The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 122 Natural and man-made disasters
June 1782, the 7th year of Xianning, July 26, in the Western calendar.

The Li River and the Fu River in Sichuan rose to a height of more than ten feet in a short time, submerging all the farmland and houses of the people.

Zhongjiang, Santai, Shehong, Suian, Pengxi and Yanting were hit by floods on the same day.

There were floods in Wuchang, Hanyang, Jiangxia, Huangpi, Anlu, De'an and Ruian.

The area around Wuchang City was flooded, and the large and small lakes outside the city were connected into one.

Looking from afar, the vast marshland seems as if the ancient Yunmeng Marsh has reappeared.

In Wuchang Prefecture and several surrounding counties, countless houses inside and outside the city were flooded, and countless people climbed onto rooftops, hillsides, and city walls to endure the flood.

Originally, most people wanted to wait for the rain to stop, and the water would naturally recede after the rain stopped.

But this time, after the continuous heavy rain stopped, the flood showed no signs of receding.

The people in Wuchang Prefecture didn’t know that most of Sichuan and Hubei were experiencing floods. After the local rainwater was drained, floods from the surrounding areas continued to pour in.

The surrounding floods naturally did not recede so quickly.

However, after the rain stopped for a while, boats of all sizes came out from Wuchang Prefecture and went to the rural areas far outside the city to search for people.

These ships are indeed going to rescue people.

But it comes at a price.

The two boats sailed to a slope next to a village and found a group of villagers taking refuge there.

The villagers who were taking refuge discovered the two ships, and many people immediately came over to check and ask questions.

But immediately more than a dozen black gun muzzles appeared on the ship.

The villagers stopped immediately.

Two young men in tight clothes stood on the bow of the boat, holding tin horns and shouting to the disaster victims on the slope:

"One mu of land deed for one boat ticket to Yingtianfu, first come first served, first board first go!"

"When you arrive at Yingtian Prefecture, those who want to work can do so. Those who don't want to work will be sent by the imperial fleet to open up wasteland in Southeast Asia, Australia, and North America."

"If there is no land deed, a five-year contract for labor is also acceptable."

The villagers immediately realized that these people were not here to help with the disaster, but to steal their fields.

Every year of flood or drought is when nobles and wealthy businessmen gather to farm.

Contract labor means working for five years to pay off a debt, and the employer only provides food, which is called contract labor and indentured slavery.

Most of the villagers are timid and most of them do not want to leave their hometown.

More people hope that the flood will recede so they can return to the village to live.

Some people also expect that there will be relief from the Duke's Mansion.

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, the Huguang Provincial Administration was divided into Hubei and Hunan provinces, with Zuo Liangyu as the governor-general of Hubei, Duke of E, and hereditary governor of Wuchang.

When the people here mention the Duke's Mansion, they are referring to the vassal government office of the Duke of E.

The man on the bow seemed to see through the villagers' minds, and his words turned into different types of threats and inducements:
"Don't even think about disaster relief. The whole of Hubei is flooded, the whole of Sichuan is flooded, and the entire Yangtze River is flooded!"

"The Duke's family has nothing to eat, and no one can come to help. Only if you go to Yingtian Prefecture will you have a chance to survive."

"Your Majesty, Australia is a good place. It is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is neither too hot nor too cold. Once you arrive, you can get land. Coal is everywhere and is free to use."

"We are looking for people to open up the Great Plains of North America. The imperial court has ships to take you there directly. You don't need to buy a ticket. You don't need to buy a ticket from Yingtianfu to North America."

"The water won't recede anytime soon, so don't even think about staying here. If you don't leave, you'll starve to death sooner or later.

"Even if the water recedes, everything in your homes and fields will be gone."

"After a great disaster there will be a great epidemic! If you stay here you will die!"

After intermittent threats and warnings, some villagers finally "figured it out" and began to move slowly.

They handed over the land deeds or contract contracts they had in their arms and boarded the two small ships.

"It's good that they are willing to give us the boat tickets now. If we wait, I don't know what other tricks they will use."

"People can't survive, and after the water recedes, the fields won't belong to you anymore."

In the end, about one-third of the villagers got on the boat, and the rest of the villagers hid far away, fearing that the guns on the boat would open fire.

The two ships did not take any action. They just left after confirming that no one was going to board.

We continued sailing on the endless water and later found two more villages. The man at the bow continued to use the same words, calling on the villagers who were seeking refuge from the disaster to get on board.

Finally, both ships were packed full and then they staggered towards the Yangtze River.

When they arrived at the original dock outside Wuchang City, they sent the villagers onto a larger river boat and then turned around to continue looking for people.

Only after the river boat was fully packed did it officially set off to sail downstream.

The villagers on the boat were extremely nervous, hoping for a chance to survive in the future.

Not long after, there were sudden and continuous gunfire sounds on the river, followed by the sound of someone screaming that they had fallen into the water.

The villagers on the boat also screamed immediately:

"what happened!"

"Somewhere are they firing?"

The boatman immediately entered the cabin and shouted:

"What are you yelling about!"

"Just sit still and don't move!"

"The Duke's warships are fighting the pirates!"

The villagers at the windows, bow and stern of the boat have already seen the scene on the river.

On the Yangtze River, two rows of gunboats blocked the main channel of the Yangtze River, and a large number of passenger ships and cargo ships were parked in the riverside area.

Several gunboats are now shelling a passenger ship.

There was nothing special about the passenger ship. It seemed to be just the passenger ship that he usually saw making a living on the river. There seemed to be no weapons on the ship.

The passenger ship was soon destroyed, and the people on the ship were jumping into the river. Soldiers on the gunboat took out their muskets and aimed at the people jumping into the water, shooting continuously, and blood splashed from time to time.

