Winter turned to spring, and in the blink of an eye it was the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign.
In spring, the land outside the pass is still frozen for thousands of miles, but deep inland, both sides of the Han River are already blooming with spring warmth.
At dusk, with the smoke and sunset glowing like a curtain, several awning boats sailed upstream from the Han River and stopped at the pier outside the north gate of Xiangyang Fucheng. On the first awning boat, Xu Dayong bent down and walked out of the cabin, straightened up
Stretched out a lot.
Looking back, we can see that the river is full of sails and businessmen are gathered together. There is a steady flow of people on the river bank, and they are constantly passing by. The shouts of the vendors, the cooking of pots and shovels at the restaurants and food stalls, the sound of chopping and chopping on the board, the sound of green onions, ginger and garlic.
The aroma mixed with the aroma of meat overflowed, and Xu Dayong's stomach couldn't help but make a growling sound.
At this time, people on the five boats also looked out of the cabin, and soon twenty or thirty people appeared. These people looked at the lively scene on the shore and pointed, excited. Since they passed Biyang, they had already sat on the boat.
It's been several days and I've been feeling very bored.
"Brother Xu, how far is it from here to Chongqing Mansion?"
After hearing the questions from the young people around him, Xu Dayong smiled and said: "It's still far away! We have to take a boat from Xiangyang to Jingzhou and follow the Yangtze River to the west. It will still take a month."
The young man said in surprise: "Good boy! It's so far!"
After saying that, he unconsciously raised his hand to take off the melon skin hat on his head. Xu Da, with his sharp eyes and quick hands, quickly stopped him and whispered: "Be careful with your pigtails, this is not Northern Jiangsu. We have to be careful in everything."
"
The young man smiled awkwardly, then cupped his fists and said thank you.
It was already dark at this time, so it was difficult for people on the shore to see clearly the faces of these people on the five ships. If it were during the day, many people would have noticed that these people were obviously different from the sailors on other ships. They were far from the coolies of the sailors of this era.
He had a swarthy face and did not open his arms to reveal his exposed chest and abdomen.
Most of these people have rosy complexions and strong and strong bodies. However, because they have been on the boat for many days, some of them have a sallow complexion, which indicates that they are suffering from seasickness.
At this time, Xu Dayong said to a man next to him: "Brother Zhang, there are many people on the shore. Li Shun will stay on the boat with you. I have to go to the Inspection Department to check the ticket first."
The man named Zhang nodded and said, "Go back quickly."
Half an hour later, Xu Dayong, who had gone to the inspection department, walked along the river bank to a small restaurant called "Kangmaoji" near Xiaobeimen. The place is not big, but the business is booming, and the shops around it are brightly lit.
Candles flickered, dishes clinked, and the sounds of noisy joking and gossiping mingled.
"I heard that your physalis noodles are the best?"
Upon hearing this, the waiter hurriedly came over to say hello: "So that the guest will know that my physalis noodles are the best in Xiangyang. The mutton soup stewed in the morning and the pancakes made from freshly picked wild toon are also famous."
"What a damn braggart!" Xu Dayong scolded with a smile, and then said: "Get forty copies of each and send them to the boat with the 'Huang Shengtai' flag on the riverside."
"Forty?" The boy was startled when he heard this.
"What's the matter? You don't do any business that comes to your door?"
The waiter had already woken up and thought that once the order was completed, he could close the door early and put it on the board, so he nodded hurriedly: "Do it! Do it!"
Xu Dayong nodded and took out the money bag from his arms, took a small piece of broken silver and handed it to the waiter, saying: "Is it enough?"
The waiter took a look at the angry wind lantern sitting next to him and was immediately overjoyed. He kept saying, "There's a lot more."
Xu Dayong looked around and said, "Let's cut up a sheep and send it over. I've been running on the boat every day these days, eating either fish or shrimp, and my mouth is so dull."
Seeing Xu Dayong sitting aside and waiting, the waiter quickly served tea, then jumped three feet high, ran to the kitchen and shouted: "Dad! There's a big deal!"
After the Qingming Festival last year, Xu Dayong took Zhao Xin's order and led people to Nanba Laolin, preparing to recruit refugees and send them to Beihai Town. However, when he got there, he realized that what he had thought before was too simple.
In another time and space, the junction area of the three provinces that gave birth to the "Sichuan-Chu White Lotus Sect Uprising" was actually composed of two primitive mountain forests, collectively known as the "Nanba Old Forest".
One section is the "Nanshan Old Forest" in the north, running from Lueyang, Shaanxi, through Feng County to the east, passing through Baoji, Yunxian, Zhouzhi, Yangxian, Ningshan, Xiaoyi, Zhen'an, Shanyang, Xunyang, to Yunxi in Hubei
.
The other part is the "Bashan Old Forest" in the south, starting from Ningqiang and Baocheng in Shaanxi to the east, passing through Nanjiang, Tongjiang, Bazhou, Taiping, Daning, Kaixian, Fengjie, Wushan in Sichuan, and then from Ziyang and Ankang in Shaanxi.
