There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 337 The Red Turban Rebellion in Eastern Zhejiang

Rainbow Bridge, Yueqing County.

Several uninvited guests arrived at the Qu Family Ancestral Hall today.

They were all local landlords and wealthy families, and two of them were not even from the area. One was Manager Lu, a grain merchant from the county, and the other was Captain Huang, a garrison commander in the county town.

Qu Wenguang glanced at everyone, then took out a letter and handed it out: "Take a look at this first!"

Everyone took the letters, read them one by one, and all looked astonished.

The grain merchant from the county exclaimed in surprise, "The average price of grain in Jiangxi is 20 wen per liter, and it can even drop further. Is the Han traitor really so benevolent?"

Qu Wenguang shook his head: "Whether it's benevolence or winning people's hearts, the price of rice in our Yueqing County has already risen to 50 wen per liter, and it's still rising. At the end of last year, the Yellow River and Huai River basins in Jiangsu breached their banks again, and the government needed a large amount of money and grain for disaster relief. The price of rice in Zhejiang has already reached its limit. Heh!"

By the end, Qu Wenguang couldn't help but sneer repeatedly.

The Yellow River and Huai River breaches occur every year, and it's possible that the breaches were actually for disaster relief, but the last breach happened almost a year ago.

The disaster relief efforts have been going on for a year, but the funds haven't come through yet. What kind of disaster relief are the imperial court and government providing?
The disaster relief is a pretense; their real purpose is to embezzle funds and grain, hoard goods for speculation, and exploit the people!

Not to mention the overall rice price in Zhejiang, which has remained high for years. Ever since the Qing Dynasty lost Huguang, the south has been in a state of food shortage. Many cotton and mulberry fields in Jiangnan have been forced to switch to rice cultivation, otherwise there would be no food supply at all.

As a result, over the past few years, the price of rice has soared from the initial twenty-odd coins to the thirty-odd coins, and this year it has reached fifty coins.

The price of rice at fifty coins per liter was already enough to drive ordinary people to ruin and death.

The people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in particular, had to bear high taxes, and the land tax on farmland that was forcibly converted from mulberry to rice would not be reduced just because rice was planted.

Throughout history, in order to ensure the stability of agricultural production and prevent the common people and landlords from pursuing excessive profits, heavy taxes were levied on mulberry, hemp, and cotton fields to balance the ratio of cotton to rice fields per mu and ensure the supply of food.

Today, in order to ensure the food supply, the Qing government forces cotton farmers to switch to rice cultivation, but is unwilling to reduce their taxes. Instead, it continues to exploit the people and plunder their wealth.

The people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are almost at their breaking point.

The reason why Fujian is not included is because it was a region that military strategists did not contend for; whether Fujian was in turmoil or not had little impact on the overall situation of the country.

Qu Wenguang said, “Gentlemen, let’s make a decision! With the government raising prices like this, rice prices will eventually skyrocket, and even we might not be able to afford to eat. Moreover, this is just the price of rice; if rice prices rise this high, what about other things?”

No one answered; everyone was hesitant.

Seeing this, Qu Wenguang decided to add fuel to the fire, first addressing the only grain merchant present: "Brother Lu, you are a grain merchant, why don't you tell us what the current market situation is in the county?"

The grain merchant surnamed Lu, though called a grain merchant, was actually the owner of a grain and rice shop in the county. He shook his head and said, "To be honest, my Lu-branded grain and rice shop hasn't been open for many days. Manager Kang, the nephew of the county magistrate, bought out all the rice in my shop more than a month ago. Don't be fooled by the fact that rice prices in Yueqing County are still stable now. I estimate that in a few months at most, rice prices will definitely skyrocket, at least from the current fifty wen to eighty wen, or even one hundred wen."

hiss~!

Upon hearing the price of 100 coins per liter of rice, everyone gasped in shock.

Even if it's ill-gotten gains, you can't make money like this, right?
"A rice price of fifty coins is already enough to drive people to their deaths; how many more people will starve to death if the price reaches one hundred coins?"

Qu Wenguang said, “The world is in chaos now. The court is immoral and the emperor is incompetent. Local officials are corrupt and extort money from the people. If this continues, the Tartar court will surely perish sooner or later. Now, the Han army in Huguang has not harmed the people, and the Han King has the demeanor of an emperor. If the Han army could come to Zhejiang, it would be a blessing for the people of Zhejiang!”

Someone hesitated and said, "But the Han army hasn't arrived yet..."

