Qing Yao

Chapter 303 Zhu Gui, Zhu Gui, Zhu Gui?
"Salt bandits" is a derogatory term used by the government to refer to smuggled salt dealers.

Xie Hongyi and Yang Biao were somewhat similar to Huang Chao at the end of the Tang Dynasty and Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Their families made a living by selling smuggled salt, so they were not only audacious and disregarded the government, but also amassed a lot of wealth through the smuggling of salt.

The Qing Dynasty implemented a salt monopoly system, and the distribution channels for salt in various regions were monopolized by salt merchants with salt licenses. The activity of private salt smugglers undoubtedly led to a sharp decline in the income of salt merchants and the salt tax revenue of local governments. Therefore, salt bandits have always been a key target of local governments.

However, according to materials previously reported by Fengyang authorities, Xie and Yang were somewhat like "chivalrous thieves," stipulating that their subordinates "only sell smuggled goods and not rob," and even occasionally helping local poor people.

Moreover, because they were selling illegally obtained salt at extremely low prices, the poor benefited greatly from it, thus gaining a good popular base in northern Anhui. This is why the two men were repeatedly wiped out by government troops without suffering any damage.

This popular support was remarkable; often, before the soldiers sent to suppress the rebellion even left the city, Xie and Yang would have already received the news and moved away.

At the beginning of the year, when the Green Standard Army in Fengyang organized an attack, they asked locals to guide them. As a result, the local guides led the Qing army directly into the ambush set up by Xie and Yang. Of the more than 400 Qing soldiers, only more than 100 escaped alive, and the rest were annihilated.

This crushing defeat made the Qing troops in Fengyang afraid to move again. They were so fearful of salt that even when salt merchants offered high prices, few brave men dared to take the job.

However, as the Viceroy of Liangjiang's office took this matter seriously, Xie and Yang faced increasing pressure to survive.

If the drought in Anhui hadn't suddenly worsened, leaving the government with no energy to organize a campaign to suppress Xie and Yang, the two probably wouldn't be able to stay in Fengyang now.

According to Liu Bao's confession, Xie and Yang's stronghold was in the mountains around Haochengji in northeast Fengyang. At the end of last year, Liu Zhixie secretly went to this place to recruit Yang Biao to join the Sanyang Sect, and handed over hundreds of knives, spears, bows and crossbows that his master Liu Song had secretly made more than ten years ago to Yang Biao to strengthen their forces.

This batch of weapons played a significant role in the subsequent ambush of the Fengyang Green Standard Army.

The White Lotus Sect could secretly win over Xie and Yang, and Zhao An could also be won over.

Moreover, his determination to win them over was even greater than that of the White Lotus Sect.

Because these salt smugglers were truly willing to openly fight the Qing army.

If they dare to ambush the Qing army today, they'll dare to storm the Forbidden City tomorrow.

They belong to the most primitive rebellion team.

Wild and native to the local community.

If Zhao An wanted to turn Anhui into his own private territory, he needed to have troops at his disposal, and he needed to support troops who would only obey his orders through various means.

On the surface, the army he could control was the "transport army" under the Grain Transport Office, as well as the Green Standard Army stationed in Huizhou, Anqing, Chizhou and other places south of the Yangtze River.

The Green Standard Army in Huainan and other places was too far away to help in the immediate crisis, and it was also under the control of the governor, so it was difficult to guarantee that the Green Standard Army in these places would obey the command of the military commissioner.

The "Transport Army" was practically defunct. If Ding Jiu of Yangzhou hadn't sent Xu Lin with 2000 followers into Anhui, and if Zhao An hadn't given them the identity of "Transport Army," the "Transport Army" would have been nothing more than a figurehead, completely useless.

Although the Green Standard Army soldiers in Fengyang were driven by Zhao An with his Ebilun sword and wages, their fighting ability was truly indescribable. If the common people were penniless and naked, then these Fengyang soldiers were like ragged beggars.

Looking around, apart from his own canal gang soldiers who were somewhat useful, the Green Standard Army was only good for cheering and shouting slogans. Although he had started working on the local militia, it was still a long way from truly controlling them. Therefore, Zhao An could only focus his attention on the salt bandits.

Even at its worst, it can't be worse than the DPP.

