Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 328 Stable Rule
As of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the ninth year of the Great Uprising, Anqing City was the only important city that survived a month in the hands of the rebellion army, and seemed to be able to survive a longer period of time. An important stronghold of the Ming Dynasty , this is also Song Qingshu's creation.

Here lies the buried hill in the north, the Yangtze River in the south, and the endless Dabie Mountains behind it. The main military forces of the entire Ming Empire are almost all deployed in the northwest and northeast. For the time being, they have no energy to take into account the three-way zone at the junction of Hubei, Henan and Anhui. The largest military forces in the south of the Yangtze River, the Nanjing Imperial Army and the Yangtze River Navy, did not have the strength to take back Anqing. Instead, they let Song Qingshu blackmail a few ships, and the begging army stabilized in Anqing.

However, among so many militants, only Song Qingshu's begging army is an outlier. Anqing City hardly feels that it is occupied by thieves. Most of the begging army soldiers wear paper armor similar to that of the official army. Wearing similar Fanyang caps, even equipped with firecrackers that are more neat than the official army.

In particular, military discipline is actually better than that of the official army. Most of the garrisoned beggars are imprisoned in the barracks next to the fort, and they still train all day long. They only patrol the city every day. The opening is still open. Businessmen who come from the east and go to the west can't enjoy their privileges, and pay taxes according to the standard of [-] draws set by the beggar army. They have not been greatly affected. As for the common people, they should farm and go to the streets. Taking to the streets, is barely touched.

Even the footsteps are uniform, and the begging army patrolling the streets has become a sight for the residents of Anqing City. There are often groups of children laughing and playing behind them, and even imitate the appearance of the begging army and walk forward.

However, in this era of bullying the weak and fearing the hard, no one thinks that the begging army is easy to bully. If you haven't watched the offensive and defensive battle of Anqing Fort that day, the actions of the begging army in the next few days will still be enough to make the big households in the city terrified. The thieves actually launched a crackdown on Anqing City.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the commerce in the south of the Yangtze River has begun to enter a booming trend. Although the Yuan Dynasty dealt a heavy blow to the civilization of the Central Plains, the Mongols were encouraging commerce. The real blow to the commerce and trade in the south of the Yangtze River was in the early Ming Dynasty. Mr. Zhu He was born as a farmer, and he took a distasteful attitude towards hoarding businessmen. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan gradually moved towards outdated self-sufficiency, and the small-scale peasant economy reversed a bit.

However, the general trend of history cannot be reversed after all. With the increase of population, the pressure brought by the land and the changes of the whole world environment, the commerce in the south of the Yangtze River has flourished again. But with the commerce, all kinds of hooligans and rascals also grew up. In this era, they are collectively called Daxing.

People who rely on courage and hope to get something for nothing are actually everywhere. These days, the Jurchen and Mongolian tribes are actually no different from these gangsters, but the gangs in Jiangnan are not so large-scale and organized. They have still become one of the serious social problems. During the Wanli period, there was an outbreak of encirclement and suppression by the governor, but they were attacked by various prefectures and counties. Moreover, with the urbanization of Jiangnan, most of the farmers in Jiangnan became tenant slaves. However, the landlords and gentry also colluded with these evil forces and relied on these thugs to suppress tenant farmers. With the development of commerce, these are inevitable.

Song Qingshu has seen it before. His Dai County has only flourished for a few days, and there are ruffians entrenched near his factory, extorting workers and small business owners nearby. He has even heard of the name of Jiangnan Daxing. , especially during the confrontation with the Jiangnan navy that day, a group of people in the city attacked the county government, almost releasing the captured magistrate Wang Chonggu.

Maybe it was because they wanted to cooperate with the officers and soldiers, and be a righteous citizen. Who knows that after a day of tossing, the Jiangnan navy didn't even get close to the shore, so they left in despair. The begging army doesn't need to rely on the support of local big families, it's weak That night, all of the more than a hundred thugs who attacked the county government disappeared. They either resisted and were shot to death or were arrested. The king, the lunatic and the three gods put all their brains into a pig cage and threw them alive into the Yangtze River.

Then the begging army learned from Ming Chengzu's wrists and melons, and all those who interacted with these local hooligans, drank and worshiped them all were exiled to the army. This arrest unexpectedly captured an extra division, and more than 3000 strong men were all locked up together as coolies. , Building fortifications for Song Qingshu really solved the manpower problem.

Before, Sun Chuanting was worried that such a large-scale arrest would cause resentment among the Anqing scholars and people. Who knew that after these bullies were eliminated, the Anqing scholars would support the begging army even more, especially when there was an old woman with more than ten A villager came to Anqing Mansion, crying and shouting, carrying the plaque that Qingtian was alive.

It is enough to be ironic for someone to send Qingtian alive for the thief, which made Sun Chuanting curious and asked, but immediately followed by gnashing his teeth.

It turned out that Song Qingshu ordered to throw a bastard named Xiajielong into the Yangtze River. A while ago, he fell in love with the old lady's daughter-in-law. He took advantage of the opportunity of the government to repair the embankment and threw her son alive into the Yangtze River to drown him, and then came to the door to rape him. They robbed the girl and beat her wife to death. In the end, the daughter-in-law was also a strong woman and jumped into the well. She was the only one left with her grandson who was less than two years old. Asked, everywhere, Sun Chuanting turned his head angrily, and went to the beating master again, and each of them was whipped.

