1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 295 It’s better to block than to open up
Tenants and farm laborers who had been displaced from their homes in various parts of Hanyang flocked towards Wuchang, their numbers growing like a snowball.

Li Qi, the commander of the Second Regiment stationed in Hanyang, quickly became aware of the matter.

There are at least three or four thousand tenant farmers and farmhands from Hanyang attempting to reach Wuchang, and their numbers are showing an increasing trend.

Li Qi knew that the fact that so many tenant farmers and hired laborers were heading to Wuchang City in groups at almost the same time under the guise of petitioning the Northern King meant that someone was deliberately manipulating these tenant farmers and laborers behind the scenes.

Wuchang City is the central location of the Northern Palace, and these tenant farmers and laborers are in agitated. Naturally, Li Qi dared not easily let the thousands of tenant farmers and laborers who had been instigated and agitated cross the river to Wuchang City.

He quickly ordered the blockade of all Yangtze River ferry crossings, stopping the group of tenant farmers and hired laborers from Hanyang on the north bank of the Yangtze River. At the same time, he sent Liu Tongwei to Wuchang to report the matter to Peng Gang.

The ferry crossing was blocked, and the route to cross the river was blocked.

The enraged tenant farmers and hired laborers then flocked to Hanyang City to demand an explanation from Li Qi, the city's official.

Li Qi had no choice but to personally step in to appease the tenant farmers and hired laborers, buying them time.

Li Qi patiently explained the contents of the "Land to the Tillers Law" to the group of tenant farmers and hired laborers in Hanyang, stating that the "Land to the Tillers Law" was intended to ensure that every farmer in the world had land to cultivate and could support themselves, which would greatly benefit them.

Unexpectedly, these tenant farmers and farmhands from Hanyang wouldn't listen to a word they said.

Before Li Qi could explain in detail, he was immediately interrupted by several busybodies in the crowd, who insisted that the idea of ​​"land to the tiller" was nonsense and that they simply wanted to take the land belonging to the people of Hanyang and distribute it to the people of Guangxi and Hunan.

Other tenant farmers and hired laborers echoed this sentiment, expressing their opposition to enacting the "Land to the Tillers Act" in Hanyang and advocating for maintaining the status quo.

Li Qi glanced coldly at the few troublemakers who were shouting the loudest in the crowd and memorized their faces.

These troublemakers kept clamoring to reject the land reform and abolish the land equalization law, not giving him a chance to speak at all. They were clearly not ordinary tenant farmers or farmhands.

Most of the troublemakers were planted by local gentry from Hanyang within the ranks of these tenant farmers and laborers.

The news that Hanyang City and Wuchang City were separated by only one river quickly reached the Northern King's Palace. The news that Hanyang tenant farmers and farmhands had gathered to petition against the implementation of the "Land to the Tiller" law in Hanyang was quickly heard.

The land reform in Hanyang would not go as smoothly as in Jiangxia County. Peng Gang had anticipated this and was prepared for it, so he was not flustered.

"The Hanyang gentry are quite quick on their feet." Peng Gang, who was writing a script, paused his work and looked up at Liu Tongwei. "Have you found out who's behind this?"

"I have identified the person in charge. The one in charge this time is mostly Wang Shukun, a former student from Caidian. The first group of tenant farmers and farmhands who caused trouble came from Caidian. Last time, the gentry from Hanyang gathered in Caidian, they were plotting something wicked in his Wang family ancestral hall," Liu Tongwei said with great certainty.

"I believe that the gentry of Hanyang's collective seizure of their land must be inextricably linked to this old man."

"He's just a clown. He chooses the path of hell when there's no way out. Since he struck first, don't blame me for being ruthless," Peng Gang said coldly as he stood up.

"Inform Li Qi that there is no need to stop the tenant farmers and laborers in Hanyang City. Since the tenant farmers and laborers in Hanyang who have been displaced want to come to Wuchang to plead with me, let them cross the river. I will set up a stage at the Shahu camp and invite them to dinner and a show."

