1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 107 A Moment's Pleasure from a Rich Person
He first strangled the Huang family to set an example, and then Peng Gang told the people of Wuxuan County to settle their scores and grievances, allowing them to use torture against the remaining three families.

The scene of the public trial is still vivid in my mind; the death of the Huang family has ignited the fighting spirit of a small number of ordinary people.

The bolder people of Wuxuan swarmed up, climbed onto the high platform, and gouged out the eyes, cut off the ears, and skinned the remaining three clans to vent their hatred.

So many people climbed onto the platform that the temporary wooden platform eventually collapsed under the weight of the weight.

The Huang family members who were hanged were considered lucky; at least some of them had their bodies intact.

The remaining three clans could not even be found with a single complete corpse.

"When you said you wanted to attack the Wei family's stronghold in Wuxuan, were you serious or just saying it out of anger?"

Following closely behind Peng Gang back to the Wuxuan County government office, Chen Chengrong couldn't help but ask.

“Of course it’s a real fight! Not only will we attack the Wei family’s stronghold, but we’ll also attack the Huang family’s earthen fortress in Dongxiang.” Peng Gang nodded very seriously.

“If we don’t attack them, they will collude with the government troops to attack us. We might as well strike first. However, we can only deal with them after the money and grain from Wuxuan County are confiscated and transported back.”

The confiscation of the property of the four major families of Wu and Xuan alone lasted for three full days.

The Huang family was the first to be raided.

Peng Gang arrived at the Huang family's five-courtyard compound. Inside, the courtyard and the connecting corridor were piled with sacks and wooden boxes.

The Huang family's grain shops and granaries in Wuxuan County alone yielded 1,230 shi of fine rice and 3,670 shi of ordinary rice and miscellaneous grains, with stacks of grain piled up in the courtyard like city walls.

In addition, Huang's oil mill seized 3,000 catties of oil crops such as black sesame, peanuts, and tung seeds. Four rows of sealed earthenware jars were stacked under the stove, all of which were freshly pressed, high-quality oil.

The Huang family controlled the grain and oil industry in the county and monopolized the market, revealing their insatiable greed.

The search and seizure of Huang's residence, various shops, and nearby wharf inns in Wuxuan County yielded a total of 112,892 taels of silver, 1,300 taels of gold, and nearly 72,000 strings of copper coins (equivalent to approximately 36,000 taels of silver).

In addition, there were fifty-six mules and horses, as well as a quantity of cloth, cinnamon, tung oil, and wine, making them incredibly wealthy.

Five large sampans, eleven double-oared cargo boats, and sixteen small boats belonging to the Huang family were seized at a dock near the county town. Two of the boats were still fully loaded with grain, while the other three contained miscellaneous goods such as oil drums, cloth, and porcelain.

The Chen family didn't have much grain; all their grain combined was about the same as the official granary in Wuxuan County, only about 1,100 shi.

However, the Chen family's silver reserves were also considerable. The silver cabinets in the Chen family's silver cellar were stacked very neatly, with straight lines. Even Peng Gang, who entered the Chen family's silver cellar, couldn't help but marvel at how the silver looked like a military parade.

Finally, a total of 45,670 taels of silver, 786 taels of gold ornaments and bars, and about 40,000 strings of copper coins (equivalent to about 20,000 taels of silver) were carried out from the cellar.

The salt permits and contracts for the Chen family's main business were piled up like mountains. When the account books were revealed, it was discovered that the family had monopolized 70% of the salt permits in Wuxuan County. Half of the salt tax revenue was handled by the Chen family. Luo Dagang exclaimed, "How can the price of salt not rise? Most of the salt in Wuxuan County is in the Chen family's kitchens."

"A full six hundred and fifty-one shi of salt!" Peng Gang rubbed his hands excitedly as he looked at the salt mountain in front of him.

For Chen, the most valuable asset was not gold or silver, but salt!

Salt is an extremely valuable strategic resource in Guangxi!
Historically, when the Taiping army was besieged in the deep mountains by the Qing army, they directly attacked and captured Yong'an City.

The most scarce resource for the Taiping Army was not food, but the predicament of barely having enough food to eat and being unable to find salt, forcing them to eat bland food, which led to a sharp decline in the Taiping Army's fighting capacity.

