Qing Yao

Chapter 171 Teacher, what should we do if people say we're rebelling?
Those who were preparing to force their way through were the "Grain Transport Standards" naval battalion, the personal guards directly under the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner.

The Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, a high-ranking official of the first rank, commanded 3400 soldiers, divided into seven battalions: left, center, right, city garrison, and navy.

In addition to these seven battalions, the transport troops were also under the control of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner.

However, due to the infiltration of the transport troops by the canal gangs and their distribution along thousands of miles of the canal, the transport troops could only be used as escorts and guards, and were unable to be effectively assembled to carry out military missions.

Therefore, the transport army was effectively defunct.

However, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner could also mobilize the Green Standard Army stationed along the canal, including officers of the second rank and below.

During the early Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner also served as the Governor of Fenglu, governing the prefectures and counties north of the Yangtze River in present-day Jiangsu and parts of Anhui. He was a true regional governor.

However, they are now unable to interfere in local affairs, and only have certain authority and influence over the grain transport commissioners in each province.

How could the Grand Canal Administration, as the responsible authority, not know about such a major event as the canal being blocked?

As early as the first day, some ships that had been persuaded by the canal gangs to return to Huai'an reported the news to the canal transport authorities. At first, the canal transport authorities also thought that a ship had really sunk on the canal, and even sent people to prepare to organize "emergency repairs" together with the canal gangs.

However, the people sent were blocked by the canal gang and not allowed to approach. The patrol leader, Ye, had a better idea and went around to ask the villagers if they knew that there had been a collision between boats on the canal at night. The villagers replied that they had not heard of it and had not seen it.

When Ye, the head of the canal gang, saw that the members of the canal gang were "very critical" of him, and that they were not very friendly and were not very enthusiastic about salvaging the sunken ship, he knew that something was wrong and quickly returned to Huai'an to report it.

Because he was not certain that the canal gang was deliberately blocking the canal, Manager Ye used rather euphemistic language, mainly expressing suspicion.

To avoid making definitive statements that might turn out to be inaccurate and result in him being reprimanded by his superiors.

The current Grand Canal Transport Commissioner Guan Ganzhen was a second-class Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the thirty-first year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. His career was very smooth. After serving as an editor in the Hanlin Academy for two years, he became an imperial censor and vice minister. He took office as Grand Canal Transport Commissioner last March.

Governor-General Guan was an extremely honest and upright official. When he served as an imperial censor, he impeached high-ranking Manchu and Han officials without any scruples. In the year or so since he took office as the Grand Canal Commissioner, he has also been known for his competence and fairness.

One thing proves that Governor Guan was an honest official.

Currently, there are two governors-general of the Qing Dynasty who have not paid the fines to the old master. One is this Governor-General Guan, and the other is Li Shijie, the Governor-General of Sichuan.

Upon learning that the disruption of the canal might have been orchestrated by the grain transport gangs, Governor Guan immediately dispatched Wu Wenyun, the grain transport advisor, to investigate and handle the matter.

This Councilor Wu is the same Lord Wu who extorted 60,000 taels from the Yangzhou branch of the Grand Canal Gang. Sun Rui and others were also arrested on his orders. Subsequently, on the grounds that Sun Rui and others were suspected of kidnapping, the extortion amount against the Grand Canal Gang was increased from 60,000 taels to 100,000 taels.

There was no other way; the governor was honest and refused to pay the fine for his crimes, so the other officials in the canal transport office had to pay.

Because their bottoms are not clean.

What if I don't have the money to pay?
The only option is to ask subordinate units for help.

Without much complicated analysis, Lord Wu knew that the canal disruption was the work of the grain transport gang, who wanted him to compromise, release the people, and then ask for less money.

Who is Lord Wu?

A fifth-rank official!
Can officials bow down to criminal gangs?
Enraged, Lord Wu didn't even go to the scene. Instead, he went directly to Wen Qing, the deputy commander of the canal transport force, and ordered him to mobilize the navy to "open up" the canal.

Wen Qing and Wu Canzheng had an excellent relationship, and Wu also received a share of the money from the canal gang. Therefore, without hesitation, Wen Qing sent his subordinate, Captain Guo Wan, with three hundred naval soldiers to deal with the matter by boat.