The three battalions of new recruits from Jiangxia who were conscripted after the land reform were placed in the Shahu Camp north of Wuchang City, outside Wusheng Gate, and were trained by instructors headed by He Qingfeng.

"Your Highness, those greenhorns at the Shahu camp have never seen battle or even blood. They're probably no match for us. Why don't we take the Hanyang rioters to the Xunsihe camp and have the veterans from the First Regiment suppress them?" Huang Dabiao suggested.

The Xunsihe Camp was located on the banks of the Xunsihe River south of Wuchang City, hence its name.

The Xunsihe Camp was the garrison of the elite regiment among the elite troops of the Northern Palace.

The training battalion would take turns serving as instructors in various large camps around Wuchang City, training new recruits, organized by company.

Huang Dabiao had heard his officers and soldiers from the training battalion discuss the training situation of the three Jiangxia recruit battalions at Shahu Camp.

Those new recruits from Jiangxia who had been in the army for less than a month still couldn't march in perfect unison, and they hadn't even fired a few shots with their muskets.

Huang Dabiao didn't trust the new recruits who had just joined the army and felt it was safer to let the veterans of the training battalion and the first regiment suppress the rioters in Hanyang.

"Hanyang rioters? When did I ever say they were rioters?" Peng Gang said, his face darkening.

“They are just tenant farmers and laborers who have been deceived and coerced by the local gentry. They are all hardworking people who worry about their daily meals. Why should I suppress them? It is better to guide than to suppress. This time, we are going to guide them, not suppress them.”

Peng Gang had already inquired about the situation in Hanyang from Liu Tongwei.

The local gentry of Hanyang are trying to confuse the public, distort the truth, and incite regional conflicts. Bringing these Hanyang scoundrels to the Xunsihe camp will only backfire.

Taking them to the Shahu Camp in the north of the city, where the Jiangxia soldiers who had been allocated land could give their own accounts, would be more convincing.

"Yes!" Huang Dabiao replied.

Peng Gang walked with his hands behind his back to the first courtyard of the Prince's Mansion, and asked the propaganda team composed of opera troupes to pack up and go to the Shahe Camp to perform on stage.

Li Qi, who was in Hanyang, was quite surprised to receive Peng Gang's order to send three or four thousand Hanyang tenant farmers who wanted to go to Wuchang to ask for help to the Shahu camp.

But then Li Qi thought that Peng Gang must have his reasons for making such an arrangement, so he didn't ask any more questions. He quickly set about arranging ferries and personally led his troops to transport three or four thousand tenant farmers and laborers from Hanyang to the Shahu camp.

The Northern Palace soldiers, who just moments before blocked the ferry crossings and blocked riverboats to prevent the Hanyang tenant farmers and laborers from crossing the river, are now not only not stopping them, but are also arranging boats to take them to Wuchang.

The stark contrast in the attitude of the Northern Palace's holy soldiers before and after left the Hanyang tenant farmers on the ferry both surprised and uneasy, sensing that there was some conspiracy at play and that things were not so simple.

But they were already on the ship and had nowhere to run, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and head to Wuchang.

When the ferry docked, the tenant farmers and farmhands of Hanyang saw that the imperial soldiers from the Northern Palace had brought them to the military camp in Wuchang.

Even some of the timid tenant farmers and laborers from Hanyang were so frightened that they wet their pants, thinking that the Northern Palace's holy soldiers were going to take them into the military camp and kill them.

Some even lost their composure and refused to move forward, shouting that they wanted to go back and wouldn't ask for permission to continue.

The soldiers of the Second Regiment responsible for escorting them had no choice but to support them as they continued walking towards the Shahu Camp.

Upon entering the Shahu camp, they found that a soldier from Hubei, speaking with a Jiangxia accent, had been waiting for them for a long time. He approached them and warmly invited them to have a meal together, saying that they would watch a play together after the meal.