Offering amnesty to the salt bandits would be very beneficial. Not only would it allow Zhao An to indirectly monopolize the salt sales channels in northern Anhui, but it would also add a brilliant achievement to his record as the acting provincial governor. At the same time, it would weaken the power of the White Lotus sect in Anhui, doubling the forces at his disposal. Why wouldn't he do it?

Northern Anhui is currently experiencing a major disaster, which not only disrupts agricultural production and people's lives, but also completely destroys existing commercial organizations, including salt sales.

As long as Xie and Yang were willing to serve, Zhao An would use his position as the provincial governor to give them a legitimate income as salt merchants and help them rebuild the salt sales channels in northern Anhui. Moreover, the production and transportation links would be handled by Yangzhou personnel. On the surface, it was about restoring the official salt channels in northern Anhui, but in reality, these official salt channels were already branded with the "Zhao" mark.

To put it bluntly, offering amnesty to Xie and Yang would be of great benefit to Zhao An.

Those who can become leaders of smuggled salt dealers must be intelligent. If Xie Hongyi and Yang Biao weren't stupid, they would definitely try to curry favor with Lord Zhao instead of continuing to secretly smuggle salt under the guise of being besieged by government troops, or even cooperating with the White Lotus Sect to do the business of "rebellion".

If they don't cooperate, the drought will end sooner or later. Do Xie and Yang, who are on the blacklist of the Governor-General of Liangjiang, really think that associating with the White Lotus Sect will guarantee their safety?

When Baili Yunlong set off, Zhao An also taught him the concept of "the salt and grain transport are one family". That is, Baili Yunlong can reveal that he is a member of the grain transport gang, but he must never reveal that the current governor of Anhui is the young master of a branch of the grain transport gang.

Baili Yunlong's identity as a member of the Grand Canal Gang was not dangerous to him, because Zhao An's concurrent position as the Grain Commissioner was an office that dealt with the Grand Canal Gang, and the transport workers under his jurisdiction were a semi-military organization given to the Grand Canal Gang by the Qing government.

It was perfectly normal for members of the grain transport gang to work under the grain commissioner.

In order to "whitewash" Xie and Yang, two major salt smugglers wanted by the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Zhao An wrote a letter to Teacher Lou, asking him to persuade the Governor-General to support his offer of amnesty to the salt smugglers. At the same time, he also sent an urgent memorial to the old master in the capital.

The urgent report mainly concerned the recent investigation and in-depth investigation of the White Lotus sect members. It also exaggerated the strength of the "Nian" forces driven from Bozhou to Suzhou, asserting that the influx of a large number of White Lotus sect members would lead to a White Lotus uprising in Suzhou. As the acting governor in the vortex, he was fully committed to disaster relief and prevention of chaos, but he had few troops at his disposal. Therefore, he had no choice but to petition the old master to "use bandits to control the religion" and to deal with the possible White Lotus uprising by recruiting and incorporating the "bandits" in northern Anhui.

The reason given was that if the salt bandits were not appeased, they would certainly be absorbed by the White Lotus Sect, thus increasing the enemy's strength while decreasing the government's.

It is also said that most of the core members of the White Lotus organization in Anhui are people who have come from other places. These people have not been operating in Anhui for long and their foundation is unstable. Therefore, they urgently need to combine with local strongmen, bandits, and villains to form strength and influence.

"Using bandits to control religion" was a drastic measure against the White Lotus Religion's development in Anhui, preventing it from taking root in the province and thus avoiding the White Lotus Religion's use of disasters to incite disaster victims to rebel.

The confession of Liu Bao, the "liaison" of the Sanyang Sect, was also sent to the capital along with an urgent memorial. However, Zhao An omitted the fact that the Sanyang Sect had colluded with salt bandits such as Xie and Yang, and only reported that the Sanyang Sect was originally the Hunyuan Sect, and that its leader Liu Zhixie was Liu Song's senior disciple. He also reported that Liu Zhixie and others had been active in the Bozhou area since the beginning of this year.

He still did not complain about the large influx of disaster victims into Suzhou, but only requested that the court once again coordinate with the surrounding provinces to provide financial and grain support to Anhui.

