In May of the fiftieth year of Qianlong's reign, the drought in Henan continued.
Since the summer and autumn of last year, 20 counties in Henan Province suffered from severe drought. In the spring of the next year, there was still little rain, and the drought continued to show its power. Famines occurred in 65 prefectures and counties in the province. The disaster developed in depth, and people were left homeless.
To store food, nine out of ten rooms are empty.
On April 10th, a black wind blew in the afternoon in Yongcheng County, Shangqiu. The entire county was like night for dozens of miles around, and it didn't light up until the evening. On April 12th, hailstones as big as eggs actually fell; but at this time, the fields
The crops in the area had already died due to drought, so there was no hail disaster at all.
By mid-May, the locusts came again!
Just after midnight that morning, the guards standing on the wall of Shangqiu discovered that some small earth-yellow pods suddenly appeared on the ground outside the city, and then more and more, and they were everywhere on the paved ground outside the city and inside the city.
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Immediately afterwards, from the direction of Beisha River, groups of dark clouds that seemed to be traveling at low altitude floated over.
The young soldier watched the torn pieces in the distance gradually approaching, and asked the veteran beside him: "Uncle, what is that?!"
The veteran rubbed his eyes, his pupils suddenly dilated, his face looked frightened, and he shouted: "Locusts!"
Swarms of locusts covered the sky with black crows, making the clear sky suddenly dim. They were like violent winds and rain. Between the rise and fall, the land was completely empty. In the few paddy fields outside the city, there were swarms of locusts.
Every piece of millet was eaten in the blink of an eye, and not a single one was left. Even the stalks and the slender leaves disappeared. The fields that had not had many crops left were turned into white fields.
Going from the city to the outside of the city is like encountering a war. Wherever the khaki locusts passed, all the trees instantly turned into bare branches, leaving only the trunks full of shiny and sticky branches.
Insect saliva and black feces.
The entire Central Plains became difficult for the people to live in, and the villages were in ruins. Hundreds of thousands of families were immediately put in a dangerous situation on the verge of destruction!
The harsh wave of famine hit, and even a strong body could not avoid decay. Deaths, injuries, and starvation were everywhere. In order to survive, the hungry refugees did anything and did anything. Among the hungry people in Zhengzhou, Xinyang and other places, cannibalism has already appeared.
People's livelihood is in crisis, human relations are in crisis, and the world is crying!
It has to be said that the Qing government in this era also responded very quickly to disaster relief.
In February, Yu Qi, the Governor of Water Transport, requested that 300,000 shi be withheld from the canals of Henan and Shandong provinces and transferred to Henan. He requested that households with cultivated land of less than 20 acres in Henan Province be lent seeds per acre by the Chief Secretary's treasury.
Sow five cents of silver to finance farming, and the loan will be repaid after the autumn harvest.
In early March, Qianlong issued an edict to agree to it. At the same time, he ordered the 23 prefectures and counties in Henan that had not paid the full amount of money and grain in the previous year, as well as those who had applied for money and grain for fifty years, to postpone the payment until after this autumn harvest. Among them, some of them were more affected by drought.
In areas with severe harvest failures caused by severe floods and consecutive years of floods, one month of additional food rations will be provided.
In April, Qianlong decreed that among the 23 counties in Henan that were hit the hardest, the six most severely affected counties would be exempted from tax collection, deferment, and all outstanding debts over the years; the six counties with the second worst severity would be exempted from half; and again
Level 1, one-third will be exempted; other prefectures and counties in the province where the disaster is even milder will have their collection postponed until after the autumn harvest.
(As an aside, sweet potatoes have been introduced to China since the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It was precisely because of the great disaster from the 50th to the 51st year of Qianlong's reign that they were introduced from Fujian to the north for cultivation. Before this, northerners did not eat them.
Sweet potato. Is it surprising?)
The Qing court originally thought that disaster relief measures in Henan were complete, and they were just about to feel relieved. Who would have thought that in mid-May, news came from Shandong that since September of the previous year, there were 78 people in Shandong.
