Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 141
In the afternoon, after Shen Jingdan, Lao Huang and others went to the island to meet Zhao Xin, Zhao Xin asked Shen Jingdan, "Boss Shen, do you know where Flower and Bird Island is?"

"I know a thing or two, but I've actually been here a few times before."

"Oh? Then may I ask why there are so many empty houses on this island, but not many people?"

After Shen Jingdan's explanation, Zhao Xin learned the whole story here.

Huaniao Island used to be a black market trading base for many foreign cargo ships in the past few years, and the business was very prosperous.Various shipping companies have built wooden houses on the island as temporary trading houses; some Fujian and Zhejiang pirates occasionally come here to sell their stolen goods.And Shen Jingdan once bought some raw silk and white sugar that were sold off here and shipped them to Nagasaki.

In the 48th year of Qianlong, a vicious robbery and murder occurred in Chongming.Robber Boss Gong and other thirteen pirates intercepted a Nantongzhou merchant ship off Chenjiahe.The group encountered a storm when they were about to move the goods, so they waited on the owner's boat for two days.In the past two days, no one knew what happened on the ship.

Two days later, the gang of robbers not only removed all the clothes, goods and money on the merchant ship, but also pushed all 25 people on board, including the owner, sailors, women, and children, into the sea and drowned, and finally burned the merchant ship to ruins.

This incident led to Qianlong personally ordering a strict investigation.The Navy of Susong Town sent a brigade to search and arrest Chongming Island, and finally captured eleven robbery and murderers on Huaniao Island.At this moment, all the shipping companies, restaurants and even brothels on the island were driven away by the officers and soldiers, and the huge Flower and Bird Island soon became deserted.

After listening to Shen Jingdan's introduction, Zhao Xin pondered for a while before saying: "Boss Shen, you are more familiar with the islands in Jiangsu and Zhejiang than I am. You said that it is appropriate for us to use this place as a transit point for goods?"

Shen Jingdan stroked his beard and thought for a while and said: "It's appropriate to just talk about the location here. But the navy in Su Songzhen, Mr. Zhao, how do you deal with it? If it's just a one-shot killing that alarmed the court, then not only Su Songzhen , even the Minzhe Marine Division will be alarmed, I'm afraid it will be difficult."

Old Huang added from the side: "Lord Zhao, you don't know that the imperial court's patrol system here is still very strict, and something happened here last year. If you send fewer people, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep them."

Zhao Xin said: "How do you say that?"

Old Huang said: "This matter is too detailed, I can't explain it, let Brother Shen explain."

Originally from the 46th year of Qianlong, the frequency of cruises in and out of Chongming changed from four trips a year in spring and autumn to every three months, according to the four seasons.The middle, left, right, and odd battalions of Susong Town dispatched 11 officers in rotation every season, led 288 land and water soldiers, and nine sentinel boats, sampans and other boats patrolled the ocean. Crusaders and soldiers from Sha Ying and Wu Song Ying met at Banyangsha and other places on the ocean.

Shen Jingdan finally concluded: "The purpose of the imperial court is to 'responsibility is dedicated' to prevent the occurrence of various prevarications and abuses by the green battalion navy. The so-called 'regular sentries are used for meetings, and special patrols are used for repeated shifts. want.'

In this way, each water battalion has its own responsibilities and demarcates the areas in charge of the inner and outer oceans by dividing and demarcating the boundaries.There is a general patrol above the sub-patrol, and there is a unified patrol above the general patrol.The ships of each battalion come and go, weaving and patrolling, all rely on the arrows passed by the outpost, and the letters taken by the clubhouse are believed. "

While Shen Jingdan was speaking, Zhao Xin was recording with a pen.This bunch of sub patrols, general patrols, as well as this battalion and that battalion made Zhao Xin dizzy.

It's hard for Shen Jingdan, a sea merchant, to speak in such detail.After Zhao Xin finished recording, he praised: "Boss Shen really has a good memory, and he can explain such a complicated matter clearly."

