Chapter 53: The Great Torture of the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 53: The Great Torture of the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 53: The Ten Most Tortuous Punishments of the Qing Dynasty
Hai Qing whispered to Shao Quanzhong, "Brother, we seem to be in trouble."

Shao Quanzhong didn't care at all, "We were invited by the governor of Tongzhou to help suppress the bandits and we won a great victory. What trouble have we caused?
Quickly, lead the men to move all the captured goods onto the boat."

"Brother, they are foreigners——"

Shao Quanzhong glared at him and said, "What's wrong with foreigners? Foreigners who rob government offices are also bandits. I am a soldier and he is a bandit. I will destroy him without negotiation."

This is true, but Haiqing has stayed in the Prince Su's Mansion for a long time and has been deeply influenced by the Qing Dynasty. He always feels that foreigners should not be easily provoked.

However, although Haiqing was afraid of foreigners, he was very happy with the silver in the hands of the surrendered foreigners.

Hai Qing brought the military police and supervised the soldiers to move the silver onto the ship. He found one hundred taels of gold on the body of Bai Qiwen who had been shot dead. He did not think it was too heavy and personally put it into his backpack to keep watch over it.

The surrendered soldiers' foreign rifles and the officers' revolvers and sabers were all taken away.

In other words, the uniforms of the foreign rifle team were very rustic and far inferior to the uniforms of the new army of the Loyalty Camp. This is how these Filipino mercenaries avoided having their clothes stripped off.

Hai Qing came closer to Shao Quanzhong and said, "Brother, more than 30,000 silver coins are not too much, it seems that they not only robbed the government, but also robbed the shops.

These more than one hundred guns are worth more than ten thousand silver coins. We are rich this time.

That’s it—this mess is really big.”

"When I have a gun in my hand, I am never afraid to make trouble. There is still a lot of money left to be taken away."

Hai Qing looked around and asked, "Where else is there?"

Shao Quanzhong pointed at the more than one hundred prisoners and said, "Take them all away."

Several white people immediately shouted, "We are foreigners and have consular jurisdiction. You have no right to detain us.

Let us go quickly, or else if our government protests to the Qing court, you will suffer the consequences!"

The prefect of Tongzhou nearby also hurriedly chimed in, trembling, "Since the general has stopped the looting, these foreigners - let them go, so as not to cause trouble for the court."

Shao Quanzhong looked at the prefect with a half-smile on his face, "Sir, I am here to help you out of good intentions. Who are you from?"

He reached out, pulled out his revolver, and cocked the hammer.

The white officer in front of him shuddered when he heard the "click" sound of the bullet being loaded.

"We are prisoners of war now. You cannot kill prisoners. This violates international conventions."

Shao Quanzhong put the muzzle of his gun against the white officer’s neck and said, “Now you know you are a prisoner of war, right?
The fucking Geneva Convention hasn't been signed yet, what international convention are you talking to me about?
If prisoners of war want to go home, they have to pay a ransom. This is your Western custom, right?
Come! Take all the captives aboard, including their dozen sampans, back to Hailing, and ask their commander to pay for their redemption!"

This job is very familiar to Haiqing. Isn't this kidnapping?
Haiqing gave his second brother a thumbs up. The second brother was really awesome and so bold that he even dared to kidnap foreigners for ransom.

Shao Quanzhong pointed at the four white men and said, "Each of you, write a confession, confessing that you robbed the government and were caught by the soldiers. Put your fingerprints on it, and write it now!"

"We refuse. You are disrespecting the prisoners of war."

"Nonsence!"

Tuo Mo Xingzi sprayed the white officer in the face.

"You came to our house to rob and were caught, and you still want respect? Fine, fine, you have consular jurisdiction, and the prefect can't touch you, but it's only natural that I can interrogate the prisoners."

Shao Quanzhong put his mouth close to the white officer's ear and said, "You speak Chinese very fluently. Do you know what the word 'yayi' means?

Let me tell you a secret. I was born a yamen runner.

I have a trick for interrogating prisoners. Have you heard of the Ten Cruel Tortures of the Qing Dynasty? If you want, I can let you experience them one by one."

A wise man never suffers a loss in front of him. All the foreign officers were wise men, so they all wrote their confessions smoothly.