There is little rain or snow in the counties. The drought becomes more severe after spring. There is no rain until May, and there is no hope for the wheat harvest!
In order to complete the tasks assigned by Zhao Xin, Lu Shoushan, Xu Dayong and Wang Changsheng began to show their talents since the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
Lu and Xu first went to Funing. Through Luo Jiao's local connections, they purchased saline-alkali wasteland along the river and coastal areas in Sheyang County and purchased farms. By mid-March, they were already in the area.
Five hundred hectares of saline-alkali land was purchased locally. The wasteland used as camouflage was now available, and the next step was to build a sand ship. This depends on Wang Changsheng.
Through Luo Jiao Wei San's relationship, Wang Changsheng purchased five 2,000-stone old sand boats in Shanghai. He then recruited 300 Shandong sailors from Caoding and drove these sand boats to the Sheyang Lake area to dock secretly.
Since Lu Shoushan learned about the Qing government's disaster relief order, he understood that this would be a "war for people" against the clock. He, Xu Dayong, and Wang Changsheng each led their troops in three groups to launch the operation.
First, Lu and Xu took the registration certificate issued by the Funing County government and went deep into Henan. They spent money to bribe the officials of the local government in Shangqiu and Kaifeng and the clerks responsible for registration and sealing.
The local people went to the market to buy people. If the refugees had any doubts, they would just say that they were going to cultivate land in the Sheyang Lake area in northern Jiangsu.
Next, Wang Changsheng asked Wei San to introduce Ya people from several counties along the canal. In the name of reclaiming wasteland, he asked them to buy refugee families from Henan who had fled famine, and then transport them to the farms around Sheyang Lake to go through the delivery procedures. Here they are.
By mid-May, the three of them had bought nearly 3,000 people and temporarily settled them in the farm to farm.
At this time, news of the disaster in Shandong came. Lu Shoushan ordered people to go south quickly to inform Wang Changsheng, asking him to recruit a large number of victims in Shandong in the name of recruiting sailors through Luo Jiao's connections.
"Pfft!" A big red-bellied locust was trampled to pieces by the sole of his shoe. Xu Dayong rubbed the sole of his shoe on the ground while cursing: "What a bastard!"
The tooth man on the side smiled apologetically and said, "Master Xu, why bother getting angry with a grasshopper? Please come over here."
This is the human market five miles outside Kaifeng. Since the beginning of spring, more and more victims have gathered outside Kaifeng every day. Because of hunger, many people have come to this market to sell their children or to raise money with their families.
With the booming human market, many local wealthy households in Kaifeng and businessmen from Shanxi were also attracted.
In years of famine, everything except food is cheap. Faced with the harsh situation, ordinary people pawn their fields, sell their houses and land, and exchange their businesses for food to survive. When all their property is sold, they pawn their children or even their whole family.
It became a last resort.
Every year like this, it is the time when county government officials, clerks, dental agents, and bullies make a fortune. There is no other reason for this. Whether it is a red deed or a white deed, it needs someone to guarantee it.
.(In slave sales transactions, the surety is generally rarely called "the middleman", "the peacemaker", "the broker", etc. in the contract like in the land sales contract. Instead, it is often called "the matchmaker", "the broker", etc.
Names such as "Ping Media" appear.)
Xu Dayong wandered around the market for a while and quickly selected a family of four. Then he took the family of four to a mat shed not far away and signed a contract of prostitution. After a meal
Before it was time to eat, the deed of betrayal was already written.
The county clerk who received 200 kilograms of grain from Xu Da and acted as a middleman read:
"I'm selling the whole family. I made an appointment with Li Erkui, his legitimate wife Zhang, the eldest son Li Dashuan, and the second son Li Xiaoshuan. Because the family is poor and struggling to survive, the four members of the family are now sold as slaves in Xu Dayong's house in Funing County, Jiangsu Province.
Use it like this. It was stated face to face that the price of the sale was twelve cents. Li Erkui collected all the money with his own hands, and the well was not owed much. After selling himself, he was subject to the discipline of Xu Zhai. If he was not disciplined, he would be beaten to death. If he ran away and abducted property, he would be punished.
