to govern, and his political capital is still very strong, which is far from the comparison of those without foundation.Therefore, he can treat some criticisms or criticisms as a breeze and ignore them in the slightest. This is especially true after a small test of the bottom line of the members of the executive committee through the Shandong drought.

Therefore, under such a guiding ideology, a new round of large-scale operations to recruit victims began again. On August 8, a jaw-dropping thing happened: the so-called "front line of anti-East" Changyi County Several battalions of the Qing army had a large-scale mutiny when they had no food, clothing, and medicine. Some angry soldiers cut off their braids, and then sent many of the soldiers who were usually domineering. One officer was executed, while the rest silently watched their actions and did not stop them. They even sent representatives to contact the Ninth Division of the East Bank New Army stationed in the camp in the western suburbs of Pingdu Prefecture to surrender. If not.

The commander of the Ninth Division of the New Army, Niu Chenghu, who was old and strong, couldn't help being overjoyed by the Qing army who came to ask for surrender. After checking the situation repeatedly, he ignored the dissuasion of his subordinates and insisted on selecting hundreds of elites. The food, medicine and money that came down were rushed to Changyi County day and night under the leadership of the representative of the Qing army. Of course, he did not send a messenger to inform Jiaozhou.

Niu Chenghu's decisive behavior later proved to have played a key role!The more than 500 veterans he brought with him beheaded dozens of Qing army officers and soldiers who had regrets and repeated intentions in Changyi County, which greatly shocked the remaining [-] Qing troops. As a result, the county finally fell safely into the hands of the people on the east coast.

At present, more than 2000 Qing troops who surrendered have been given yellow clothes (Niu Chenghu ordered people to transfer from the inventory of the Ninth Division, anyway, they can ask Liang Xiangjian for reimbursement in the end), cut off their "pig tails", and ate two full meals After a while, the sense of resistance was greatly reduced, and the establishment had been dispersed. The five hundred veterans brought by Niu Chenghu acted as officers and non-commissioned officers, and they could no longer resist.

Liang Xiangjian was a little surprised when he heard the news, and then he couldn't stop laughing.In a good mood, with a swipe of his pen, he dispatched the two thousand soldiers from the Qing army to the Ninth Division of the New Army, making Niu Chenghu's army the first Servant Division with 6000 soldiers. Among the ten servant divisions (3rd-12th divisions), the strength is the best.In addition, Liang Xiangjian also passed the long-awaited request for the appointment of Niu Chenghu's nephew Niu Gui as the deputy division commander of the Ninth Division. It can be regarded as an approval of Niu Chenghu's succession arrangement for the Ninth Division system, and the rewards are quite generous.

And perhaps it was the chain reaction brought about by the surrender of the Lingshanwei Qing army. On August 8, after tentatively sending a force to approach Lingshanwei, which is closer to the people on the east bank than Changyi County, the road was being repaired with difficulty. The Qing army immediately bombed the camp.Their morale was low, they thought that the yellow-clothed thieves were about to attack again. Except for some people who surrendered on the spot, the rest of them dispersed in a rush, and they didn't even return to Lingshan Weicheng. Very frightened.In this way, the people on the east bank captured Lingshanwei almost without bloodshed, an acropolis whose walls had collapsed after being devastated by earthquakes and heavy rains.

On August 8th, under Liang Xiangjian's secret order, 30 members of the First Brigade of the Volunteer Team rushed day and night to Gaomi County, which had been devastated by the earthquake and continuous days of heavy rain, under the banner of helping the victims. After a mild resistance, the populous city was completely controlled.By the way, they also arrested a few subordinate officials who were said to be the imperial envoys of the Qing Dynasty for disaster relief outside the county later that day, which made Liang Xiangjian laugh out loud. Well, the imperial envoys for disaster relief just managed to reach Gaomi County, what a mess!

However, Weixian, the last stronghold of the Qing court in Laizhou Prefecture, failed to make the people on the east coast fish in troubled waters.When the forward of the Ninth Division appeared under the county seat, the Qing army put up a resolute resistance. Niu Gui, who led the troops, saw that he had nothing to gain, so he retreated and began to devote himself to the intense disaster relief work .At this time, a large number of victims of disasters in the east, west and four prefectures of Shan* poured into the control area of ​​the east bank of Laizhou Prefecture. The test that the people of the east bank are facing has just begun!

(End of this chapter)