Pingli will arrive at Zhushan, Zhuxi, Fangxian, Xingshan and Baokang in Hubei.
Since the early Ming Dynasty, the Nanba Laolin area has been designated as a forbidden area by the imperial court, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering to avoid the danger of being out of reach. Later, due to natural and man-made disasters, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Laolin area has gradually become a natural refuge for refugees.
Regardless of whether they are refugees or bandits, as long as they go into the mountains and face the virgin forest that blocks the sun, whether they are Yunyang Mansion or the official officials of the six counties under it, they can only look at the mountains and sigh. Once something happens to the villages in the mountains, the surroundings
It took several days for the county government to learn the news, and then it took several more days to deal with it. The communication of government orders was extremely difficult.
These two areas have high mountains and deep valleys, dense jungles and dense forests. The mountainous area is extremely vast, but the land is barren and the products are scarce. The mountains are all inaccessible. Except for the tributaries such as the Han River, Yihe River, Jishui River and Baihe River, which are accessible by boat, land transportation is extremely
inconvenient.
I think back in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the "Thirteen Kuidong Families" were entrenched in the Nanba Laolin area. It was precisely because of the inconvenient transportation that it was difficult for the army to move. They persisted in resisting until the third year of Kangxi, when the Qing government mobilized Qin, Henan, Huguang
Soldiers and horses from three provinces completely wiped it out.
Since the Battle of Jinchuan and Jinchuan, the Qing government has imposed massive levies and levies in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei and other places, leaving all treasuries empty and states and counties exhausted. In the fertile western Sichuan plain, land annexation has become more serious, and the poor have no place to stand on, and they have gone bankrupt and left their hometowns.
Although the land in eastern Sichuan is barren, refugees from surrounding provinces continue to gather here due to its vast land and light resources, especially Sichuan and Henan provinces with the largest number of refugees.
Speaking of which, if Zhao Xin hadn't brought Sun Guiyuan, the leader of the Shuoyuan Sect, and Zhan Zhenglin, his eldest disciple, to the farm in Sheyang Lake, that group of people, including Wang Cong'er and his daughter, would have gone to Xiangyang to preach, and the harm would have been even greater.
However, when Xu Dayong arrived in Yunxi and Zhushan, he discovered that the matter was far more complicated than what he had learned. He had to face not only Hunyuan, Mahayana, Bagua, Ligua and other branch sects of the White Lotus Sect, but also
There is an important folk secret society - "Tuluzi".
The famous Ge Laohui in later generations, also known as the Pao Ge organization, originated from "Tulu".
As an aside, looking at these secret sects in the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, except for the Luo Sect, which relied on water transport to make a living, other secret sects such as the Tiandi Sect, the Tuolu Sect, and the White Lotus Sect had nothing good! They all committed murder and robbery.
Rape, robbery, deception and abduction are the main ways of making a living, and the methods are extremely despicable.
This is also the reason why Zhao Xin is determined not to cooperate with these civil society parties.
When Xu Dayong went south for the first time, he not only went to Nanba Laolin, but also to Chongqing Prefecture.
The reason why they went to Chongqing was because they learned from chatting with the locals in Yunyang that the Tongluzi were not only active in the old forest of Nanba. Many of the sailors on the Sichuan River sailing boats and the trackers on the shore also joined the Tonglu Society.
Especially the area around Chongqing Prefecture has the largest number of stranded trackers, numbering in the thousands.
It is said that when large ships on the Sichuan River carry passengers and cargo upstream from Hanyang and Jingyi, the faster the current, the more trackers are needed. Each large ship carries hundreds of stones, and the trackers require seventy or eighty people. When the cargo ship arrives in Chongqing, it is unloaded.
, those merchants hired small boats to go to northern Sichuan and southwest Sichuan respectively, while the ones pulling fiber in places like Jialing River, Qujiang, Tongjiang, Lushui, Fushui, etc. were another group of trackers. As for the number of sailors required for merchant ships going down the river, the ratio
The number in the countercurrent was half that, and each boat could carry no more than thirty or forty people, so a large number of trackers were stranded in Chongqing Prefecture.
Xu Dayong didn't take Zuluzi seriously at that time. Now that even the imperial army and Rakshasa were beaten to the point of pissing by the Northern Navy, how could he be afraid of a few rogues?!
When he thought about it, trackers were good, hard-working and hard-working. There were thousands of trackers and their families, so if they could transport it to Beihai Town, it would be a great achievement.
Unexpectedly, when Xu Dayong arrived in Chongqing Prefecture, he was startled by the scene on the river bank. The trackers from Jingyi and Kuidong lived on the river bank outside Chongqing Prefecture. There were endless thatched huts.
Not thousands, but nearly ten thousand!