Panting) Wrong and other sentiments, we have our own guarantor to take care of it. Fearing that he would have no proof, he sold this calligraphy as evidence. Li Erkui was a villager at Shahekou in the northwest of Xiangfu County. Wang Shucai was the person who wrote the calligraphy on May 20, the 50th year of Qianlong's reign.
On the second day, Li Erkui, a prostitute, married his wife Zhang, his eldest son Li Dashuan, and his second son Li Xiaoshuan. The mediator was Wu Liang."
After reading, the clerk said to Li Erkui's family, "Do you have any objections?"
Li Erkui sighed and said: "No, it all depends on your husband."
The clerk said: "Then you can come and sign it later."
"Sir, our whole family is illiterate."
"Then just press your fingerprints. One by one."
After Li Dakui's family took their fingerprints, first the clerk signed the signature, and then the dentist who accompanied Xu Dayong signed the signature. At this point, the selling transaction was completely completed. All four members of the family sold themselves in exchange for twelve ounces of money.
A little money is enough to buy two shi of millet in Xiangfu County right now.
After Xu Dayong accepted the deed of betrayal, he asked his men to take Li Dakui and his family to a large car shop outside the city to wait. Once he had gathered fifty people, he hired carriages and horses to transport them to the farm in Sheyang Lake.
It was helpless to say that we couldn't feed these people before they were transported to the farm, otherwise they would really run away secretly. Xu Dayong had encountered this twice before, and he didn't want to go to the county government to sue the officials to pursue them.
You can gain wisdom by eating every pit; before arriving in the field, each person can only be given half a palm-sized cornmeal pancake every day, and they can't run away until they starve to death.
He walked around the market with the tooth man for a while, and was about to go back for lunch when he heard someone not far behind him suddenly said loudly: "You sick man is so ignorant, what I bought was your sister, and
Not you."
Xu Dayong turned around and walked over to take a look. A middle-aged man who looked like a businessman was arguing with a man who was more than seven feet tall. There was a little girl behind the man, who was hugged by him with his arms.
"Master, my brother and sister have been dependent on each other since childhood. Ahem~~ Please do me a favor and buy me together. I can lead the cows, feed the horses, and help you run errands. I just want a bite of food. Let my sister grow up in the future.
Find a good family to marry."
The man kept bowing and pleading, while looking back at the girl behind him.
The merchant said: "That makes no sense. I asked her beforehand and it was she who said she would pledge herself in exchange for money for you to buy medicine and cure your illness. Why did she deny it in the blink of an eye?! Besides, it's just what you are doing now.
What can I do if I'm sick? I'm afraid I'll have to spend money to seek medical treatment and buy medicine when I go back, and I'll be at a loss!"
The man let go of his arms, knelt down on one knee and said: "Ahem~~ Master, it would be fine if you were a native of Xiangfu, but you want to take her to Shanxi. This journey of thousands of miles will be difficult for my brother and sister in this life.
We met. When my parents were dying, the villain swore to protect his sister until she got married. Ahem. Please, sir, buy the villain together."
When the onlookers saw the man bursting into tears, they all sympathized with him and advised the Shanxi merchant to do his good deeds. Unexpectedly, the Shanxi merchant sneered and said: "It's hard to be a good person nowadays, and no one's food comes from the strong wind."
.I bought this girl to take her home to be a maid, so why bother bringing a tuberculosis ghost! Besides, look at her, she is a gifted girl, I can already be a good person by buying her!"
When everyone heard this, they all looked at the woman. The girl lowered her head deeply in shame, and fell to her knees on the ground, with her feet pulled directly under her body.
Xu Dayong got into the crowd at this time and saw that although the man was tall, his face was dark and his body was thin. The joints on his exposed calves and arms were all visible, and he looked like he had been hungry for a long time.
Looking at the girl behind him, her complexion is dark and dull, but she looks pretty. Her head is wrapped in a rag, her upper body is wearing a shabby blue cloth gown, and her lower body is wearing a pair of patched trousers. At first glance, she is a man's clothes.