The canal gangs were wise enough to withdraw their men and allow passing ships to pass; otherwise, Vice General Wen's idea was to send a few men to "shock and intimidate" them.

They could then accuse the murdered members of the canal gang of being river bandits, and receive a small reward and a minor credit.

Very beautiful.

When General Guo Wan led his troops to the Gaoyou section, the canal was already blocked by boats for seven or eight miles, and boat owners and merchants were full of complaints.

Among them were many official boats, including one belonging to an official who had returned home to observe mourning for his deceased mother. He was so anxious that he stamped his feet on his boat. After sending people twice to request the canal gang members to withdraw without success, Commander Guo lost patience and ordered a full-scale attack.

When did this canal become the domain of those poor bastards from the grain transport gangs?

In Yangzhou, Zhao An was in some trouble because the prefectural government and the provincial government had sent a serious "notice" to the canal gang, demanding an explanation of the brawl at Xiaguan Wharf.

If the canal gangs cannot explain the large-scale armed conflict, the two powerful government departments will not rule out taking further action.

Zhao An then sought out Lao Ding to discuss this matter.

Old Ding then realized that his grandson-in-law Zhao An had joined the Canal Gang and become some kind of young master. He was also the mastermind behind the Canal Gang's disruption of the canal. He hated Zhao An for his lack of ambition and pitied his misfortune, but since things had come to this, he could only offer advice.

The priority is to quickly bribe these two government offices.

Send five thousand taels to Lieutenant General Zhao Dehan and another five thousand taels to the Prefect. Then have the Canal Gang send a dozen or so scapegoats to his Ganquan County office to surrender themselves. He'll just do a token job, and the matter will be settled.

After all, the Jiao family had already admitted defeat, so the prefect and the magistrate had no reason to stand up for them or escalate the nature of the fight between the two sides to a certain level.

As for the matter of cutting off the canal, Lao Ding's view is that as long as it does not affect the interests of those two government departments, nor cause panic among the people or a market downturn, it is possible to fight back against the canal transport government.

After all, if things really escalate, the canal guild will certainly suffer, but the canal transport authorities will suffer even more.

Now it's a matter of who can keep their composure.

Zhao An naturally adopted Lao Ding's suggestion, went back and asked Ding Jiu to arrange for someone to send money to the two government offices, and asked Ding Jiu to stay at the command center to continue the mission of cutting off the canal.

He might not be able to come and give instructions, because the governor is coming to Yangzhou the day after tomorrow to preside over the provincial examination.

The governor was also unlucky; because the canal entrance at Guazhou was blocked, he had to take a detour through Yizheng to cross the river to Yangzhou.

The provincial examination was the most important thing for Zhao An, the supervisor of education and professor of Yangzhou Prefectural School, this year, so he dared not ask for leave.

After giving Ding Jiu a few more instructions, he was about to leave when Xu Lin, the head of the three gangs, rushed back to the incense hall in a great hurry and told Shao Jun and Mr. Ding that they had gotten into a fight with the Cao Biao people.

"Cao Biao?"

Zhao An was taken aback. "Who is Cao Biao?"

Xu Lin hurriedly said, "Young Master, the canal guards are not people, but soldiers of the canal transport office, under the jurisdiction of the governor-general."

"The governor's troops?"

This unexpected situation also startled Zhao An, and his first question to Xu Lin was: "Have any of our brothers been killed or injured?"

"That's not true."

Xu Lin shook his head and said that his brothers were fine because the Cao Biao soldiers were no match for him. Before the two sides even made contact, the Cao Biao soldiers were so frightened that they turned their boats around and ran away.

Ding Jiu said worriedly, "Young Master, the fact that the canal transport authorities dared to send troops over shows that they are not afraid of us yet. They didn't get away with it from our brothers this time, so they may send even more troops next time."

"Don't be afraid. Let the brothers fight them. Have the three gangs send some more men over there. We absolutely cannot let them reach Yangzhou!"

It's only been a few days, and the pressure from the broken canal hasn't even reached the high-ranking officials in the capital yet. Zhao An is unlikely to back down just because the canal transport authorities intimidate him.

"Young Master, things seem to be getting a bit tricky."

Xu Lin hesitated for a moment, "When the Cao Biao gang ran away, they were shouting and yelling that our Cao Gang had rebelled."

(End of this chapter)