While Zhao Xin and the others were busy dealing with Tsarist Russia, the people in Beihai Town were not idle either.

The power plant was busy installing units for debugging, and Chen Qingsong continued his farmland water conservancy project in Furdan City; Zhao Liang led a group of Henan blacksmiths to work on his military-industrial steel consortium; Fang Hua became his indispensable help.

The medical sites under Hong Tao, which are spread all over the residents' communities, are busy vaccinating adults and children with smallpox vaccines; Wang Zhenyi's father has now become the second-in-command of the imaging department of Beihai Town Hospital, and is very likely to replace Father Ma, which makes Makalius feel a crisis. As the news of the North Navy's defeat of Rakshasa came back, Father Ma was in a little depressed recently.

After the drawing design was completed, Pereira had begun the construction of the eastern military port in Beihai Town, and the power plant members would sometimes come to help; Deng Fei was in charge of the nautical school and supervised the transformation of the three sailboats snatched from Tsarist Russia; Ding Guofeng became the leader of the transportation brigade, and led a group of intern crew members to frequently travel between Kuye Island, Hokkien, Sendai Fan and Nan Kyushu.

Wang Zhenyi followed Lao You to the junior high school mathematics in another time and space at school; A Miao continued to take King Duofu around, thinking about when Zhao Xin would send someone to take him over; Miss Shen was depressed and waited to get married. She usually went to school to teach the children half a day of literacy classes, and spent the remaining half of the day to accompany her foster mother at home.

After the Qingming Festival, the troops in Beihai Town's Sheyang Lake stronghold were divided into two groups: one was led by Xu Dayong to "Nanba Laolin" at the junction of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Chu provinces, and the other group was led by Wang Changsheng to Shandong.

Wang Changsheng was originally sent by Zhao Xin to Guangzhou to contact the Cai family, but later Xu Dayong sent a telegram to ask for instructions, saying that Wang Changsheng took the Cao Gang's relationship and went to Shandong more appropriately. Zhao Xin thought about it for a moment and agreed to Xu Dayong's request. After hearing this, Shen Jingdan applied for Zhao Xin and said that he had several past business relationships in Guangdong and wanted to try any breakthroughs. So he landed in northern Jiangsu in May and went to Guangzhou instead of Wang Changsheng.

In mid-April, Wang Changsheng and his group of more than a dozen people went to Jiaodong by sand boat from northern Jiangsu, and then went to Wendeng County. Among the people who accompanied him were people from Beihai Town, there were also several people from the Cao Gang who came from Wendeng.

Wendeng area is either mountains or sea, not to mention the lack of arable land, but also has more saline-alkali land. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the entire Shandong has been the least developed region. Even if the local farmers work hard a hundred times, the grain they harvest in a year is only 100 kilograms per mu. After deducting imperial grain and seeds, the remaining one is not as good as a lower-class household in western Shandong.

Unlike what many people think in later generations, after the severe drought that affected six provinces in the 50th year of Qianlong, the popularity of sweet potatoes and corn in the Central Plains was still not high. The so-called China's population surged during the Qianlong period and it was completely untrue to rely on sweet potatoes to support so many people!

In fact, since the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi, Jin Xuezeng and others promoted sweet potato planting in Shandong; the 50th and 51st years of Qianlong were even higher than the level of official promotion.

However, even so, when farmers know about sweet potato crops, it does not mean that they will regard them as the main food crop. Agricultural production has been a complex systematic project from ancient times to the present, and the core of agricultural production is the formation of a complete crop planting system through rotation and reseeding methods.

This is different from introducing a new vegetable variety. A new staple food, which wants to integrate into or even change the planting system of the entire region, means that it is necessary to break the planting system, climate, soil and even farmers' planting habits formed in the feudal era for thousands of years.

As a wasteland-rescuing crop, the conditions for sweet potatoes to be integrated into the crop planting system in the Central Plains are far from enough. In fact, not only did the promotion in the 50th year of Qianlong fail to achieve results, but throughout the Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes only formed a middle-producing area in Shandong in the central and southern regions. In another time and space, until the 1950s, sweet potatoes were not planted on a large scale in Shandong.

For farmers in the Central Plains, millet and wheat are their staple foods in spring, summer and autumn, while sorghum is the staple food in winter. In terms of the calorie value of the food, 100 grams of sorghum rice is 360 calories, and 100 grams of potatoes or sweet potatoes are only 100 grams?

(Wake up! Those who are ambitious to travel through time. Even if you brought potatoes and sweet potato seeds to ancient times, farmers would not buy it. Those heroes who want to rely on potatoes to fill the stomachs of the world, check what the Great Famine in Ireland is about first.)

After Wang Changsheng and his six men arrived in Wendeng County and found a place to settle down, the Caogang members brought the "Xujiazhuang" people to Wendeng County, and spread the news in various villages, towns and restaurants in Rongcheng County.

"Have you heard that? In early June, several large sea boats would stop at the entrance of Sanggou. They said they were picking up people to farm outside the gates. If they were willing to go, they would give them fifty acres of land!"

"real?"

"It's true! I'm lying to you." The speaker stretched out his thumb and middle finger and compared it with a turtle gesture.

This news spread quickly by those who were interested in getting benefits. After half a month, it spread throughout Dengzhou Prefecture, and the more he talked about it, the more evil he became.

Fifty acres of land have become eighty acres. In addition, they are also divided into daughters-in-law, house, family, horse and cattle. During this period, many middle-aged people appeared inexplicably. Those who want to go, just put their seals on the middle-aged people, and then the middle-aged people will take the registered person to the beach to board the boat. When they get off the ship outside the pass, they will get fifty money.

