When the first wave of refugees arrived here, they found that a huge camp had appeared here, and thick tents were set up around the original village. These tents were all made of thick canvas.
Whenever refugees arrive, soldiers come over to help divide them into groups. Each group consists of about 50 people. This group of people will live in a room or a tent. Then each person is given a rice bowl.
A wooden spoon.
There is a large open space in the camp. A row of huge marching stoves has been set up on the edge of the open space, and the cooking soldiers are cooking rice porridge. Dong Shuheng has sent people from Tianjin to transport food here.
At the same time, Dong Shuheng also authorized Liu Jinwen to wholesale the grain shipped by the Huai Haijun Company to these Tianjin merchants, who would then transport the grain to various places in Zhili for sale.
So much grain entered the market and soon pushed the price of grain to about twice the original price. Some local gentry merchants in Zhili who had been hoarding suffered the greatest losses. Many of the grains in their hands were purchased at high prices.
In fact, most of the grains were secretly sold to them by Huaihai Company in the past, with the purpose of swindling the money out of these people's hands.
Now the businessmen in Tianjin came directly to rescue the market and slowly brought down the price of food. They were making a lot of money. Although the wholesale price Dong Shuheng gave them was not cheap, the price of food was gradually falling.
They also sold the product from 10 times the price all the way to about twice the price.
When Tianjin merchants first sold grain at high prices, most of it was bought by local gentry merchants who were hoarding grain because they wanted to continue to monopolize the market and raise grain prices. Moreover, they underestimated the amount of grain in the hands of these Tianjin merchants.
Therefore, this time their capital chain was directly broken by the massive amount of food.
By the time they reacted, food prices had dropped below their cost line.
The rule in the shopping mall is that the big fish eats the small fish. Huaihai Company can mobilize too many resources. Their business territory extends throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, and they can mobilize massive amounts of food and huge funds at any time.
Dong Shuheng wanted to rectify the gentry, landowners, and businessmen in Zhili, which was just a trivial matter. Seeing that so many businessmen in various prefectures in Zhili were driven bankrupt, the businessmen and gentry in Tianjin secretly rejoiced that they had followed the right person.
On the right team.
They all made up their minds to follow Dong Shuheng closely from now on.
Dong Shuheng chose to throw away food at this time because he saw the miserable situation of these refugees. He did not want any more people to starve to death because of his decision.
Furthermore, Huai Haijun's sudden stabilization of grain prices in the various prefectures in Zhili also served as a reminder to the people in the court. It let them know that Huai Haijun was fully capable of controlling grain prices in the capital, adding weight to the negotiations.
Peng Yunzhang and Du Han, sent by the imperial court, found their negotiating partner, Wang Xiao, in Zhuangzi, Prince Chun's home, which is now the temporary refugee camp.
Seeing hundreds of thousands of refugees from outside the capital gathered here, and all of them having access to food and living in tents or houses, Peng and Du couldn't help but be moved. They couldn't help but admire the courage of Huai Haijun.
Du Han even ran over and took a look at the porridge in the pot. It was indeed very thick. The Qing Dynasty's laws and regulations stipulated that when providing relief to refugees, chopsticks must be able to stand in the porridge. But almost no one can do this now.
The porridge cooked by Huai Haijun meets this standard at first glance. Not only that, there are some sea vegetables in the porridge, which gives the porridge a salty and umami flavor.
Du Han couldn't help but want to taste the porridge, but he couldn't open his mouth due to human feelings.
"Two adults, our general has invited you." At this time, a guard ran over and guided the two of them and some of their attendants to the largest courtyard in the middle of the village.
This courtyard was originally the annex of King Chunjun. Although it is not too big, it has all kinds of rooms and is fairly neatly decorated.
Peng and Du were taken to a main hall. In the main hall were a young general and a middle-aged scribe.
This young general is Wang Xiao. The scribe is Liu Rong, the counselor of the Prime Minister's Office of the military government who has just arrived.
Liu Rong was Zeng Xianfeng's right-hand assistant and his good friend. He had served as a guest to the governor of Zhejiang in the past. He had rich experience in the officialdom and had sufficient understanding of the internal affairs of the Huaihai Navy.
When negotiating with the Qing court this time, Wang Xiao, a young general, had to deal with it very reluctantly. He could only help Dong Shuheng pass the news. It was still too young for him to deal with the old fritters of the court alone.
Therefore, Dong Shuheng arranged for the Clippers to go back and pick up Liu Rong and let him lead the negotiation.
As an old literati with a background as a court official, Liu Rong has been working in the military government with Zeng Xianfeng for the past six months, which has opened his eyes and gradually adapted to Huai Haijun's model.
Huai Haijun's work style is completely different from that of the imperial government, which emphasizes simplicity and efficiency.
In the past, when working in the government, the most important thing was to make balanced use of various local forces. The government did not really handle many government affairs by itself.
For example, tax collection is basically outsourced to local gentry and landlords. As long as the government can get the tax money paid, the government generally does not ask how to collect it.
In addition, apart from paying attention to taxation, catching theft, and river construction, the government rarely cares about local development.
The military government established by Huai Haijun is different. Now the military government directly establishes the organizational system at the township level.
The county-level military government has jurisdiction over various departments such as agriculture, transportation, taxation, finance, civil affairs, education, etc., as well as police stations, supervisory boards, and courts that are parallel to the military government.
All administrative power was concentrated in the hands of the military government and no longer relied on local gentry and landlords.
Although this model requires a large number of grassroots officials, it is more efficient in operation.
Liu Rong felt that although he was only a counselor of the military government, the power he held in his hands was no less than that of the original governor, in addition to military power.
