The Australian Revolution of 1828

The following day, the Xunyang Police Bureau split into two groups: the deputy director led a team to arrest landlords and gentry near the county seat, while Shek Batu led a team by boat to the north to arrest another group of landlords and gentry.

Because these landlords and gentry were relatively weak militarily, the police station acted swiftly and without any obstruction. Everything seemed to go very smoothly, almost unreal.

Three days later, Shek Batu arrived in Xunyang County with his fleet, escorting the families of five landlords and their tenants, to report to Zhang Zhenghe.

The operation resulted in the arrest of members and servants from nearly 27 families, totaling 613 people (excluding tenant farmers).

The plundering yielded a substantial amount of silver and gold worth 137 million silver dollars, as well as 32 mu of farmland.

Zhang Zhenghe was overjoyed and praised Shek Batu, saying, "This move has completely wiped out most of the landlords and gentry in Xunyang County. The remaining ones are now insignificant. County Commandant Shek Batu has made a great contribution."

Fortunately, Shek Batu didn't lose his head and take the credit for himself. He denied it, saying, "Your Excellency is joking. I was just following orders."

"If we're talking about credit, it's all thanks to the magistrate's excellent planning; I only deserve a tiny bit of credit."

Zhang Zhenghe was in a good mood and did not forget Shek Batu's contribution, saying, "This time, you went to the scene in person, which is commendable. I will petition His Majesty to remove the title of 'acting' from your name later."

"However, before that, we need to issue a public notice to reassure the people and calm their minds in the city."

"I have already written the notice. Take it and post it at the county government office and the city gate, and read it aloud to the people in the city. Remember, we are here to crack down on the rebels in Xunyang County."

Shek Batu readily accepted the order and took the notice to carry it out.

Upon leaving the county government office, a cacophony of gongs and drums drew the town's residents to the entrance, where Shek Batu gave a detailed explanation of the operation.

"Fellow villagers, we have received a report that someone is plotting a rebellion. The county magistrate has ordered us to arrest the criminals."

"All the criminals have now been apprehended, so you can live in peace and have nothing to worry about."

The people in the city were confused about the specific situation, which caused widespread panic and made them unable to focus on production.

Left with no other choice, they had to ask Shek Batu, a county magistrate from Xunyang, to step in and appease the people and stabilize production and daily life.

Fortunately, the effect was very good. As long as the county government did not arrest people arbitrarily, those people who believed they had not participated in the rebellion would be reassured and would gradually forget about the matter.

After reading the proclamation aloud again at the city gate, Shek Batu prepared to return to the county government office.

On the way, the subordinate who served as the police captain hesitated to speak, but did so without any affectation.

Shek Batu saw the situation and said impatiently, "Just say what you want to say, don't beat around the bush."

The subordinate was quite straightforward and spoke frankly, saying, "County Commandant, we thirteen men are still unmarried and childless. Could you please show some leniency and allow us thirteen men to marry the tenant farmers' daughters?"

The last time, on August 30, 1828, when Shek Batu went to the northern region to suppress landlords and gentry, 27 ships came from Hanyang and sent 23,000 tenant women from Xunyang to Hanyang in one go.

This investigation of landlords and gentry uncovered nearly 5000 tenant households, totaling approximately 3.5 people. Among them, about 1.7 were men and about 1.8 were women, who were resettled in military camps outside the city.

These people were all to be sent to Hanyang to work. Shek Batu had neither the authority to demand them nor the courage to entertain such thoughts. He muttered under his breath, "Why didn't you do this earlier?"

"If you hide one or two people during the transport, who would know?"

"It's too late to say this now!"

Shek Batu was somewhat disappointed in his son!

However, his subordinate had a valid point, saying, "Isn't it because those troops from Hanyang are keeping an eye on things?"

"If I were to actually hide one or two of those, wouldn't I just be waiting to be discovered?"

"When the county magistrate participated in the first suppression of the rebellion, more than a dozen of them were caught by the people of Hanyang and were dragged out and executed."

Speaking of this, Shek Batu also remembered it.

However, the county magistrate was not so easy to talk to. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll give it a try. Whether it succeeds or not is another matter. You should be prepared."

"Also, you need to work on your Mandarin. Xunyang County is part of the Xia Kingdom. If you don't speak Mandarin, do you even want to get promoted in the future?"

For the sake of his trusted confidant, Shek Batu had no choice but to swallow his pride and go to Zhang Zhenghe.

Back at the county office, Shek Batu was straightforward and brought up the matter.

Zhang Zhenghe was indeed a bit difficult to talk to, so he declined, saying, "County Commandant Shek Batu, it's not that I don't want to help!"

"As you know, these tenants are all in the military camp and are temporarily under the jurisdiction of the garrison."

"Now, if I want thirteen women, the police station will give me some leeway. But it will also leave a record, and I don't want to leave any stain on my record."

"His Majesty has granted us special permission to take half of the seized assets, valued at 68 silver dollars."

"Alright then, the county government will take out 3 silver dollars as a reward and distribute it to the police officers and garrison soldiers who participated in this operation."

"You'll need to prepare a report later, and I'll review it!"

When it's time to win people over, you still have to do it, especially at times like this.

Five days later, the police officers and garrison soldiers who participated in the operation received their rewards, and thirteen of Shek Batu's subordinates had already begun preparing to get married.

With money, getting married is naturally not a problem.

Meanwhile, over a period of seven days, 27 migrant boats, escorted by three warships, transported 2.3 women from Xunyang to Hanyang.

The main reason for the warship escort was that the armed merchant ships had been weakened, retaining only their transport capacity, all in order to transport the female immigrants to Hanyang as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, Mingzhou is too remote, being an isolated island in the world. Apart from British and Dutch ships, there are very few ships coming and going, so everything went very smoothly.

On September 6, 1828, 23,000 women from Xunyang arrived in Hong Kong.

Nearly 1.3 women of marriageable and childbearing age will officially enter Chinese families and become part of the Chinese community.

Meanwhile, nearly 3000 young women stayed in Hanyang to learn weaving or sewing, in preparation for the clothing and textile factories that would be established later.

As for the other 7000 elderly women, they will go to farms or ranches to farm, raise cattle, or raise sheep.

The 13,000 women from Xunyang who were sent this time, along with the 7000 women from Xunyang who were sent on August 25, and the 3000 young women from Xunyang who are of marriageable age and have children, totaling 23,000, will be integrated into the Chinese community.

As a result, the total Chinese population will officially reach 9.6, with 4.7 male and female laborers.

Han Qingyun learned that all eligible women of marriageable age from Xunyang had arrived in Hong Kong, and officially announced the allocation plan, requiring various government departments to report the men's wishes to marry wives and concubines.

At the same time, a matchmaking fee was set at 50 silver dollars per person, which was 50 silver dollars less than that for Chinese women.