Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 382 Hengfeng Pawnshop
"You can directly talk to Deng Fei about this matter, and he will arrange the manpower. I'm afraid Zheng Yi and the others will not be able to do the tea road, so you should help me out." As the wedding day draws closer, Zhao Xin said to each other in words. Shen Jingdan also became more polite, which made Boss Shen very satisfied.

Shen Jingdan twirled his beard and said, "Don't worry, I also met two tea merchants when I was in Guangzhou. I just came back, are you leaving again?"

Zhao Xin nodded and said, "Yes, go talk to Man Qing."

He paused for a moment, hesitated before saying, "Do you know who the Manchu sent here this time?"

Shen Jingdan said seriously: "I heard it in Guangzhou, it is Liu Chongru."

"Yes, the brothers of the Xu family and Ah Quan's big enemy."

In fact, Zhao Xin didn't care about negotiating or not. He was really curious about Liu Yong, and wanted to take this opportunity to meet this famous minister who is very famous in history and among the people.

Since the captives of the Qing army in Ningguta began to be reformed through labor, the road from Fuerdan City to Ningguta has been widened a lot.Cao Peng, a blasting engineer from the power plant, has now come here again, taking a few apprentices from the technical school with him to blow up rocks.

On the mountain road from Dongning to Ningguta, there will be several deafening roars almost every few days.A group of Qing army captives could often see a small mountain being blown up into the sky, and then turned into rubble all over the mountain and valley.

After the safety whistle sounded, the captives, tied together in groups of five, were dispatched to clear the gravel, widen the road, and dig roadbeds and drainage ditches.

As I said before, due to the permafrost in this area, the excavation of the roadbed is very difficult.The road surface must first be dug to a depth of 1.5 to [-] meters, and then backfilled with gravel and soil, so as to ensure that the road will not collapse due to permafrost in the future.

When Zhao Xin rushed to the road construction site with a battalion transferred from the training base, Cao Peng was scolding several apprentices.

"How many times have I said, what should I pay attention to every time I drill the hole to bury the bomb site?!"

"You can't drill eyes and load medicine at the same time."

"Then why can't you remember! Also, what did I say about the water pipe? When the hose is connected to the steel pipe, it must be twisted firmly with double-strand No. [-] iron wire to prevent the broken pipe from hurting people! It's all pig brains!"

An apprentice said tremblingly: "Master, it's too cold, we just want to hurry up."

Cao Peng hated iron and said angrily: "Cold? If you can't do it, go back! If something happens to you, how can I explain to your parents?!"

After he finished reprimanding his disciples and kicked out all the sixteen and seventeen boys, the door curtain swung, and Zhao Xin walked in.

Cao Peng said in surprise, "Hey, why are you here? Just arrived?"

Zhao Xin laughed and said, "Go to Ninggu Pagoda. Just now I listened to you admonishing others, so it's inconvenient for me to disturb you."

Cao Peng said: "Why are you going to Ninggu Pagoda in this cold weather? I heard that you are going to get married at the end of the year?"

Zhao Xin waved his hand and said, "It's too late. Qianlong sent Liu Yong over as a negotiating envoy. I plan to meet this Liu Luoguo."

It has been a year since Cao Peng came to Beihai Town, and he has heard a lot about the old things in Dongtai.At this moment, I heard that I was going to meet Liu Yong, so I hurriedly said, "Is it convenient for Fang to bring me? I have been here for so long, and apart from the prisoners outside, I haven't seen any famous people from this era."

Zhao Xin said: "Can you go away? I heard you get angry just now, can you go if you want to go?"

Cao Peng said: "You wait for me for another day, I'll just finish drilling these holes and blow up a few big rocks."

While waiting for Cao Peng, Zhao Xin checked the food and accommodation of the prisoners of the Qing army.Although Beihai Town treats these people cruelly, it doesn't treat them badly when it comes to food and clothing.Cornmeal buns are full, and they can also eat white flour steamed buns every week, and they are treated for injuries and illnesses, which makes the prisoners feel grateful.

There are two roads built starting from Ninggu Pagoda, one is leading to Sanxing City, and the other is here.Although the weather in the Outer Northeast in October is cold and the ground is frozen and hard, you can set up firewood and burn it, and it can still be dug after it softens.The civil affairs plan is to stop work in November, let the prisoners do some manual work, and continue in March of the next year.

Five days later, Cao Peng followed Zhao Xin's team to Ninggu Tower.Because when Na Qitai retreated, the people in the city were used as the rear team to block the pursuit of the Northern Navy, so now the residents of Ningguta did not escape much, and most of them were brought back by the Northern Navy.

But since then, the business routes between Ninggu Tower and Hunchun, Jilin and even Shengjing have been cut off.Right now, except for a few pawnshops and a newly opened Beihai Trading Company, which are still operating as usual, the other shops have not opened yet.

On the second day after Zhao Xin arrived at Ninggu Pagoda, he was in a pawnshop called "Hengfengdang" in the southeast corner of Cross Street in the outer city.