Shen Jingdan said with a smile: "Those of us who run the sea trade, if we can't remember these things clearly, how can we manage the various places?"

Zhao Xin suddenly asked curiously: "Excuse me, boss Shen, how much money do you spend on managing this a year?"

Shen Jingdan said nonchalantly, "5000 taels are always available."

Zhao Xin was surprised: "Ah?! So many!"

Shen Jingdan snapped his fingers and said, "Governor of Liangjiang, Governor of Jiangsu, Admiral of Susong Township, Wusong Camp, there are filial pieties everywhere."

"Isn't the governor of Liangjiang in Nanjing? You also want to give it over there?"

"The governor of Liangjiang in the imperial court has 5 battalions under his jurisdiction, and the admiral of Jiangnan has [-] battalions under his jurisdiction. These are all in charge of Jiangfang. When you come out from Shanghai Daguan Wharf, you also have to pay a piece of money."

Although Shen and Huang explained so much, Zhao Xin still didn't want to give up the island.He thought for a while and then said: "Boss Shen, Boss Huang, I think it will be difficult for you two to go to Nagasaki in the future. Next time you buy goods, it's better to arrange here. Let's make an appointment, for example, in two months For one period, the Thunder God will send the cargo here to meet you. This will save you a long sea journey. If you want to go to Beihai Town, you can take our ship."

Shen and Huang looked at each other with joy on their faces.Zhao Xin's proposal like this is really easy!
The two of them also know a little about the cargo volume of the Thunder God, and the load of tens of thousands of stones is not a problem.It only takes one run, and the two of them can go to Nagasaki ten times.So the two happily agreed.

The three chatted until it was almost time for dinner, and Wu Siyu also completed the preliminary interrogation of Xu Dayong and others.So Zhao Xin looked at the ingredients while drinking the fish soup.

Xu Dayong, a native of Chongming, Jiangsu.

In mid-June of the 46th year of Qianlong, a storm disaster occurred in Chongming County. The water depth in Guanxiang (near the main street outside the city gate) reached four or five feet, destroying more than 1 houses and drowning more than [-] men and women.Seven of Xu Dayong's family of eight died in the disaster; the few acres of land the family tenanted were also completely washed away by the flood.In desperation, he took Wang Changsheng and a dozen other tenants from the same village who had lost their land, and began to rob passing merchant ships.

Strictly speaking, Xu Dayong and his group are not pirates, they can only be regarded as a gang of thieves.These people also use rented sandboats to transport goods on weekdays; or they travel between the islands off the coast of Chongming to do some small-scale smuggling business.And every peak season of sea trade freight, they will gather together and go overseas to grab a handful.

Because Xu Dayong and his gang rarely kill people, their reputation in Chongming is not that bad.Ordinary merchant ships met them, said a few good words, made some friendship, and gave them a few dozen taels of silver, and it was over.

Since the spring of this year, the freight business of Xu Dayong and his group has suffered repeated setbacks.First, it was discovered by Su Song's navy because of trafficking in private goods, and a sand ship was sunk; later, a lot of goods were lost in sea storms.Because they couldn't explain to the owner of the goods, a group of people wanted to come to Huaniao Island to avoid the limelight.

Xu Dayong, who lost a large amount of goods, originally wanted to find an opportunity to make some extra money, so he asked Wang Changsheng, the second master, to take someone out to grab it. In the end, he only grabbed a dozen taels of silver and more than 7000 catties of fish, and was later arrested. Zhao Xin and others who "visited suddenly" were "shot to death" on the beach.

Throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty, apart from the Zheng Group in the early days, the three largest pirate groups in the southeast coast were Fujian Cai Qian and Zhu Wei’s group in the early Jiaqing period, Zhang Baozai in Guangdong, and the Qi Gang headed by Zheng Yisao Shi Shi. Pirates, nothing else matters.

After reading the interrogation record, Zhao Xin decided that Xu Dayong and his gang could not be released.One is that the news about the Thunder God cannot be leaked, and the other is that these guys can be regarded as strong laborers. It is just right to bring them back to Beihai Town to work with the Qing soldiers for labor reform.

