Mengzhou is the southernmost state on Hedong Road, close to the Yellow River. It was previously part of Shaanzhou. Because it was across the Yellow River, it was inconvenient to manage Shaanxi, so the Xuanfu Envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi made it an independent state, called Mengzhou.
Next door to Mengzhou is Huaizhou. Huaizhou belongs to Hebei and is the territory of the Jin Kingdom. The two states are bounded by Qinshui River and cannot communicate with each other.
However, the price of salt in Mengzhou is only 70 Wen per catty. This year it has increased by 10 Wen to 80 Wen. However, it is still much lower than the salt price of 300 Wen per catty in Huaizhou. Not only the price of salt, but also other
The price of grain and cloth are several times lower than that of Huaizhou, and the tax gap between the two places is also huge. Mengzhou was exempted from tax for one year the year before last, and started collecting taxes last year, but the tax burden is only less than 30% of Huaizhou.
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With the same income of 20 yuan a year, people in Mengzhou can live countless times better than people in Huaizhou. People in Mengzhou can have enough food and clothing, and can kill a sheep during the Chinese New Year, but people in Huaizhou just can't finish their meal.
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Such a huge life gap has caused Huaizhou people to lose their inner balance. Since last year, many people have secretly swam across the Qinshui River and come to Mengzhou to buy salt, grain and cloth. Mengzhou people have also discovered this business opportunity, and many villagers
So he squatted on the shore and sold salt, grain and cloth to people coming from the other side. For a little extra money, the villagers had income from the price difference, and it was much more convenient for the people on the other side. Everyone was happy.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Since June last year, the Huaizhou garrison has deployed three patrol teams on the east bank of Qinshui River. If someone is caught going to the other side to buy things, the worst case may be death, and the worst case may be to bankrupt the person.
There are fewer and fewer, and they soon disappear.
The garrison thought it had curbed this smuggling, and the garrison commander specifically asked Wan Yanchang for credit. However, in August, it was time to collect the summer tax, and half of the wheat harvested by the people of Huaizhou would be taxed and taken away by the government.
The wave of fleeing suddenly broke out, and the people, old and young, fled to Mengzhou with food and meager property. At this time, Mengzhou's 3,000 troops crossed Qinshui in time and annihilated all three patrol teams.
Hundreds of ships were organized on Qinshui River to transport the fleeing people day and night. Seventy percent of the people in Huaizhou, about 100,000 people, fled to Mengzhou.
This is the Mengzhou incident that happened in August last year. It caused a great sensation after it was published in the Beijing News.
At this time, hundreds of thousands of fleeing Huaizhou people were placed in a large camp outside Heyang County. Since September last year, Huaizhou people have implemented a work-for-relief method. In Jincheng County, Zezhou, north of Wangwu Mountain,
, discovered a shallow open-pit coal mine, dug out a thin layer of soil, and found seven feet of high-quality coal underneath.
The army organized 40,000 young men from Huaizhou to come to Jincheng County to mine coal. Some of them were used to smelt iron, but most of them were used to make briquettes.
Thousands of people set up three briquette workshops. After a brief training, they began to produce briquettes in large quantities. In this way, the daily hard work of 40,000 young people can not only support themselves, but also support a family in Heyang County.
The miners earn one hundred cents a day, three cents a month. According to the lowest prices in Mengzhou, they can ensure that the whole family has enough food and clothing, and they can save a cent every month without having to pay taxes. This is not what Huaizhou is.
The life that ordinary people dream of?
Although it is a work-for-relief program, many people are wondering whether they can continue to dig coal and make briquettes to support their families even after returning to their hometown in Huaizhou. In Huaizhou, young and strong men can only pay for
I could earn less than two guan of money, but now I make three guan of money every month.
Moreover, when they become official miners, their income will increase to 5 guan per month. How can the miners not be excited when they think of earning 5 guan per month, including food and accommodation?
This is actually what Chen Qing meant. At present, coal mining and briquette making are done by the army, which is very unreasonable. Chen Qing had long wanted to hand it over to the local government. It happened that a large number of superficial coal seams were discovered in Jincheng, and at the same time, Mengzhou erupted.
The event, the right time, the right location, and the right people were all in place, so the 40,000 refugee miners naturally took over the army's task of mining coal and making coal.