When the urgent report was sent, the number of disaster victims pouring into Suzhou had already reached tens of thousands. In order to alleviate the pressure on the city, Zhao An dispatched a large number of people to set up relief points at key transportation hubs in various places. However, due to insufficient food, these relief points could hardly accommodate the large number of disaster victims, so a large number of disaster victims still flocked to Suzhou.

The grain reserves in Suzhou had reached the warning level, so much so that Zhao An's letter to the two provincial officials, Fu Chang, the Provincial Treasurer of Jiangning, and Fu Song, the Governor of Jiangsu, contained only three large characters: "Urgent, urgent, urgent!"

Another piece of news, even more urgent than that for the disaster victims, reached Zhao An: a large number of locusts had appeared in Sizhou, and a "locust plague" had already taken shape.

Nine out of ten droughts are caused by locusts!

The drought that has lasted for nearly a year in Anhui has shrunk the surface area of ​​rivers and lakes, providing a large number of places for locusts to lay eggs. Plants growing in the drought environment have low water content, and locusts feed on them, resulting in a multiplied growth and reproduction rate. Now, in late August, the "autumn locust" disaster has first occurred in Sizhou.

The report from Sizhou said that the locusts were so numerous that they blocked out the sun. People in the locust swarms felt like they were surrounded by bees. It was impossible to kill the locusts by manpower alone. The already scarce vegetation was devoured by the locusts in an instant.

It was truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly, and a broken boat encountering a headwind. Drought, locust plague, Zhu Gui's scheming, starving disaster victims, and the restless White Lotus Sect.
Everything happened at once.

Zhao An was exhausted and felt powerless for the first time, even having the thought of giving up.

However, the 20 million disaster victims would not allow him to abandon his post.

The cause of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty could not tolerate the slightest slackening from him.

After spending half an hour alone in the room, Zhao An suddenly smiled.

Letters to various people were sent from Suzhou, each with only one request—for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, please get me some cooking oil!

Why use vegetable oil?
Locusts are poisonous and cannot be boiled or eaten raw, but if they are deep-fried, they become "meat" rich in protein.

The locusts were terrifying in number, but the disaster victims were also a suffocating sight, a dark mass of people.

If locusts can be turned into edible "meat," the power of the people will be so great that even God will be astonished.

Two pieces of news reached the Grand Council in the capital.

When Prince Jia's son and ten-year-old grandson Mianning was hunting with his grandfather Chengde, he actually shot and killed a deer with an arrow. As a result, the emperor was overjoyed and immediately ordered someone to bestow upon Mianning a yellow riding jacket and a peacock feather.

This news was not enough to shake the Grand Council, because before this, another grandson of the emperor had been awarded a yellow riding jacket and a peacock feather, and he was two years younger than Mianning when he was awarded them.

This is another of the imperial grandsons accompanying the emperor this time—Prince Ding, Mian'en.

Just as Mianning was being awarded a yellow riding jacket and peacock feather for shooting a deer, the emperor said to Mianen beside him, "None of my grandchildren are princes yet. You should work hard, and next year I will promote you to a prince."

When the news reached the capital, it once again sparked a major debate in the court and among the public regarding the position of crown prince.

The Grand Council was no exception, but it was not the Grand Councilors who remained in Beijing who were discussing this matter, but rather the Manchu and Han officials.

"Of the four princes, the Eighth Prince, the Eleventh Prince, and the Seventeenth Prince have no notable reputation. Only the Fifteenth Prince is diligent in his studies, upright and disciplined, and has gained considerable renown while living in the Forbidden City. Among the grandsons of the Emperor, Prince Ding, Mian'en, son of Prince Yonghuang, is exceptionally talented and brave. He was able to hit the target in archery and horsemanship at the age of eight. He was assigned to manage the Banner Camp and held military power in the Forbidden City. He can be said to be the most favored among the grandsons of the Emperor. Now, the Emperor has publicly praised Prince Ding and promised to promote him to the rank of Prince next year. In my opinion, the future one will probably be a contest between uncle and nephew."

The one who said this was Man Zhangjing Sa Rong'an, not to anyone else, but to Suoling'a, with whom he had a marriage relationship.

If it were anyone else, Sa Rong'an wouldn't dare to say such a thing.