Therefore, Xu Dayong's only remaining sandboat, which contained more than 7000 catties of fish, became Zhao Xin's trophy.

The cargo capacity of sand ships in the Qing Dynasty was not small. The large ones could carry 120 tons, and the small ones could carry [-] tons (the large ones carried [-] shi for official dendrobium, and the small ones carried [-] or [-] shi.) Although the speed of sand ships was relatively slow, However, after installing the water-spreading board, stem water wood and peace basket, the sailing stability is very prominent, and it can resist large wind and waves.

As for the name of the sand boat, there have always been different opinions. It is said in "Tiangong Kaiwu" that there are many shoals in the Beiyang sea, among which there are many gullies, and sand boats can freely travel among them, hence the name.

According to Shen Jingdan's introduction, Zhao Xin learned that there are more than 3000 sandships that enter the Huangpu River from Wusongkou every year to berth and unload. The annual cargo volume of sandships accounts for almost half of the cargo throughput of the entire Susong area.

After discussing with Liu Sheng, Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng decided to move part of the catch into the cold storage in the ship's galley, and most of the rest should be given to Shen Jingdan and Lao Huang.

Shen Jingdan couldn't laugh or cry, he and Lao Huang were not fishmongers, so what's the use of asking so many yellow croakers.Moreover, this boat was rented by Xu Dayong, once it entered Wusongkou, people would definitely recognize it.Not only the origin of the catch on the boat cannot be explained, but it will also cause a lot of trouble.Zhao Xin didn't mind it when he heard it, so he had to take the sandboat back.

So Xu Dayong waited for a group of captives to start a miserable life of coolies from the early morning of the next day; every day on the deck of the Thunder God, the yellow croakers were disembowelled, cleaned and marinated, and then spread flat on the warehouse cover to dry repeatedly .And a group of foodies headed by Zhao Xin began to feast on the food. They began to cook fish every day in the kitchen, frying, frying, steaming and cooking in different ways; they ate all the way back to Beihai Town from Flower and Bird Island.

When it came to the outer seas of Jiangsu, Wu Siyu wanted to find an opportunity to go ashore to have a look, and Zhao Xin and the others also wanted to see Shanghai County in this era.But Shen Jingdan's words scattered their thoughts.

"My lords, you don't have braids!"

Different from the understanding of later generations of film and television dramas, the braids of Chinese people in the late Qianlong period were still typical money rat tails. It was not until the middle period of Jiaqing that the hair storage area was expanded, and it was not until the late Daoguang period that it became half bald and half long hair. image.

It's okay to ask Zhao Xin and others to shave their heads, but they can't find props for wigs and braids right now!
Liu Sheng waved his hand and said, "Why do we need braids?! Can't we just pretend to be monks?"

Shen Jingdan shook his head and said, "It's not okay for you to pretend to be monks."

"Why?" Liu Sheng looked unhappy, he thought Shen Jingdan just didn't want to help him.

Shen Jingdan saw that Liu Sheng and the others looked wrong, and quickly explained: "Master Liu, my concubine and daughter who are pregnant are all in Beihai Town, why don't I help? It's really because pretending to be a monk is going to cause big trouble! You Let me explain."

It turned out that in the middle and late Qianlong period, although the Duyi system had been gradually abolished and changed to Jiedu, it seemed that anyone could pretend to be a monk, but it was replaced by the strict Baojia system of wandering monks.

The government strictly examines the four-pillar inventory of monks and Taoists in various places to realize the management of monks and Taoists at the grassroots level.

For example, in Baojia, ordinary people are audited quarterly or every six months, while monks and Taoists are audited once a month.At the end of each month, the abbots of each temple will write in the "circular book" how many people actually live in the temple (nunnery, temple, and courtyard), their appearance characteristics, where the monks come from, and when they come. Go; after writing these, you must hand over the booklet to the local monk association, and the monk association will send the circular book to the county office for verification on the second day of the next month; the county office will return the booklet after review, and continue next month.