Only a few tenant farmers and farmhands in Hanyang felt slightly relieved, thinking that if the Northern Palace wanted to kill them, they could do so in Hanyang without having to go through all the trouble of sending them to the military camp in Wuchang and killing them in front of the Hubei soldiers.

Of course, most of the tenant farmers and farmhands in Hanyang still looked terrified. After receiving the porridge, they drank it down in large gulps, treating it as their last meal and wanting to die with a full stomach.

Dressed in civilian clothes, Peng Gang rode out of Wusheng Gate under the protection of Huang Dabiao and others, arriving at the Shahu Camp outside the north city of Wuchang. After dismounting, he asked He Qingfeng, who had been waiting for him in the camp for a long time, "Qingfeng, is everything arranged?"

"Your Highness, everything has been arranged as you instructed. Each new recruit from Jiangxia will be accompanied by two tenant farmers from Hanyang for a meal. After the meal, they will be taken to see a play and told the truth about how the land in Jiangxia County was redistributed." He Qingfeng nodded, then glanced at the tenant farmers from Hanyang who were drinking bowl after bowl of porridge not far away, and expressed his concerns.

"Your Highness, feeding three or four thousand people is no small matter. Commander Li said that there are still some tenant farmers and laborers from Hanyang on the way. Should we also let those tenant farmers and laborers from Hanyang who arrive later have their fill of porridge?"

"This matter arose because of the corrupt gentry in Hanyang. We will get these rice porridges back from them sooner or later," Peng Gang said calmly. "In the future, we will also let the tenant farmers and hired laborers in Hanyang eat their fill of rice porridge. A few meals of rice porridge and a few plays can make them understand and support our policies. It is still worth it."

Everything has two sides. Jiangxia County was greatly affected by the war, with only two or three out of ten local people remaining. As a result, the land reform in Jiangxia County did not encounter much resistance and was able to proceed smoothly and be completed ahead of schedule.

However, the sharp decline in the local population meant that Peng Gang could only obtain a very limited pool of effective soldiers from Jiangxia County after the land reform.

Hanyang was less affected by the war, and six or seven out of ten people remained. Even excluding the large number of merchants, laborers, boatmen, and Tanka people from the Hankou area who were relatively mobile, the number of people engaged in agriculture in the area was still considerable.

Hanyang County alone had a population of over 400,000, and Hanyang Prefecture was the most populous prefecture in Hubei Province, with over two million people, accounting for about one-tenth of the province's population. In contemporary Europe, this would be the size of a medium-sized country.

Hanyang serves as a northern bulwark for Wuchang. If land reform in Hanyang can be successful, it will not only ensure the safety of the central government in Wuchang, but Peng Gang will also not have to worry about the source of troops in the short term.

Peng Gang believed that it was well worth it to use a little grain to help advance the land reform in Hanyang and subsequently establish a stable rule there.

Seeing that Peng Gang had arrived at the Shahu camp, Li Qi rushed up to him and reported what he had discovered in Hanyang: "Your Highness, there are some unscrupulous gentry in this group of Hanyang tenant farmers and laborers. I still remember their faces. Shall we drag them out now?"

“These people are just as despicable as the corrupt gentry of Hanyang. They must be dragged out and exposed to the public. Not only should the scoundrels you recognize be dragged out, but those you haven’t recognized yet should also be exposed.” Peng Gang glanced at the crowd drinking porridge and said.

"The time is not right yet, let's wait a little longer."

After finishing their porridge, each of the new recruits from Jiangxia pulled one or two of their porridge-drinking buddies from Hanyang to sit on the ground in front of several stages hastily converted from the reviewing stand, ready to watch a play.

After more than twenty days of intensive training, watching plays was a rare opportunity for the new recruits from Jiangxia to relax and have fun. They were full of anticipation for the upcoming performances.

(End of this chapter)