Chapter 70: The Beginning of Separatism
Chapter 70: The Beginning of Separatism
At Shaojiaweizi, Shao Quanzhong returned to Shao's house and sat down, but before he could drink any water, his personal soldiers came to report.
"Tongzhou Magistrate Yan's lawyer, Jingjiang County Magistrate You Ahai's servant, and the representatives of the foreign rifle team, Gordon and Falster, have been waiting for a long time and are outside seeking to see you."
Shao Quanzhong touched his chin and said, "The foreigners are here to redeem people, let's leave them alone for a while.
Please welcome Master Yan."
Master Yan walked in with square steps, and when he saw Shao Quanzhong, he bowed and said, "Student Yan Xiangzhu greets you, sir."
"No need, no need. I respect scholars the most. Please take a seat, Master Yan."
Master Yan sat down with half of his buttocks on the side and said, "I am sent by the master to pay my respects to Commander Shao.
The Zhongzi Camp destroyed the foreign rifle team and saved Tongzhou. Logically, Tongzhou should have made generous donations to the Huai Army.
However, the official silver in Tongzhou was robbed by the foreign rifle team. The master asked the gentry to donate tens of thousands of silver to fill the hole in the official silver first.
This time, I only brought 10,000 taels. I hope Commander Shao can understand how difficult it is for you, Master."
Ahem, all the silver robbed by the foreign rifle team was seized by Shao Quanzhong and not returned to Tongzhou.
Of course Shao Quanzhong wasn't embarrassed at all. Why should I get it back after I worked so hard to snatch it, right?
Looking at Master Yan with a smile, he said, “Tongzhou is willing to donate to the Huai Army, and I am already very grateful.
Since the money from Tongzhou has been received, if the Guangdong and Nian bandits come, the Huai Army will definitely send troops to guard Tongzhou.
However, Tongzhou is a bit far from Hailing. If it is harassed by a small group of bandits, it will be difficult to provide timely support.
Now the Huai Army is ready to be fully equipped with rapid-fire guns. I plan to donate the cold weapons and bows and arrows that were originally stored in this village to the people of Tongzhou.
I intend to send my fast-moving team to Tongzhou and, following the examples of Jingjiang, Taixing, Jiangdu and Guazhou, establish a safety team in the countryside of Tongzhou and build a dike to provide mutual assistance.
When the time comes, please give more support from the Tongzhou government."
"Of course, of course. I will go back and report to the Master and establish reserve units of the Huai Army in various manors.
After a few months, when we collect lijin and donations, the money I can use to support the Huai Army in Tongzhou will surely increase.”
The gentry in Tongzhou finally realized that Shanghai could not protect itself and that they had to rely on the Huai Army to save their lives.
With Master Yan's respectful withdrawal, the territory of Tongzhou was now in the hands of the Shao family.
At present, most of the three states of Tongtai and Yangzhou are establishing or are about to establish insurance teams to provide mutual assistance.
On the contrary, in Taizhou, only insurance teams were set up in Shao Quanzhong’s hometown Luzhuang and the nearby Panjiawei, and no other places were touched.
Since Wu Wenxi was in charge of Taizhou's likin and donations, it was difficult for Shao Quanzhong to interfere. Anyway, the money collected by Wu Wenxi would eventually belong to the Huai Army, so Shao Quanzhong could save himself some trouble.
Wu Wenxi was an absolutely honest official. He gave all the money he received to the Huai Army and only took 20% for himself, while Shao Quanzhong got 80%.
Yangzhou Prefecture was so badly damaged by the Taiping Army and Hou Batian... ahem, and the Qing army themselves... that the city was too dilapidated that it would take several months before we could collect the money.
Tongzhou, Jingjiang and Taixing all follow the "usual practice" of dividing the profits into 30% and 70%.
The next representative of County Magistrate You, You Ahai, was the one who took 30%, but the remaining 70% was also as much as 70,000 taels.
This time, the gentry and middle class in Jingjiang and Taixing were somewhat damaged by the land expropriation. The next time the land expropriation is carried out may be half a year later.
Silver continued to flow into Shaojiawei, and Shao Quanzhong had already embarked on a virtuous cycle of using guns to collect protection fees, and then buying more guns to collect more protection fees.
"Report! Miss Wenxiu is here again to entertain the troops and bring pigs and sheep to the victorious soldiers for a snack. She has already arrived outside the mansion."
Ahem, the last time Miss Wen had her period it took a month, and this time it came again after half a month. She must be really anxious.
Shao Quanzhong has now been promoted to the sixth rank, which is higher than Master Wen's position during his lifetime.