Of course, it seems that only Song Qingshu's begging army can maintain such a state of military discipline among the millions of militants. The pirate team already has the meaning of a capitalist army. Song Qingshu started his business by relying on business rather than destruction and plundering. He has enough money in his pocket, and the soldiers of the begging army are all paid by the army.

The strategic location of Anqing is dangerous, and it is also an economic hub area. Before the conquest, Song Qingshu had to work hard to feed the 10,000+ soldiers and civilians under his command. The population can be filled without farming, but the meaning of Anqing to Song Qingshu is more than that.

During the Spring Festival in the ninth year of Chongzhen, when Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and other leaders of the peasant army were still fighting bloody battles with the government and the army in the east of Qin Dynasty and north of Henan Province, Song Qingshu was able to comfortably book a big restaurant. The cottage owners from the district who came to seek refuge, the kings of the big clans in Anqing City, Zhang, Li, Chen and other families all invited them to the banquet.

This place is really called singing and dancing. The guys coming and going are carrying all kinds of exquisite Jiangnan side dishes and sweet glutinous rice wine. The wealthy businessmen and big households in splendid clothes are constantly coming and going, and each of them is carrying gifts in their hands. , there is a stage in the middle of the restaurant, Anqing is the hometown of Huangmei Opera, a female son-in-law sang babbling, it sounds modern, Song Qingshu, who is used to pop songs, yawns, but Sun Chuanting, Liu Zongmin and others The senior generals of the Qihuo Army also listened with great interest.

The pace of life is getting faster and faster, and the rhythm of art is also getting faster and faster. Like the Daya Music in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it is so slow that no one listens to it these years. However, although this Jiangnan can be regarded as a national trend, the entertainment industry There is still a lot of development in the Internet, and I can make some articles on it in the future.

Tasting the tea, Song Qingshu nodded along with the flow of people, thinking to himself.

The highlight of the night is not eating and listening to music to celebrate the New Year. After the female son-in-law sang, taking advantage of the actors changing their costumes, Song Qingshu followed wherever he went. The merchants next to him made a bow.

"Elders of Anqing, elders of Yinghuo, our Jiaduobao company came from the north, and we are able to establish a foothold in this land in the south of the Yangtze River. We are very grateful to you for your care. Mr. Qu is here on behalf of my family. Thank you for your enthusiastic support. !"

Don't look at it as a bow, let alone Qu Botao's cheerfulness. Shopping malls are like battlefields. These days, merchants in various places also have strong local protectionism. In Yangzhou, Anhui merchants and Shanxi merchants share the same market with salt merchants. As far as the fierce battle is concerned, Shanxi merchants in the tea business in various places in the south of the Yangtze River can hardly get their hands in it, and the north is becoming more and more turbulent. Last time, he followed his friend Huizhou merchant Xie Liuyan to the south ambitiously, and wanted to do something in the south of the Yangtze River. In the end, he almost lost money He didn't even keep his underwear, but now this big Anqing clan had to obediently listen to his businessman's vernacular. It felt like a serf turning over and being liberated.

Sure enough, seeing him as a dry old Xier, the spokesperson of the begging army stood up, and a large group of Anqing gentry hurriedly stood up to answer.

"Should! It should!"

"His staff is extra polite."

In fact, enthusiasm is fart, if it weren't for Song Qingshu's sharp knives and fierce firearms, the officers and soldiers would have nothing to do with them, and they would have driven these bandits out of the city long ago, but because of the sharp knives and fierce firearms, the big fist is the boss these days, Not wanting to court death, these gentry can only smile along with them. The attack on the county government a while ago was planned by them. Who knows how much evidence Song Qingshu has in his hand.

"My boss is also quite embarrassed about the local disturbance, so Jiaduobao Company intends to compensate everyone and bring everyone to make a fortune together. Shu Xi, if you want to invest in building a factory, if you are willing to invest and take a share, Jiaduobao is welcome, and there is no threshold this time!"

After saying this, Qu Botao sat back down. At this time, the Huangmei Opera on the stage began to sing the second song of the fairy song, and he also nodded his head with relish, but the Anqing gentry below were all singing. Made a murmur.

Compensate everyone, make everyone rich, fart!It is true to take the opportunity to scratch the silver!However, since Marshal Song entered the city, he has never asked for military supplies like the rich gentry and families in the local area. Instead, he has rectified the law and order in the city. These days, he is building roads and bridges. A thief can do better than the officers and soldiers. , It's enough, and it's time to ask the big guys for money.

The commander-in-chief is a gentleman, and his appearance cannot be elegant. If people like myself are shameless, the commander-in-chief will probably have to turn his back on him by then, but how much money should he take?
Seeing Song Qingshu on the other side squinting his eyes with the military general alone, Qu Botao, among the merchants on the other side, was also listening to the show in a leisurely manner. These elites in Anqing City couldn't help but murmur...

(End of this chapter)