During the period when Yong'an was besieged, in order to obtain salt, the Taiping army even went so far as to boil the bricks and soil of the salt shops in Yong'an to obtain a small amount of salt.

The Wei family had little wealth in the county town and reaped the least. They only seized some medicinal herbs from the pharmacy and 1,231 taels of silver. The total amount of various grains was less than 60 shi, which was probably for the Wei family members in the county town to eat themselves.

The Liu family possessed a large collection of precious paintings, calligraphy, and ancient books, but these were currently of little value to Peng Gang. He could only try to sell them to other gentry families in Wuxuan City in exchange for grain, cloth, and other supplies.

The Liu family had 25,360 taels of silver, 850 taels of gold ornaments and bars, and 3,430 shi of grain.

Before leaving the Liu family, Peng Gang reviewed a secret ledger belonging to the Liu family. The ledger detailed how, during the flood of the 28th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, the Liu family used the pretext of disaster relief to buy nearly two thousand acres of fertile land on both sides of the Xunjiang River at a low price. It also detailed how, under the guise of a "village covenant," they forced the villagers to sign agreements promising "perpetual tenancy with no possibility of redemption."

"We've struck it rich! The Liu family alone has 100,000 taels of silver!" After briefly inspecting the spoils, Peng Gang, Luo Dagang, and the others rode back to the county government office.

I never imagined that a poor, remote county like Wuxuan could support a household with 100,000 taels of silver!

It's truly a case of some drowning in floods and others dying of drought.

Eating from these top-tier households is even more satisfying than eating from the official granaries and treasuries of Wuxuan County.

Unfortunately, you can only eat there once. After eating in Wuxuan, if you want to enjoy a big meal again, you'll have to devour Guiping City.

However, given his current strength, and even the entire God Society's current strength, there is no guarantee that they can take Guiping City.

Just then, Luo Dagang's cavalry came to report that Huang Jingqu's son from Dongxiang, namely Huang Shengtong, the military commander of Wuxuan County, had heard that there was a change in Wuxuan County and had raised three or four hundred militiamen who were heading towards Wuxuan County.

Upon hearing that there was a battle, Luo Dagang volunteered to lead the boatmen to wipe out the local militia from Dongxiang.

Chen Chengrong and Lu Liu also volunteered to go.

They have already decided to attack Huangjiatubao in Dongxiang next.

If we can eliminate some of the Huang family's militia guards now, it will be easier to attack the Huang family's earthen fortress in Dongxiang later.

Peng Gang agreed.

He now has to race against time, not only to transport the strategic materials such as grain, salt, cloth, oil, and sugar that have already been confiscated from the officials and clerks of Wuxuan County and the four major families to Lema and Bitanxun before the Qing army's massive advance.

We must also hurry up and urge the wealthy small and medium-sized households in Wuxuan to borrow grain, and exchange the gold and silver we obtain for usable strategic materials as soon as possible.

Peng Gang was better at these things than any of them. The capture of Wuxuan this time caused such a big commotion that the county magistrate, the county assistant, and the registrar were all captured alive by him.

His actions were a blatant challenge to the Qing Dynasty's ruling order.

No matter how stupid Zheng Zuchen was or how much he wanted to continue to whitewash the peace in Guangxi Province, he knew that the God Society's affairs could not be hidden any longer.

The Qing court could no longer afford to treat him and the God God Society lightly and would certainly launch a full-scale military campaign to suppress them.

In the next one to two years, Peng Gang will have to operate on the move.

At that time, gold and silver will be the most useless things to him.

He didn't want to end up like Zhang Zhao, who had a huge pile of gold and silver but couldn't even afford a full meal or a grain of salt.

Back at the county government office, porridge was still being distributed in front of the office.

Compared to a few days ago, the people of Wuxuan County looked at Peng Gang with less fear and more respect.

Most people no longer regard Peng Gang as a bandit.

Peng Gang distributes porridge every day, and many people in Wuxuan now wish he would stay in the county town forever.

Peng Gang, a member of the God Society and a "bandit gang," lived a much more comfortable life in Wuxuan County than under the rule of officials appointed by the Qing government.