Sa Rong'an's personal inclination was that his nephew might win, because Prince Dingjun Mian'en was not only handsome with a pair of long arms like an ape, but also proficient in Manchu horsemanship and archery, and had the demeanor of an elder, making him much better than his uncles.

Now that he has taken control of the imperial guards, it seems as if the emperor is deliberately cultivating and training him so that he can succeed him in the future.

Suoling'a disagreed with Sarong'an's view, shaking his head and saying that Zhu Yuanzhang passed the throne to his grandson instead of his son, which resulted in Zhu Di's Jingnan Rebellion and the killing of his own flesh and blood. Although the Prince Ding is deeply favored by the Emperor, none of the princes have committed any wrongdoing, and the Emperor has also promoted the eleventh and fifteenth princes to the rank of prince. It is clear that in the Emperor's heart, the heir apparent will only be one of these two, so how could he possibly choose a grandson?

It is also said that Prince Cheng has a better chance of winning than Prince Jia, after all, Heshen and Prince Cheng have a very good relationship, and the two members of the Fu family have considerable power. With the support of these three, Prince Cheng's succession to the throne is a sure thing.

Everyone has their own perspective and their own reasoning.

In the end, Sa Rong'an couldn't help but laugh and said, "Anyway, the emperor will abdicate in three years, so why don't I organize a betting pool next year and let everyone place bets, with odds of 1 for every 1 bet?"

"If you're going to be the bookmaker, it would be best to add Eighth Master and Seventeenth Master as well, and set the odds higher. Let's see if a big upset can happen; you might just become rich overnight."

As Suolinga was joking, a memorial came from the Office of Transmission. He casually took it, glanced at it, and couldn't help but snort, "That lackey has submitted another memorial."

Sa Rong'an asked, puzzled, "Which lackey?"

Solinga chuckled and said, "Who else could it be but the one who got beaten up by Quellen?"

"Oh, him."

Sa Rong'an laughed, "You'll give me a ride?"

Suoling'a handed the memorial to Sarong'an: "You go and deliver it. I'll sort through this pile of memorials and send it to the National History Museum."

"it is good."

Sa Rong'an took the memorial and walked quietly to the office of the Grand Councilor.

It's already late August, and the weather is no longer as scorching as it was in July. However, perhaps due to the lingering heat of late summer, although the sun isn't very strong, it's still quite stuffy indoors.

When Sa Rong'an entered the room, he saw the Grand Councilor Fu Chang'an and Dong Gao looking down at a painting, which was done by Wu Shenglan, the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Wu Shenglan was Heshen's teacher when he studied at Xian'an Palace School in his early years. However, after Heshen rose to power, Wu Shenglan and his brother Shengqin became Heshen's teachers. Although they held important positions in the court, they were ridiculed by scholars.

Wu Shenglan didn't think much of it, as it was often said that Heshen was very talented, and there was nothing wrong with him becoming his student. Knowing that Fu Chang'an had a very good relationship with Heshen, he painted a picture and gave it to Fu Chang'an.

Fu Chang'an knew nothing about painting, so he and Dong Gao "studied" it.

Although Dong Gao disliked Heshen and Fu Chang'an, they were both officials in the Grand Council, so he couldn't show it too much on the surface. He pretended to deal with Fu Chang'an, making Fu Chang'an very happy. Fu Chang'an decided to put Wu Shenglan's painting in his own calligraphy and painting shop for sale, and anyone who wanted to use his connections to get an official position could go to the shop and buy the painting.

Upon seeing Sa Rong'an enter, Dong Gao looked up and asked what was the matter.

Sa Rong'an quickly handed over the memorial from Zhao Youlu, the acting provincial governor of Anhui. Dong Gao saw that it was not a secret memorial but a special memorial, so he opened it and read it. After reading it, he was shocked and hurriedly handed the memorial back to Fu Chang'an.

"What happened?"

Seeing Dong Gao's expression change, Fu Chang'an curiously opened the book to take a look. After reading it, he flew into a rage: "What kind of nonsense are these White Lotus heretics spouting, even suggesting that they should be combined with Zhu! The Qing Dynasty has ruled China for over a hundred years, why are these heretics still hoping for Zhu's return!"

After cursing, he paused, muttering to himself, "Zhu Gui, Zhu Gui?"

(End of this chapter)