Xu Dayong's men made special observations and calculations at the docks along the river. For ten days, there are more than a dozen boats going upstream every day, and there are almost a dozen boats going down the river, so it will take seven or eight trackers to come.
A hundred people, and only three or four hundred people are needed for the return trip. Therefore, the trackers who can't find a living and stay on the river bank can gather thousands of people in ten days, and tens of thousands in a month.
With so many trackers unable to find work, they will surely cause trouble over time. Scams, abductions, robberies and kidnappings occur frequently outside the city of Chongqing. Although most of these people's wives, children and children are living in Kuimen, Fengjie, Wushan and other places downstream, they can't make enough money.
How can I get back home when I have money but no one to hire?
When Xu Dayong found several tracker leaders and proposed that he could take their wives, children, and children to farm in northern Jiangsu, those people were moved.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he started negotiating terms with a few tracker leaders, the leader of the local grunt club over there came over. He wanted nothing more than money and extorted money. If he didn't give it, he would start fighting until the money was paid, and he would run away even if he wanted to.
no.
At first, with an attitude of trying to calm things down, Xu Dayong agreed to pay 20 coins per person. Who would have thought that the leader of the Gulu Society saw Xu Dayong's dress and proposed to pay 100 coins per person.
This made Xu Dayong very angry. This was a pure robbery! Five thousand people were worth half a million yuan, which was almost more than four hundred taels of silver. Although Beihai Town was not short of money, it could not be taken advantage of.
However, when he refused the conditions of the leader of the Zoru Association, he found that no trackers dared to agree to follow him. Only then did he learn that there were so-called naked people in Chongqing Prefecture called "Jingsi Liu", that is,
It refers to trackers. Many people are so poor that they have sold out all their clothes, leaving only a pair of trousers on their bodies. The weak "Jing Shi Liu" is a beggar, and the strong one is a "Gulu", a complete gangster proletariat!
Afterwards, the people from the Tonglu Society began to constantly find troubles and provocations. In the end, they even refused to let the boat go without paying for it, and sent several boats to surround Xu Da with their boat.
Ever since he was sent to northern Jiangsu with Zhao Xin, Xu Dayong had never been so angry. But facing a group of rogues who were openly blackmailing people, Xu Dayong knew that a good man would not suffer the consequences of his immediate losses. He only had six subordinates here,
There were thousands of people on the other side. Even if one person had both guns at full fire, thousands of people could kill him by relying on their lives. In desperation, Xu Dayong had no choice but to pay for peace, and spent money to book a table at a restaurant.
The banquet was sent over as an apology to the other party.
Now he finally understood the power of the Zoru Club.
In fact, during the early and mid-Qianlong period, the local government of the Qing Dynasty launched many investigations and prosecutions against the Tuoluzi. The advice was not without heartfelt advice, and the punishments were not without severity. However, some people still took the risk and became "Touluzi".
Especially when the Qing Dynasty was carrying out the Battle of Jinchuan and Jinchuan, because they had no time to take care of it, the Tuolu Society was extremely arrogant, openly robbing, killing, and raping women in the busy city. After that, Fu Kang'an became the governor of Sichuan, and his main task was to investigate and deal with the Tuo bandits. This lasted for five years.
, Lingchi, beheaded and even exiled thousands of people. It seemed that they had disappeared, but in fact the Zulu Society had gone from the public to the underground.
It is said that in an era of frequent natural disasters, corruption in government, intensified land annexation, and even the bankruptcy of countless farmers, if you can find a place to settle down or be fully employed, who is willing to wander around the society and risk beheading and distribution from time to time?
What? Who doesn’t want to work hard to start a business and realize the dream of having enough food and clothing?
For example, many of the refugees living in the old forests of Nanba are mostly workers in wood mills and paper mills in Shaanxi, and they work as private traders for salt well craftsmen in Bashu. They can basically make a living by themselves. If it were not for the poor harvest in the mountains and the rise in food prices,
If the workshop stops working, workers will not scatter and cause trouble.
Therefore, in the eyes of many refugees, the advice given by the Qing government officials and even the landlords and gentry was like standing up and talking without hurting their backs.
Take a look at what the official notice says, "Even if you die of poverty and hunger, you should be an innocent and good citizen and be able to save your leader."
The problem is that life is about to be lost, and the whole family is starving to death, who cares about the head? Hunger and cold are nothing more than stealing the heart.
From an economic point of view, if a society cannot accommodate too many people to obtain the necessary means of production, it will inevitably cause a large number of social members to be placed on the margins of society, followed by "thieves and thieves" and "traitors".
Bandits are on the increase."
After suffering such a big loss, Xu Dayong certainly would not give up. However, no matter how powerful the ships of the Northern Navy were, they could only wander around the coastal areas. They couldn't even think about it in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and they didn't have the energy. So later he had to
He left Chongqing Prefecture in despair, and finally asked someone from the Cao Gang to establish a relationship with the Xiangyang Cao Gang, and established a channel to recruit Shaanxi refugees from Yunxi to Beihai Town.