Liu Rong was very excited about going north this time. He was only in his forties, and he was only a civil servant. Now he was working in the Huaihai Navy, and he had long given up on continuing the imperial examination.
Unexpectedly, in his capacity, he could conduct face-to-face negotiations with two military ministers of the imperial court.
In the eyes of the literati of the Qing Dynasty, the military minister of the imperial court was considered the ultimate civil servant, equivalent to the previous prime ministers and assistants.
Of course, he was excited. After all, he was negotiating on behalf of Huai Haijun. He wanted to safeguard Huai Haijun's interests and represent Huai Haijun's image, so he must not be weaker than the opponent in terms of momentum.
In the main hall, the four people were divided into two sides and introduced each other. Du and Peng did not care that this arrangement was not in line with etiquette.
In terms of official positions, the two of them were also high officials in the imperial court, while the two people opposite were one a military attache and the other a civil servant, without even having a rank.
But it’s now a time like this, if you continue to worry about these things, you will really be laughed at.
"Are you two adults here to announce the decree? Could it be that the imperial court has already agreed to some of our small requests?" Wang Xiao said preemptively.
He knew that it was impossible for the Qing court to agree to these demands, so he preconceivedly said this to give the impression to Du Peng that we thought these demands were reasonable and should all be agreed to.
"This...the requirements put forward by your army are quite excessive. How can the imperial court agree to it? No army of the imperial court has ever dared to make such excessive demands. Is the Huaihai Navy still an army of the imperial court?" Du Han said at one point.
He was stagnant, but he quickly reacted and seized Huai Haijun's weakness and started to counterattack.
The Huaihai navy did not openly rebel but still recognized themselves as the imperial army. Naturally, they had to obey the imperial orders. This was the benefit of having a righteous title.
Wang Xiao looked at Liu Rong. Liu Rong continued and said, "Master Du, this is wrong. Since the establishment of the Huaihai Navy, it has never received one tael of silver from the imperial court as military pay. However, it has repeatedly made military exploits for the imperial court.
.This time when we go north to King Qin, only our Huaihai Navy has dispatched a large number of forces. Can other provinces send troops to support us?"
"So, Mr. Du, do you think this request from Huai Haijun is too much? The imperial court spends tens of millions of taels on military expenditures and official salaries every year. Shouldn't some of it be given to us?"
"Shouldn't the Nanyang Navy have several fixed military ports to protect the Qing Dynasty? You may not know that warships need to be docked for repairs while sailing at sea, and the ships must be maintained and repaired regularly. Those ships must be repaired at regular intervals.
It’s time to replenish coal.”
"Besides, shouldn't those who obstruct King Qin and attack friendly forces for their own gain be punished? The bandits in the south have occupied three provinces. If they don't unite the army in the south, they will still fight independently as before. Why?
Only then can the bandits be quelled."
…
Liu Rong started a series of soul-tortures, without giving Du and Peng a chance to interrupt.
After Liu Rong finished speaking, the two military ministers were silent for a long time.
Finally, it was Peng Yunzhang who broke the silence instead of refusing directly.
Instead, he bargained with Wang Xiao and Liu Rong item by item.
"Both of you, Huai Haijun's military expenditure of 8 million taels is too much. The imperial court cannot afford that much money. In addition, the imperial court's military expenditure standards are not that high, right?" Peng Yunzhang said.
As long as the two of them are willing to talk, Liu Rong will make serious calculations with them. Liu Rong, who was born as a secret servant, has better calculation ability than these two military aircraft.
The last item was talked about as 5 million taels. The imperial court paid 1 million taels, and the remaining 4 million taels were offset by the Shanghai Customs Customs and Excise Department. This was actually something Dong Shuheng had taken care of in advance, and Huai Haijun did not lack those few hundred taels.
With ten thousand taels of silver, Dong Shuheng just wanted to take full control of Shanghai Customs through this move.
There is no problem in punishing the three officials involved, and the two sides quickly finalized it.
The conflict mainly focused on the issue of where the Nanyang Navy should be stationed. Du and Peng insisted that the Nanyang Navy should not be stationed in Weihai. That place was too close to Tianjin and might allow the Huai Navy's forces to penetrate into Shandong.
Zhoushan in Zhejiang is just a small island off the coast. It was given to the Nanyang Navy. Taiwan and Hainan Island are still remote and wild places in the eyes of the Qing court. However, these places used to have government roads, and military ports can be given to them.
Nanyang Navy, but the original palace roads above must still be under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.
Regarding the issue of Tianjin, it was most opposed by Du Peng and Du Peng. After all, Tianjin was the gateway to Beijing and it was impossible for Huai Haijun to get involved.
Liu Rong had no choice but to make concessions and let the local gentry manage Tianjin. The imperial court would not send officials or garrison troops. The imperial court could not agree to this matter. Without garrison troops, Tianjin would not be able to protect the capital.
Seeing that the stalemate was about to continue, Liu Rong could only come up with the third plan, which was to build a free trade zone in Tanggu that would be completely autonomous by Tianjin gentry merchants, called "Tanggu New City".
The original Tianjin City was still managed as it was, but the new city established on the east coast of Tianjin was completely under the jurisdiction of the merchants and gentry of Tianjin, which is now the management committee of Tianjin City. The imperial court was not allowed to interfere, nor was it allowed to garrison troops.
"Two adults, we have already made two concessions. If this matter is still not settled, I think there is really no need to talk about it anymore. The imperial court is just deliberately making things difficult for our Huaihai Navy!"
Du and Peng looked at each other and communicated with their eyes. Finally, they nodded and agreed to the request.
In the end, the Qing government did not give in on the issue of unifying the southern armies, and the Huaihai Navy itself did not care much about this issue, so it canceled it.