Shao Quanzhong took the four confessions and handed them to the prefect. "Sir, we won this battle. Please deal with the follow-up. Send all the foreign devils who were killed back to Shanghai. Find their leader Frederick Wall, take these confessions, and ask them to go to Hailing to pay the money and rescue the people.

White officers are 5,000 taels each, and Nanyang natives are 100 taels each, no bargaining."

The prefect frowned, "This is dealing with foreigners——"

"Sir, our leader, Wall, is not in Shanghai."

"Well? Where did he go?"

"In June, we fought against the Taiping Army led by Li Xiucheng in Qingpu and were badly defeated. Leader Wall was shot five times and was seriously injured. He took a clipper ship to France for treatment and has not returned yet.

The commander-in-chief was not at home, and the Qing government disliked our defeat and refused to pay us our wages. We had not received our wages for several months, so we went to Tongzhou to get them ourselves, led by deputy commander Bai Qiwen.

"Why didn't you get it in Shanghai instead of crossing the river to Tongzhou?"

"Report to the commander, when Chief Wall was here, he led us to Shanghai Beach to pick it up once. Now the government and shops in Shanghai Beach are on guard against us--"

Shao Quanzhong was amused. "Good fellow, you are a repeat offender. Who is your superior when Wall is not here?"

"It's Wu Xu, the governor of Susongtai, the imperially appointed salt transport commissioner, and Yang Fang, the candidate for governor..."

The prefect suddenly became stiff.

It turns out that these foreigners were hired by Qing officials. Matters between Qing officials are easy to handle.

Their backer is the Salt Transport Commissioner, and General Shao's godfather is also a Salt Transport Commissioner. Who is afraid of whom?

I will be responsible for delivering the message, and let the two salt transport agents do it themselves.

He had just fled in a hurry and asked for help when he saw the Qing soldiers. He didn't think about what the Zhong Camp was about. Now he remembered that Qiao Songnian had run the Huai Army.

Even though he was a high-ranking official, he could not afford to offend Lord Qiao's adopted son. The prefect's face was smiling like a flower.

"General Shao, I can deliver the letter, but if we kidnap the foreigners and bring them back, the British and French governments will blame us. I can't afford it. General Shao, why don't we just give up the ransom?"

Shao Quanzhong chuckled and said, "Your Excellency, you don't understand Western affairs as well as I do.

Now, among the foreigners, Britain, France and the United States have reached a consensus to remain neutral between our Qing Dynasty and the Guangdong bandits.

British Counsellor Parkes was preparing to go to Nanjing to negotiate with the Guangdong bandits. They wanted to destroy the Qing Dynasty and divide the world equally. They were now making intensive preparations, but the negotiations had not yet been concluded.

These foreigners secretly accepted employment from our Qing officials. If the foreign government knew about this, they would be arrested. The foreigners would not support them. "

The prefect was relieved this time. He went back to find laborers to carry the bodies, requisitioned civilian boats, and went to Shanghai to deliver letters and run errands.

Haiqing, who was standing nearby, also understood what was going on. It turned out that this group of foreigners were doing private work to make money without the knowledge of the foreign government. Although the second brother was extremely bold, he knew his limits and was very clear about what was going on.

He looked at the foreigners with a different look, "Come here, take these British and French officers into custody separately and put them in the middle of the sampan.

You all gather around and watch, but be careful not to let it fall into the river, this is all pure silver."

The Nanyang natives, who were worth 100 taels each, did not have such treatment. More than ten of them were squeezed into one sampan and were kept together with the captured mules and donkeys.

Originally, according to Shao Quanzhong, it was difficult to load animals on a sampan, so he should forget about the mules and donkeys.

Haiqing refused, saying that this was all money. Even if the two mules were accidentally shot and killed, everyone could have meat to eat if they were brought back, right?

The battle of Tongzhou did not take much effort, but the harvest was not small. Thirty sampans became forty-five, and the Loyalty Camp returned with a full load.

It takes two days to travel from Tongzhou to Taizhou by water. The next day, Shao Quanzhong was still on the road, but the magistrate of Tongzhou had already arrived in Shanghai with more than 40 bodies of foreign riflemen. Shanghai suddenly became lively.

(End of this chapter)