“If they haven’t come, we’ll go there ourselves,” Qu Wenguang said with great determination. “Zhejiang and Jiangxi are very close. Since the Han army is slow to arrive, we will take the initiative to start an uprising, take Zhejiang first, and then contact the Han army to invite them to enter Zhejiang and take over, and treat Zhejiang with benevolence.”

Another landlord asked, "But I heard that the Han army is going to divide up the land owned by landlords. What will happen to our land?"

Qu Wenguang laughed and said, "What's there to worry about? My Qu family is one of the most prominent clans in Hongqiao, but how much land do we own? Only a few thousand acres. With so little land, the Han army can take it if they want. What's there to be afraid of?"

The words may be crude, but the principle is sound: the Han army came and distributed land, which was indeed quite intimidating. However, among these people, the oldest and richest, Qu Wenguang, only owned a few thousand acres of land.

Several thousand acres of land may sound like a lot, but for a proper wealthy family, gentry, or even a rich merchant, it's nothing.

Moreover, although Yueqing County is located on the coast, the Qing Dynasty's policy of isolationism has hindered its development. Compared to its later economic prosperity, Yueqing County, along with Wenzhou Prefecture, is now a notoriously poor and remote area.

In such a remote and impoverished area, coupled with continuously rising rice prices, it's hard for the people here not to rebel.

Historically, after the Opium War, the financial burden on Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces increased dramatically. In addition, the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom greatly boosted the determination of Zhejiang gentry to resist the Qing Dynasty.

As a result, four major uprisings broke out in Zhejiang one after another, almost turning the entire province upside down. Among them was Qu Zhenhai, the grandson of Qu Wenguang.

In order to oppose the Qing Dynasty, this person even changed his name to Qu Zhenhan, meaning to revitalize the Han Dynasty.

However, Qu Zhenhan's anti-Qing campaign was too hasty in history, which ultimately led to his failure.

Now, the timeline is different, but the characters are largely the same. The Han army's annexation of Huguang put immense financial pressure on the puppet Qing dynasty, to the point that even Qu Zhenhan's grandfather, Qu Wenguang, could not bear it. Furthermore, the Han army's repeated victories, including the killing of several governors-general and the capture of the governor of Anhui, gave them tremendous confidence.

Since I can't make a living either way, I might as well go all the way!
Qu Wenguang rallied the local gentry of Hongqiao, and also contacted Huang, a poor villager in the county town, and Lu, the owner of a grain shop, to prepare for an uprising in Yueqing County.

Seeing that some people were still hesitating, Qu Wenguang said sternly, "Now that you have all gathered in my Qu family ancestral hall, the arrow is on the bowstring and must be released. Even if we back out now, this matter has already been exposed. Who can guarantee that no one present will leak it out?"

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged glances, all looking at each other warily.

Qu Wenguang continued, "Gentlemen, let's make a decision! To rise up or not to rise up? Those who do not wish to rise up, raise your hands!"

No one spoke, and no one raised their hand.

Qu Wenguang then said, "Those who are willing to start an uprising, raise your hands!"

Everyone raised their hands.

Qu Wenguang smiled with satisfaction: "There's no better time than now, let's swear an oath of brotherhood here in my Qu family ancestral hall!"

Before long, trusted followers prepared more than a dozen bowls of light wine and several chickens ready to be slaughtered.

The proper ancient ritual of blood oath-taking requires the blood of cattle or horses, but in urgent situations, and since cattle and horses are too expensive, bleeding them is not worthwhile, so chicken blood is used instead.

Several chickens were killed, and everyone dipped their hands in a bowl of chicken blood wine.

After drinking, they swore an oath in blood.

Afterwards, Qu Wenguang began to gather his own tenants and, with the help of Huang Bazong, managed to obtain legal authority to organize local militias by spending some money.

In just ten days, the group trained more than 500 local militia members, all of whom were funded and trained by the local gentry of Hongqiao.

These local militia members all wore waist tags and red headscarves, and were jokingly referred to as the "Red Turban Army" militia in Hongqiao Township.

Many local gentry and powerful families around Hongqiao clearly realized that something was wrong. Some of them, who were well-versed in history, seemed to instantly recall something when they heard the words "Red Turban Army".

But all of them remained silent, and no one deliberately brought it up.

The magistrate of Yueqing County was completely unaware that a large and uncontrolled militia of local gentry had emerged under his command.

Qu Wenguang did not take immediate action. Instead, he continued to recruit local militia and sent men on horseback to Jiangxi to contact the Han Chinese.

He couldn't have started the uprising in Zhejiang alone; he needed to get some big men to join him.

(End of this chapter)