Under the trousers, a pair of big muddy feet wearing straw sandals are particularly eye-catching. Although this girl is not short in stature, she is as thin as a bamboo pole, and the blue cloth gown is dangling on her body.
No matter how hard the man begged, the Shanxi merchant would not let go. Seeing this, the man turned around and knelt down to the people around him, begging: "Would you be kind enough to buy my brother and sister together? As long as my sister can be
If I have enough food, I can do whatever I want."
When the girl saw her brother acting like this, she cried and knelt beside her, kowtowing to the people around her.
The merchant from Shanxi sarcastically said: "Who dares to buy her with a look like yours? Hum! If I say this here, no one will buy her except me."
Xu Dayong suddenly asked the man: "How old are you, this young man?"
The man straightened up and said, "Twenty-three."
"Where's your sister?"
"sixteen."
"How much are you two worth?"
When the Shanxi businessman on the side heard this, he immediately shouted to Xu Dayong: "What do you want to do? I have already taken a fancy to this woman, and I have already sent someone back to invite the winner!"
Xu Dayong sneered and said: "I've been listening for a long time. The brother and sister both said they wanted to buy it together, so why did you break it up? Besides, did you write the deed of sale? Did you pledge the painting? What the hell are you talking about?
!”
"You!" The Shanxi businessman turned blue with anger and said angrily, "Who are you?!"
"I can't stand you being like this! What's wrong? Try it if you don't want to accept it?" Xu Dayong was angry, and his true nature as a pirate was revealed. His face was full of flesh and blood, and he stared at the opponent fiercely.
Seeing that the Shanxi businessman was frightened and stopped talking, Xu Dayong continued to ask the man: "How much are you two worth?"
The man said: "As long as the master can make my sister have enough to eat, she will find a good family to marry in a few years. I don't need a penny and will work for the master for the rest of my life!"
Xu Dayong's expression softened and he said, "It's not a big deal if you have a full meal, and it's not difficult to find a good family for your sister."
"The toad yawned, what a loud tone!" the Shanxi businessman sneered.
"None of your business! Get out!" Xu Da glared and scolded. He turned around and said to the man: "My farm is in the east of Xuzhou, hundreds of miles away from here. Do you two want to come with me?
?”
"Thank you so much, sir! I will work hard all my life to repay my great kindness!"
The man's sister raised her head slightly and looked at Xu Dayong, thinking that although this man had a rough face, he looked bad, but listening to his words, he was not bad at all.
"Okay, everyone, get up. Come with me to write the deed. Let's write down all the conditions, so you can rest assured."
The crowd of onlookers dispersed, and Xu Dayong and Yaren took the brother and sister to the book office again, where they helped write the deed and draw the pledge.
During the period, I asked and learned that the brother and sister's surname was Chen, from Wen County. The eldest brother's name was Chen Jishan, and the sister's name was Chen Erya. The parents of the brother and sister died early. Due to the drought, they had to sell the remaining two acres of thin farmland in March.
He thought about going to Jiangsu to seek a living. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Kaifeng, Chen Jishan contracted wind-cold and fell ill. He thought that he would be able to survive in a few days, but who knew that it became more serious and turned into pneumonia.
Not to mention the daily food and accommodation for the brother and sister, Chen Jishan spent a lot of money just to see a doctor and buy medicine. After going back and forth, the little money he got from selling the land was spent completely, and the disease was not cured.
Eventually he ended up living on the street, and had no choice but to come to the market to pawn himself.
After Xu Dayong brought the Chen Jishan brothers and sisters back to the car shop, he asked his men to ask the doctor to see the doctor and prescribe medicine, and asked the Li Erkui family from before to help take care of them.
After three or five days of this, he saw that he had bought fifty more victims. Xu Dayong hired carriages and horses, and headed for the farm in Sheyang County with the purchased people.
By this time, the severe drought that occurred in the 50th year of Qianlong's reign had expanded to twenty-nine prefectures and counties in Zhili. Xuzhou and Haizhou in northern Jiangsu were also experiencing drought and no rain for a long time, causing food prices to soar.