Although it will take at least one and a half months for the Ministry of Personnel to approve it, is it possible that the Ministry of Personnel will reject Mr. Qiao's recommendation?
Even though Shao Quanzhong is uneducated, he is now a celebrity in official circles. He is a down-to-earth civil servant of the sixth rank.
Mrs. Wen and Wenxiu looked at each other with regret at home.
If I had known that Shao Quanzhong was so promising, I would have married him directly when he first established the militia, and I would have succeeded. Now it's over. When Shao Quanzhong went to Shanghai, the foreign vixen followed him.
In the current situation, Shao Quanzhong, the young master of the Qiao family, has the support of Lord Qiao, holds military power, and is rampant in the three states of Tongtai and Yang.
Wen had done him a favor, so he gave Wen a generous reward for providing logistical support. Anyone who heard this would give him a thumbs up and praise Mr. Shao for being chivalrous.
Now the Wen family has to rely on Shao Quanzhong to make a fortune, and they no longer have any control over Shao Quanzhong.
Lord Qiao gave the house to Shao Quanzhong, but that foreign vixen actually moved in openly and didn't even mention going home. Could it be that she would just become the mistress of the Shao Mansion?
It's shameless for someone to have no name or status.
As the two of them stayed in the same house, Wenxiu could already imagine that the foreign vixen would not hesitate to take action and capture Shao Quanzhong directly, creating a fait accompli and forcing Shao Quanzhong to marry her.
Wenxiu asked herself, she could not be as shameless as the foreign vixen, and her competitiveness dropped immediately.
No, I don't want any conditions this time. The foreign vixen can be given to that Shao guy, but I just want to be the main wife.
As everyone knows, Miss Wen is one of us, and the Wen family is the commander's benefactor. The guards of the weir are already familiar with them and let them in directly. They are now outside the door.
"welcome!"
Miss Wen walked in gracefully, trying her best to show her elegant and graceful side.
Seeing that Shao Quanzhong was still saluting him, he no longer avoided suspicion, walked forward and grabbed him, his voice extremely gentle.
"Brother Shao, I've told you so many times that you don't have to salute me. We've been friends for so long, calling me Miss is too formal. From now on, call me Xiu'er—"
"report!"
A guard outside the dike ran in directly, stumbling, "Commander-in-chief, Lord Ding Gongchen, who you have been instructing for a long time to respectfully welcome, has arrived outside the dike!"
Shao Quanzhong was shocked, "This is a noble man who must be respected. The Huai Army's heavy firepower depends on him.
Come with me to the outside of the weir to welcome him."
Shao Quanzhong walked out and suddenly found that Wenxiu was still holding his hand.
It was not easy to get rid of him, so Shao Quanzhong dragged Wen Xiu out, "Wen - ahem, Xiu'er, come with me to welcome Lord Ding.
Your Wen Group will have to accept a large order from the Huai Army this time."
——Well, Xiu'er's hands are soft as if they have no bones, a little cool, and very comfortable to pinch.
Outside the Shao residence, the three foreigners had been waiting for more than an hour.
Seeing Master Yan go in and out again, You Ahai, a servant who ran errands, was actually received before our foreign master.
That would be fine, but why is there a woman cutting in line?
Well, we are gentlemen, ladies first, but——
Shao Quanzhong held the woman's hand and took his personal soldiers with him. Who were they going to welcome outside the village?
Among the three foreigners, the British Gordon was the leader, and the American Falstead was at the same level as him, but the deputy on this mission, the Frenchman Bodaan, was Gordon's follower.
Gordon is a gentleman, and Falsed really wants to save Wall's men, but he didn't react at all. Bodan couldn't hold it anymore.
He was a French gangster who could not speak English and had to use Chinese to talk to his two colleagues.
"Two deputy commanders, when did we foreigners become so unwelcome in the Qing Dynasty?
I think we should have listened to your British Counselor Parkes and directly helped the Taiping Army to destroy the Qing Dynasty and support a pro-Western religious regime in China.
This Qing Dynasty official has a bad habit of putting on so much airs. Have they forgotten how cowardly the Qing Dynasty was when our British and French allied forces entered the capital?
How powerful were we at that time?
Not to mention that Sir Gordon chased Senggelinqin all the way, even I, once shot and killed a seventh-rank official of the Qing Dynasty.
It’s a pity that his two personal soldiers took the body back, and I didn’t get the head to report my achievement…”
Shao Quanzhong and Wenxiu stopped suddenly at the same time. Wenxiu failed to hold the brake and crashed into Shao Quanzhong's arms.
(End of this chapter)