Wu Zhenzhou, the shopkeeper of the pawnshop sitting behind the counter, suddenly heard the door creaking softly, and hurriedly leaned over to check.I saw a guy wearing a tattered mink fur hat and covering his face poked his head into the door. When his eyes caught him, he turned around and looked out again, and then walked in, closing the door behind him. up.

When the man took off the scarf covering his face, Wu Zhenzhou couldn't help being surprised, he knew this man.

"Ouch~~ Master Chang! Why are you back?" Wu Zhenzhou said as he hurriedly walked out of the counter, welcomed the other party to the main room behind and seated him, and made him a cup of tea.

"Treasurer Wu, the imperial court is going to negotiate with Zhao Ni. Liu Chongru and Master Liu will go to Tuijiao Station in a few days. I am here with the armor soldiers at Daqian Station."

This one is called Chang Wu, known as Master Chang Wu, who is a relative of Na Qitai's concubine who was the former deputy governor of Ning Guta. "Hengfengdang" is a joint business between Na Qitai and Wu Zhenzhou, but to the outside world it is a joint venture between Chang Wu and Wu Zhenzhou.

Speaking of the San Francisco Rebellion, because the Qing government transferred all the soldiers from Ningguta to the south, the Han people began to live in the city, and the city's economy began to rise.There are 95 merchants in Ningguta City, including 12 pawnshops.

However, at this time, no matter what the shops were doing, they could only be opened by those who had a relationship with the government; even if foreign merchants wanted to do business locally, they had to form a joint stock partnership with someone from the government.

For example, the Guanglai Cloth Store in Xiguan was opened by the Yin family, who was a member of the vice-dutong government office, while the grocery store in Beijie Street was opened by the Wang family, who was in charge of setting prices.In addition, there are blacksmith shops, mill shops, candle shops, noodle shops, grocery shops, restaurants, etc., every family is like this.

Wu Zhenzhou said: "Then why are you here?"

Chang Wudao: "Please count the money on the cabinet, I want to take it away."

Wu Zhen heard urgently on Monday: "Fifth Master, how can this be done? If all the money on the cabinet is taken away, our business will be over!"

Chang Wu sneered and said, "Even if it's over, it can't be left to Zhao!"

Wu Zhenzhou said: "Fifth Master, listen to me. Ever since Bei Haijun entered the city, everyone has been frightened. Many merchants are anxious to go back to the south. Right now, the pawn business in the city is at its best time. Why don't you wait a few more days? "

After the Northern Navy implemented military control over Ningguta, it did not make it difficult for local Manchu residents and various government-owned businesses to form joint stock shops.One is that most of the Manchus in Ningguta were incorporated into the Eight Banners by the Hezhe people and the Kurkazi people. They belong to the "Yiche Manchuria", that is, the new Manchuria. These people let alone massacre the Han people. Many people even went to Shanhaiguan I have never been there, and I still live a primitive and simple life.The second is that if these shops are attacked as soon as they come up, the market will be unstable and people will panic.

But even so, some merchants who jointly opened shops with officials in the government still felt uneasy. They pawned their valuable household goods one after another, and planned to return to the south when the snow stopped.The good business that Wu Zhenzhou said also stems from this.

Chang Wu shook his head and said, "No way! Before I came, my lord confessed that the stock money must be taken back! To tell you the truth, the Ninggu Tower court cannot take it back."

Wu Zhenzhou was in the city when Bei Haijun and Mingliang fought. He saw the gunpowder smoke over the Ningguta camp with his own eyes, and knew what Chang Wu said was true.

He thought for a while and said with some embarrassment: "At present, the money on the counter is only seventy or eighty thousand dollars, and the silver is only a few dozen taels."

Chang Wu was surprised, he stared at Wu Zhenzhou in a daze and asked, "Why so little?"

"Fifth Master, where are you thinking? If I, Wu Zhenzhou, were like that, I would be struck by lightning!"

Wu Zhenzhou then explained to Chang Wu.Among the items he has recently pawned, fur and ginseng have been the most.They were all used by those guys who took advantage of the recent chaos to go into the mountains to poach and dig ginseng privately.

"The trade route to the south is cut off right now, and these leather goods and ginseng have all become the price of carrots." Wu Zhenzhou hesitated and said, "Why don't you do that. Fifth Master, you might as well take the leather goods and ginseng away, they have arrived in Jilin Ula can exchange money. If I enter the customs, I guess there must be 5000 taels of silver. I will continue to keep it here. When the money on the cabinet is almost spent, I will close the shop and go back to the south. "

Chang Wu thought about it for a while, and felt that it had to be like this.After all, even if you take all the money on the cabinet back, you can't explain it to that Qitai.

He was about to speak when he heard someone outside the door say: "Shopkeeper, the short-haired officer is here!"

"Official messenger?" Chang Wu was taken aback, and said in a low voice, "It's broken! Are you here to catch me?"

Wu Zhenzhou opened the door and asked the clerk, "How many people are here? Are they with muskets?"

"Three, without muskets. Two have been here before, and one has not."

Wu Zhenzhou was relieved after hearing this, and turned to Chang Wu and said, "Master Wu, did you hear that? This is not arresting people. The short-haired government has many rules, and they come to check every now and then, saying they know the situation. Our shop has been open for a long time. It’s been a long time, so I often come to ask about other shops.”

