Chapter 98 Money is the bastard
Chapter 98 Money is the bastard
At noon the next day, the steam frigate "Fury", still flying the Union Jack, and two 1,500-ton steam-powered cargo ships docked at Zhenjiang Wharf.
Shao Quanzhong pulled Liao Rong and said, "Come on, let's go meet Feng Zicai!"
How did the "Fury" get back? Liao Rong was troubled because he had insufficient resources, but for Shao Quanzhong, this was not a problem.
Shao Quanzhong gave a few instructions to You Sihai, and more than a hundred sailors with experience in steamships arrived within an hour.
Shanghai is the base of Youshi Freight, so there is no shortage of sailors.
The Fury's crew quota is 220, including the number of combatants; that number is not needed to sail the ship.
The task of finding and hiring two retired foreign soldiers who could fire naval guns in Shanghai was also given to You's Company, and this would take time.
Shao Quanzhong met Feng Zicai in the military camp. Old Feng was wearing a yellow jacket and was busy recruiting soldiers.
Zhenjiang was the front line against the Taiping Army. As the general, Feng Zicai had 5,000 soldiers under his command.
Later, ahem, Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng, two super-powerful Taiping Army leaders, jointly attacked the Jiangbei camp, and Feng Zicai was ordered to rescue General Jiangning, the Imperial Commissioner Shangguan Dexing.
As a result, the Jiangbei camp was destroyed, and Feng Zicai fled back to Zhenjiang with only 300 defeated soldiers.
Later, he worked very hard to gather another 3,000 soldiers. It was with these 3,000 soldiers that Feng Zicai won a great victory in Zhenjiang.
Feng Zicai was very powerful, but Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng were even more powerful. Therefore, Feng Zicai had wins and losses in battles, losing more than he won. It was good enough that he could hold on to Zhenjiang.
With the cooperation of Shao Quanzhong and Feng Zicai, Feng's army and the Huai Army had a total of 4,000 people, and 4,000 defeated 20,000. The victory in Zhenjiang was won cleanly and thoroughly. Feng Zicai also received rewards from the court, awarded a yellow riding jacket, and was awarded the title of Cavalry Commander.
Old Feng had now become a noble, and after Lord Qiao took over the management of the Jiangnan Granary, he immediately sent him enough food and wages. Feng Zicai was ambitious and prepared to recruit 20,000 soldiers so that he could take the initiative to attack.
This time, when Old Feng saw Shao Quanzhong saluting him, his previous contempt completely disappeared, and he held Shao Quanzhong's hand affectionately, "Brother Shao, you have many jobs, how do you have time to come and see me, Old Feng?"
"Lord Feng——"
"What Lord Feng? What a sir! Without you, Brother Shao, there would be no great victory in Zhenjiang. From now on, you should call me brother. If you keep calling me Lord, I will ignore you."
Military generals are much easier to deal with than civil officials. Shao Quanzhong felt that Old Feng was just as compatible with him as he was with others.
"Brother Feng, I have purchased a British naval training ship and renamed it Haichang. I am planning to build a naval academy to train modern naval talents for the Qing Dynasty. At present, it seems appropriate to temporarily locate it in Zhenjiang. I am here to ask you for a piece of land in Zhenjiang."
"No problem. There's nothing else in Zhenjiang, but there are plenty of houses. You can pick whatever you want."
Zhenjiang is now a war zone and there is not even a prefect. It is under the military control of Feng Zicai, the general.
There were wars everywhere, and the Taiping Army attacked from time to time. The rich people had already fled, and there were empty houses everywhere. Only Shao Quanzhong knew that with Feng Zicai in charge, this place was actually as safe as Mount Tai.
With the training ship, the English class of the Preparatory School for Overseas Students was upgraded to the Zhenjiang Naval Academy, and Liao Rong was retained in Zhenjiang by Shao Quanzhong.
Shao Quanzhong left Liao Rong 12,000 taels of silver as preparation money for the Naval Academy.
To clean up the house and convert it into a school, you can ask Feng Zicai for labor. You have to pay him, and at least provide him with food.
More than a hundred sailors need to be paid, the Haichang's maintenance and coal purchases, the living expenses of the schoolchildren here, the renovation of the special dock for the training ship, and the salaries of the foreign soldiers' naval artillery instructors, money is needed everywhere.
Liao Rong was full of energy. Shao Quanzhong named the first steam-powered warship of the Qing Dynasty after his character. He was destined to go down in history.
"Sir, we don't have much money to begin with. If you leave me another 10,000 taels, you will only have 18,000 taels left. You have to hurry up and make money."