Of course, if you can bribe the abbot of the temple and the people in the yamen in advance, it is not impossible to go ashore for a month or two.But the height of Zhao Xin and his group is too scary!
In the Jiangnan area with an average height of 1.6 meters five, a few monks with a height of 1.8 meters and a round waist suddenly appeared. Can people not notice it?Let’s talk about Liu Sheng, a 1.85-meter-tall man, if he wears cassocks, the whole Yihua monk Lu Zhishen!

So Shen Jingdan and Lao Huang suggested that they should make some preparations first, such as wigs and clothes, so that they can go ashore next time.

When Liu Sheng and the others heard what he said was reasonable, they all gave up angrily and could only talk about it next time.

Zhao Xin turned his eyes and asked Shen Jingdan: "Boss Shen, can you help me buy a yard in each of the four places of Shanghai, Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing? The head of the household can be named under the two names."

Lao Huang on the side asked at this time: "This is easy. My family has shops in these places, but I don't know what requirements Mr. Zhao has for the site selection and the size of the yard?"

Zhao Xindao: "As for the location, a secluded place outside the city will do. As for the size, a small courtyard with two or three entrances will do. The point is not to attract attention."

Lao Huang nodded and said: "Leave this matter to me, I'm sure it will be done properly!"

Zhao Xin saw that Lao Huang agreed readily, and immediately wanted to give the money.Lao Huanglian said no, just because of the half-shipload of leather goods that Zhao Xin gave him this time, he made a lot of money.To buy four sets of yards, 2000 taels of silver is the sky-high, and besides, it is not necessary to use so much.

Since sailors from the island country could not enter the territory of the Qing court, that night, Zhao Xin and Wu Siyu took a dozen soldiers and sent Shen Jingdan to Chongming Island in a patrol boat in the dark.

Shen Jingdan has a warehouse outside Chongming County. Most of the goods purchased in the past will be delivered here, and it is very convenient to find someone to help.

Two days later, Shen Jingdan boarded two Biancai boats on the west side of Huaniao Island in a rented sandboat with more than forty sailors.

So far, the escort mission of Zhao Xin and others has been completely completed.Next time, Shen Jingdan and Lao Huang will come directly to Huaniao Island to meet with Thunder God to purchase goods.

On the deck, Xu Dayong and others, who were busy drying dried fish, couldn't help crying when they saw the Huaniao Island that was gradually going away.

"Brother, can we still come back?" Wang Changsheng, the former second head of the family, asked in a low voice after kowtowing three times in the direction of Chongming Island.

"Damn it. It's hard to live anywhere! I don't think these gentlemen are bad. At least they can eat as much rice as they want, and they can eat whatever fish they want." Xu Da raised his hand to wipe his nose.

Wang Changsheng said: "But, big brother, that fish, the fish was originally ours. Oops!"

Xu Da kicked Wang Changsheng's calf vigorously. "Damn, no one will treat you as dumb if you don't speak!"

"What are you two doing! Work quickly!" Yaichiro, who was on guard on the deck, yelled at the two of them with a gun in his hand.

"Yes, yes! Master Jun." While lowering his head and continuing to rub salt on the fish, Xu Dayong cursed inwardly, "What are you arrogant Japanese people! Another day, if I also take the firecracker, I won't be able to beat you to death!"

　To make a digression, in the Qing Dynasty, if you went out without a guide issued by the government of the place of household registration, it could be said that it was difficult to move a single step, even the county.Even if you want to pretend to be an official, in addition to wearing a top hat, you must also have a waist badge, otherwise let alone staying in a hotel, the shop assistant will directly report to the official to arrest you.Some people say that it is a big deal to pretend to be a monk.Hey~~ I think it's simple, isn't it.If you can answer the following questions, together with the ultimatum with the official seal, congratulations, you have passed the inspection!Question [-], who?Who is the shaving master?Who is the master of Karma?Who is the professor?Question [-]: In which temple did you become a monk?Where did you get ordained?Question [-], should you memorize the scriptures? "Ksitigarbha Sutra" is the most commonly used in doing things, so memorize it once.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)