Since Liu Sheng led his troops to the north and left a battalion of troops in Ningguta to enforce disregard, Chen Qingsong sent a team of 20 civil affairs cadres here, and transferred 50 security policemen to cooperate with military control.

After the Civil Affairs Bureau came, they first put up an Anmin notice, then they were busy measuring the official villages and private fields outside the south gate, and then they began to investigate the shops in the city to investigate the situation of exile.

According to the measurement results and the Manchu archives in the government office, the arable land in Ningguta is divided into eight banners official villages and private fields; the sixteen official villages have a total of more than 42 mu of arable land, mainly distributed in the south of the city.In addition, there are more than 4000 mu of private land, which were reclaimed by refugees from the pass.

Since the Yongzheng Dynasty, with the continuous influx of refugees from the pass to the Northeast in order to survive, there have been more and more cases of private reclamation of official wasteland and partnership with bannermen.The practice of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was to clear the Zhangzhang on a regular basis. What the bannerman reclaimed was returned to the bannerman, and what the people reclaimed was only required to pay grain on time.

After the autumn harvest this year, the grains collected by the local government villages were forcibly confiscated by the Beihai Navy. In addition to the grain stored in the former vice capital’s yamen, it can basically meet the supply of staple grains for the whole winter, and the grains will be transferred from Fuldan City in the spring That's it.

Right now, Ningguta is implementing a food rationing system, with two meals a day, paid by card.Through this move, Beihai Town has grasped the situation of the local population very closely.According to the statistics of civil affairs, there are 792 local households with a fixed population of 2952, and 87 businessmen who come here to do business.

After hearing this, Chang Wu calmed down a bit, and said to Wu Zhenzhou, "Then I'll go to the wing room to hide for a while, you go and come back quickly. Hey, you ask the buddy to show me the inventory list."

After Wu Zhenzhou heard this, he quickly agreed, but when he turned to go out, there was a hint of disdain on his face.

Chang Wu is just a piece of trash. In the past, he just came here to collect money, and the amount was set long ago.Fortunately, I was prepared, and I made two copies of the inventory account, let the clerk show him the fake one!

This year, when businessmen open shops and do business, they usually use their relatives as buddies, mainly because they know the roots and trust them. "Hengfengdang" originally had two clerks, the one sent by Chang Wu ran away, and the rest was Wu Zhenzhou's nephew.

After ordering the clerk to go to the account book, Wu Zhenzhou came out from behind, and saw three guys in thick black cotton coats standing outside the tall counter, one of them was tall and had a smile on his face when he spoke; He has a beard and looks like he is in his twenties.

The man was standing by the counter at this moment, looking at the wooden sign hanging on the wall.The wooden sign was just an ordinary pine board, on which three lines of words were written from top to bottom and from right to left with a brush: Improper god robe and costume, improper flag gong umbrella fan, and improper ebb jewelry.

"Interesting." This is the first time for Zhao Xin to enter a pawn shop, and he has seen it in movies and TV dramas before.

Wu Zhenzhou hastily stepped forward and bowed: "The villain Wu Zhenzhou pays homage to all the officials."

"Your Majesty is Master Wu, right? I've heard about it for a long time." Zhao Xin cupped his hands with a smile.

On Monday, Wu Zhen saw that the two short-haired officials who had been here before were standing behind each other, and guessed that this one must have a bigger official position.But right now, he hasn't figured out the official ranks in Beihai Town, so he clasped his fists and saluted and said, "Don't dare, may I ask your lord?"

Zhao Xin said: "Oh, my surname is Zhao. I followed the army from Fuldan City yesterday. I want to know something about you today."

Wu Zhenzhou smiled all over his face and said, "You are too polite, sir, please sit in the back hall."

After a few people were seated and the waiter served tea, Zhao Xin said, "I heard that shopkeeper Wu's business in ginseng and leather goods has been very big in the past few months."

Wu Zhenzhou's heart skipped a beat, he hastily bowed and said, "It's a small business, just help me."

"Don't worry, I'm not here to check on you." Zhao Xin explained with a smile, and continued: "You are an old merchant in the local area. I would like to ask Shopkeeper Wu, how many gangs are there in the local area that secretly dig ginseng?"

"This..." Wu Zhenzhou's heart skipped a beat, and he replied hesitantly, "I can't say that well, but it is said that there are two groups of people, and the number is around a hundred."

Zhao Xin smiled and stopped talking.And a civil affairs cadre next to him suddenly said: "Master Wu, don't have any worries. According to what we know, just last month, you took a lot of money from Xu Mazi, Yu Deshui, Lu Qi, and Chen Ershou." A large number of ginseng. Why are these two groups of people?!"

Wu Zhenzhou was taken aback when he heard this, and thought to himself, why did the other party know about such a secret?Now it's muddy!
　The situation of breaking into the Guandong in the Qing Dynasty started from the Yongzheng period. Most of them crossed the sea from Shandong and landed on the Liaodong Peninsula, and then went north, but the scale was always small.These can be found in the "Ningguta Deputy Dutong Yamen Archives" which is full of documents.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)