That afternoon, the scout commander Hu Yanlei and a dozen scouts appeared in the Huaizhou refugee camp. The officials led them to a large tent. The officials shouted: "Uncle Meng! Uncle Meng!"
"Who!"
A tall, burly middle-aged man, about fifty years old, with dark skin and half-white beard and hair walked out of the tent.
"Ah! This is Wang County Lieutenant. What do you want from a villain?" The middle-aged man surnamed Meng said with a smile on his face.
County Lieutenant Wang pointed at Hu Yanlei next to him and said, "This is Commander Hu Yan of the army. He has something important to do with you."
"Everyone, come into the tent and sit down! There are blankets inside, so you can sit directly on the ground."
"No!"
Hu Yanlei asked: "Are you Meng Xiaoguang, known as the Yellow River Buffalo?"
The middle-aged man smiled and waved his hands and said: "The Yellow River buffalo is a compliment from my friends. It's really not worth mentioning, but I am indeed Meng Xiaoguang."
Hu Yanlei said calmly: "A few of us want to go to the other side of the Yellow River and ask Senior Meng to sail the boat. After we do it, I'll pay you ten guan of money every day. How about that?"
"Ten dollars!"
The middle-aged man smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed into slits. Ten guan of money! Of course.
In the afternoon, a thousand-stone cargo ship left the Yellow River pier in Heyang County and sailed slowly toward the other bank. The Yellow River in this area is very gentle, which is very suitable for crossing the river. On the other side, there is a plain with a radius of more than ten miles, making this place a
We visited the most famous ferry on the Yellow River: Mengjin Ferry.
Mengjin Ferry is actually at the foot of Beimang Mountain, but the foot of the mountain is still more than ten miles away from the Yellow River, which is suitable for the garrison of large armies, making it the best ferry. When King Wu conquered Zhou, he crossed the Yellow River from here.
To the south of Beimang Mountain is Luoyang City. There are several valleys about ten miles east of the ferry. One of them can pass through the mountain. A pass was built in front of the valley, called Mengjinguan Pass, which passes through the Mengjinguan Valley.
We arrived at the northeast of Luoyang City.
Hu Yanlei asked: "Does the other party have a war fleet on the Yellow River?"
Meng Xiaoguang smiled and said: "There must be no more warships. I heard that there are some sentry ships in Daming Mansion, and there is also a fleet of grain transport ships. I have seen them, no more than five hundred stones, probably hundreds of ships, with officials on them.
Flag, there are soldiers on board.”
"Are the sentinels and grain ships you mentioned coming from the south bank or the north bank?"
"Of course it's on the north bank. There's nothing on the south bank."
Hu Yanlei nodded. At this time, their boat gradually approached the south bank. It was still one mile away from the south bank. They found that the terrain in the south was quite complicated. It seemed flat on the sand table, but when they arrived on the ground, they found that it was a low hill.
Compared with the tall Beimang Mountain in the distance, they are indeed flat ground.
"Are there any enemy soldiers on the shore?" Hu Yanlei asked again.
Meng Xiaoguang nodded, "There should be some, but not many. There are patrol posts and the like. If the general wants to go ashore, I will take you to a place where you will not be discovered by the enemy."
The cargo ship turned around and headed east. After traveling for seven or eight miles, it crossed a low hill and saw a large forest in front of it. Hu Yanlei was overjoyed. He was no longer afraid of the forest.
Meng Xiaoguang parked the boat on the shore, "When you come back, call my name and I will appear!"
Hu Yanlei waved his hand and said with a smile: "We have our own way of contacting you!"
Meng Xiaoguang realized that he was overthinking it. Only half of the dozen or so people on the other side made it ashore, while the other half remained on the boat.
Hu Yanlei led several soldiers ashore and left. One soldier smiled and said to Meng Xiaoguang: "Don't think too much. It's not that I don't believe you. Today is not specifically to explore the enemy's situation. I'm just here to take a general look."
Meng Xiaoguang laughed dryly, "I don't care, just give me money!"
Sure enough, only half an hour after they left, Hu Yanlei and others came back. The ship did not go far and immediately sailed over, taking Hu Yanlei back to the east.
Next, Hu Yanlei's men hired Meng Xiaoguang for ten consecutive days, went to Baimadu, and then turned around and went to Fenglingdu.
Observe the number of ships on the Yellow River and the conditions of docks in various places along the way.