"Don't worry about this. Just teach the students well."
…………
On the evening of March 24, the eleventh year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign, Shao Quanzhong returned to Shao's enclosure. Le Sen directed a large number of logistics soldiers to transport ammunition and joined them himself.
"Sir, I just took stock. You are too good at spending money. You have basically spent all the 890,000 taels of silver in just two days. Next month's military pay—"
"Why are you talking to me about this? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"I'm in charge of logistics. I'm not in a hurry. It's a big deal if we don't have money to pay salaries. The salary of our Huai Army is more than 60,000 taels a month."
Le Sen counted on his fingers to calculate the accounts with Shao Quanzhong.
"Look, the silver from the Salt Transport Office has been plundered, and the lijin and donations from various places will not be received until early July. We have no income, and we are about to run out of money."
"Money is a bastard. We can earn it again after we spend it. Don't I have it here? I will go and get the money tomorrow."
Shao Quanzhong wanted to make money, and Le Sen felt that he was familiar with the way. "Is he going to lead his troops to attack some village tomorrow?"
His boss has a bandit-like temperament, and the scholar Le Sen has been influenced by him to the point that he even wants to go out and rob when he is short of money.
"All the bandits in the surrounding area have been wiped out. It's not worth it for us to send troops out for a few thousand taels of silver. How many towns do we have to conquer to collect so much military pay? It's not enough for us to toss around. How many salt merchants are as rich as Hou Boqiu? I'll go find Master Qiao tomorrow."
"Well, Lord Qiao just took office. When he left office, he was able to embezzle all the money from the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office. It is impossible for the Provincial Administration Commissioner's Office to have any money."
Your godfather is not omnipotent. Where does the money come from before the tax collection period?
Shao Quanzhong was full of confidence. The next morning, he took his wife Wenxiu and went to the prefectural government office with great enthusiasm.
This was his first time visiting his own yamen.
At the entrance of the yamen is a screen wall with a relief carving of the ferocious beast "Zhi Tan" to warn the masters in the yamen not to be corrupt and cruel.
When the gatekeeper saw that Shao Quanzhong, the big boss, had come to work, he hurried to greet him and lead the way.
Beyond the screen wall is the gate of the palace, which has three large doors. In the middle is inscribed "The Legacy of Great Virtue", above the left gate is inscribed "Follow the Rules", and above the right gate is inscribed "Step into the Rules".
Shao Quanzhong was annoyed when he saw people following the rules. He hated following the rules the most. In the past, he personally wrote "Virtue is for the common people" at the entrance of the Marshal's Mansion where he lived. Ahem, now Shao's house doesn't dare to write that.
After entering the gate, crossing the Sansi Bridge and passing through the Yimen Gate, you will arrive at the inner courtyard of the provincial government. In the middle of the courtyard stands a Jieshi Pavilion, which is a unique building of the Taizhou government.
On the stone archway beside the pavilion is engraved the words "Your salary and benefits are the blood and sweat of the people. It is easy to abuse the common people, but it is difficult to deceive God."
There are more than a dozen admonition tablets standing next to it. They are to commemorate the merits of successive prefects who punished the yamen runners who oppressed the people and set a warning to future ones. Taizhou is the only city in the country that has such admonition tablets.
The people of Taizhou are blessed. Since Yue Fei, the officials of Taizhou have always been the best in the country, and the yamen runners of Taizhou are the most honest in our Qing Dynasty.
Shao Quanzhong came to the lobby. Eh? Didn't he say his adoptive father was working here with him? Where was he?
"Master, Mr. Qiao felt that this place was too official and vulgar, so he moved out after staying for two days. He bought the house of painter Gu Jian in the east of the city, fenced off more than ten acres of land, and planned to build the 'Xiaoxiang Cliff' garden. He has moved there to work."
Oh, my godfather is gone, I am the boss here. Shao Quanzhong was so proud now that he sat in the court and slammed the gavel, "You, my humble daughter, please submit your application!"
Wenxiu went up to the court and grabbed the master by the ear.
"Why are you pretending? I'm not a commoner. I'm a fifth-rank imperial official on the same level as you. Hurry and get to work."
Wenxiu handed over a few documents, and the eldest master Shao Quanzhong took out the official seal and used the prefectural seal on the documents.
The couple were in court, the wife applied, the husband stamped it, and Wenxiu's application was approved, which was absolutely in line with the administrative procedures of the Qing Dynasty.
"Okay, wife, come with me to Xiaoxiang Cliff to find my godfather, and let him review it. Then we'll have the money, right?"
(End of this chapter)