"Sir, the firewood in the county government office has almost burned out. Shall we continue distributing porridge?" Lu Qin, who was in charge of distributing porridge, asked.

"Isn't the timber from the county government office top-quality firewood? Once the firewood is burned, dismantle the county government office and use it as firewood. Just leave me the main hall to live and work in." Peng Gang told Lu Qin to dismantle the timber from the county government office and use it as firewood.

"After the county government office was demolished, the courtyards and shops of the four major families were demolished to collect firewood. As long as we were in Wuxuan County, we would distribute porridge without stopping."

After entering the main hall of the county government and taking their seats, Xiao Guoying and Huang Bingxian, who were responsible for persuading other wealthy households in the county to lend grain to the God Worshippers Society, reported their work progress to Peng Gang.

After the four major families of Wuxuan were publicly tried and executed, some wealthy households in the county voluntarily lent half of their grain to the God God Society.

However, most large households with grain still clung to wishful thinking and refused to lend their grain.

"Do they think I'm just ignoring what I said? As I said before, if any big spenders conceal or fail to report their loans, once the truth is revealed, the Huang, Chen, Wei, and Liu families will suffer the same fate! We'll make an example of a few to deter others and make an example of them."

"Do these bigwigs really think that after I've dealt with the Huang, Chen, Wei, and Liu families, I won't touch any other bigwigs?" Peng Gang sneered.

"Treat them with courtesy first, then resort to force. Since they don't know courtesy, don't blame me for taking action."

The four powerful families of Huang, Chen, Wei, and Liu were not the only ones who committed evil deeds in Wuxuan County; the remaining powerful families were not much cleaner either.

"I understand." Xiao Guoying nodded, knowing what to do.

He had been the manager of a charcoal shop in Wuxuan County for over a year, and he was already very familiar with the dirty secrets and misdeeds of the bigwigs in the county.

As expected, two more wealthy households were publicly tried, and their property was confiscated.

The wealthy households, who had initially hoped to get away with it, gradually came to the county government office and lent half of their grain to the God God Society.

Peng Gang also issued IOUs to the major borrowers as promised, and told them that they could use the IOUs to ask him to repay the grain later.

The wealthy families in Wuxuan County dared not even think about such things, hoping that Peng Gang would repay them with grain in the future.
Consider it as spending money to buy peace of mind.

At least Peng Gang left them half of their grain, preventing these remaining wealthy households from being driven to despair, and ensuring they could still survive.

If it were Chen Yagui who had entered Wuxuan City, he would not only have lost his wealth, but his life would also have been in danger.

The wealthy households in Wuxuan County who had borrowed grain consoled themselves to make themselves feel better.

The local militia in Wuxuan County, Dongxiang, was not able to withstand the fighting, and Luo Dagang, Chen Chengrong, Lu Liu and others returned to the county town in triumph the next day.

They intercepted the Huang family militia from Dongxiang, Wuxuan, halfway there.

This group isn't very durable, but they're quite fast runners.

Seeing that the situation was not good, he decisively abandoned his seventy or eighty companions and fled for his life to Huangjiatubao in the east.

Although Luo Dagang, Chen Chengrong, Lu Liu and others repelled the Huang family militia in Dongxiang, their results were very limited.

On the seventh day after occupying Wuxuan County, supplies and captured weapons from Wuxuan County were successively transported to the Lema transit point and Bitan Xunhou.

Seeing that the Qing army was slow to react, Peng Gang sold the paintings, calligraphy and ancient books that he had obtained from the Liu family during the confiscation of their property in the county town.

At the same time, strategic materials such as rice, grain, salt, sugar, lead, cloth, nitrate, and sulfur were purchased from the people in the county town and surrounding villages at twice the market price.

When they ran out of money, they bought large livestock and poultry. However, their boats were all small, and it was difficult to transport large livestock. They could only transport them by land, using manpower to carry them into Pingzai Mountain.

Before leaving Wuxuan County, the people of Wuxuan County were reluctant to part with Peng Gang and even hoped that he could stay.

It's naturally impossible for them to stay.

However, Peng Gang can take some people with him.

Before leaving, Peng Gang recruited soldiers in Wuxuan County and the surrounding areas, taking with him 1,300 Wuxuan people who were willing to follow him into Pingzaishan.

(End of this chapter)