Just as the villagers were extremely panicked, the two gunboats suddenly turned and approached the river boat they were on.

There were immediate screams from the people on the river boat, as they thought their boat was going to be hit.

But at this moment, a man on the bow of the river boat unfolded a flag and waved it a few times, and the gunboat in the distance immediately left.

The river boat passed the location of the gunboat and slowly left the area of ​​Wuchang Prefecture.

The villagers who saw these scenes were all shocked and confused. They didn’t know what had happened and why some ships were attacked.

At the same time, inside Wuchang City.

On a tall building in the courtyard of a wealthy merchant's house, a group of young men dressed as scholars were drinking and cursing indignantly.

"This is too much! It's lawless! It's lawless——"

"What pirates! Those are just ordinary passenger ships!"

"Now, except for the ships directly operated by the Duke's Mansion, ordinary civilian merchant ships are not allowed to leave Wuchang, otherwise they will be regarded as pirates and sunk!"

"It's not impossible for you to leave if you want to. You can do the same work for the Duke's Mansion."

"My boat was hit and three of our crew members died on the spot. The rest of us dived to escape."

"The Zuo family is extremely evil!"

"It would be fine if the Duke's Mansion was doing serious business, but now they don't want the shipping fee at all, they just want the land deeds..."

"Is there any law and order in Wuchang Prefecture?"

"Here in Wuchang, Duke E's opinion is the law of the land, and the imperial court has no control over this place."

"Fanzhen, Fanzhen, and Fanzhen again!"

"When will you reduce the power of the feudal lords? Your Majesty, when will you reduce the power of the feudal lords? What are all the dignitaries in the court doing?"

"Throughout the history of the dynasties, the harm caused by the feudal lords has never been so severe!"

"Your Majesty certainly wants to reduce the number of vassal states, but it is simply impossible to do so. His Highness the King of Wu, who can be regarded as the living Lu Ban, was exiled to North America just because he publicly mentioned reducing the number of vassal states."

"Yes, when I was just ten years old, I was driven to the wild land of North America and became the king of the European barbarians."

"Before he was ten years old, he was already openly calling for the reduction of feudal fiefdoms?"

"Yes, it is said that he was only a few years old at that time, the same age as Kong Rong when he gave up his pears."

"Normally, a prince is granted a fiefdom and establishes a kingdom when he is ten years old, and he will not consider becoming a fiefdom until he is at least twenty years old. However, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu was driven out of the capital when he just turned ten..."

"Is he the Prince of Wu who invented reinforced rubber? He also invented the reciprocating steam engine and steamship? Isn't he the most favored by His Majesty? The whole of Australia was given to him?"

"Yes, it is this prince. Maybe he is really favored by His Majesty, but His Majesty should not be able to withstand the pressure from the vassal state."

"When did this happen?"

"According to the Yingtianfu newspaper, he left last fall with the first group of immigrants to North America. He should have arrived in North America this spring..."

Amidst the chaotic noise, someone seemed to suddenly think of something.

"Just after this prince was driven away, floods hit Hubei and Sichuan. Is this considered a natural disaster warning?"

"There's no basis for this, right?"

"What basis is that? The flood is the basis. It is an ironclad fact!"

"Yes, absolutely true."

"This prince must have bitterly pointed out the harm done by the feudal lords. The key point is that he has been committed to reducing the power of the feudal lords since he was young, so he has been persecuted and excluded!"

"That's for sure!"

"This is really... the saints were abandoned by the gods, and the heavens became angry and sent down disasters as a warning."

"The feudal lords have brought disaster to this point."

"Everyone, write some articles, print them out as soon as possible and distribute them."

"Also send another copy to Yingtian Prefecture and submit it to a popular commercial newspaper or magazine."

Zhu Jianxuan’s true intentions are not important, nor is the real reason why he suddenly ran to North America.

What is important is that Zhu Jianxuan as a person and his external influence can be borrowed and promoted by stakeholders.

It doesn’t matter whether anyone believes in the theory of the connection between heaven and man or not. What it does mean is that we can have a new angle and reason to once again criticize the local military governors and have more reasons to reduce their power.

This time, Duke E's overbearing behavior not only directly threatened the interests of local industrial and commercial groups.

It may even directly threaten their personal safety.

This is not something that can be solved simply by shouting. It has already triggered a sense of crisis in many people, leading to more direct actions.

So soon someone came up with a different idea:

"Will it be useful for us to do this? You guys were shouting this ten years ago, what's the point of shouting it now? The feudal lords will continue to do evil as they should!"

"Yes, all the ministers in the court, if we cry from night to morning and from morning to night, can we still cry Dong Zhuo to death?"

"That being said, what can we do?"

"We can't lift anything with our hands or carry anything with our shoulders. How can we imitate Cao Mengde and stab Dong Zhuo?"

"Cao Cao didn't succeed either!"

"I'm going to North America. Your Highness the King of Wu is the living Lu Ban, and he knows the harm of the feudal lords. We must not sit idly by in the future!"

"Yes, the disaster in Sichuan and Hubei has displaced tens of millions of people. Most of them will be sent to Australia and North America in the future. Australia and North America are large enough to support hundreds of thousands of soldiers!"

"So what? North America is tens of thousands of miles away. Even the northernmost edge of Australia is tens of thousands of miles away from Yingtian Prefecture!"

"Your Highness has a steamship! Wuguo coal stations are all over the South Seas. It only takes half a month to get from northern Australia to Yingtian!"

"Before Chongzhen, it took at least half a month to travel from Beijing to Nanjing..."

(End of this chapter)