Wang Changsheng also tried his best. In order to bring people to Beihai Town, he used all kinds of methods. Those middle-aged people were developed together with his subordinates. As long as he signed one and took it to the beach to board the boat, he could get fifty money.

As of the 52nd year of Qianlong's reign, according to official statistics from the Qing court, the total population of Dengzhou Prefecture had exceeded 3 million and the number of households exceeded 500,000. The area of ​​cultivated land in the jurisdiction was 7.07 million mu, with a per capita cultivated land of nearly 5 mu, and the reclamation coefficient was only a pitiful 26%, which means that Dengzhou has many mountains and stones, and three-quarters of the areas are completely unsuitable for farming.

In addition, Wendeng area has always been a place of culture and education in Jiaodong. It was a Juren and Jinshi, and the land annexation was very serious. The days of being promoted to the Doumin people were very miserable.

So when the saying "go outside the pass and add 50 mu more than 50 yuan" came out, it immediately sparked a craze in Wendeng and Rongcheng. After the poor people confirmed the news from the people, they made dry food and cleaned up their belongings.

The person responsible for the "people-hiring project" in Rongcheng County was an intelligence officer named Yu Shun in the Beihai Town intelligence system. He was from Henan. In the 49th year of Qianlong's resignation, he joined the Sheyang Lake Tianzhuang, and then entered the Beihai Army and participated in the Battle of Furdan City. Finally, he was selected by Lu Shoushan and entered the intelligence system. After several months of training, he was transferred to Xu Dayong.

Yu Shun's progress was very smooth. By mid-May, the number reported by the people from all villages and towns under Rongcheng had exceeded 5,000, most of them were young and strong, with few women, elderly and children. These people all reported to try it out. If it was true, they would take all their wives and children. If it was fake... forget it, accept their fate!

Just when Yu Shun grew to 6,000 people and moved to Sanggoukou Bay in the southern part of Rongcheng County, they were surrounded by thousands of armed villagers because of the fact that these people had a widow who had run away with others and several escaped slaves, which caused an uproar in Rongcheng County, and Yu Shun himself was imprisoned.

Shandong is the birthplace of Confucian culture, and the ethics and morals constructed by Confucianism influenced the formation of the folk customs of "men prefer loyalty and trustworthiness, women prefer chaste and righteousness" in Shandong in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The problem is that some girls have been keeping their rituals since they were in their teens or twenties, and have been for decades. They have to endure the pain of loneliness of keeping their rituals and have to bear certain family responsibilities and obligations. However, keeping their rituals is sometimes not entirely supported by their husbands and tribesmen, and some tribesmen even plunder the property of their ritualsmen.

The one who caused trouble for Yu Shun was a young widow, whose surname was Xu, who was just sixteen years old this year. Her husband's surname was Bi, and she died two years ago and had no children. This girl originally wanted to stay in peace and live a life of old age, but she was bullied by her husband's family many times, and because her husband's family is quite powerful in the local area, she has no way to ask for advice.

Bi Xu was young and poor in her husband's family. Finally, she was forced to go to her husband's grave outside the village and hanged herself. Unexpectedly, she was rescued by a peddler named Li in the neighboring village. Li's peddler saw her beautiful appearance, so she became moved. Bi Xu was reborn after her death. Seeing that Li's peddler was handsome and coaxed by sweet words, she immediately became fascinated.

When the two of them made a lifelong decision and were worried about what to do in the future, the news of Yu Shun's recruitment came, so Bi Xu gritted his teeth and quietly absconded, pretended to be a couple with Li Praiser, and got into the crowd. Unexpectedly, the two were seen by a tenant from the Bi family who was watching the fun, so they had it later.

When Miss Xu's deceased husband knew that the family's pride was not abide by the wife and elopement with others, he called his family members and tenants, and held rakes and rods to surround the group of people led by Yu Shun.

If other human traffickers or come to recruit people to work, they can only admit that they are unlucky when encountering such a thing that has not happened in a century. They can only admit that they are unlucky and accept their mistakes and are forced to finish the matter. The problem is that the Bi family members speak loudly and try to cheat others. They only say 200 taels, and Yu Shun of course cannot agree.

At a stalemate between the two sides, a gentry surnamed Ding from Wendeng County also brought people to his house, saying that among the people Yu Shun, there were escape slaves from his family, and they injured their master to run away. After some recognition, they were found by them, and the two slaves finally admitted that the gentry's family was too strict. Whenever they bought slaves, they would scold them first and then beat them until they were completely numb, and then let them do things.

According to the "Law of the Qing Dynasty", it is natural for the people to capture fugitive slaves and the government protects them. Moreover, whether the slaves are red and white, they beat their parents and their elders, even if they are not injured, they will be beaten for 100 people and have three years of vassals. If they are injured, they will be beaten for 100 people and travel for 3,000 miles without any seriousness.

Faced with the siege of thousands of villagers, Yu Shun, in the attitude of calming down the situation, finally agreed to the two families to pay 50 taels each, and then set up two tables of banquets in the restaurants in Rongcheng County to apologize.

Fifty taels are a lot, and you can buy thousands of kilograms of grain. At present, only 1.5 taels of wheat in Shandong are only 1.5 taels, and millet and sorghum are less than one tael. The problem is that Yu Shun is anxious to get rid of the trouble and can't wait, so what he took out was not ordinary silver ingots, but standard silver bars from Beihai Town.

Indeed, the appearance of the standard silver bars in Beihai Town is really attractive, and they can reflect people's shadows. However, no one has ever seen such pure silver in Dengzhou Prefecture and even in Shandong. Whether it is the Bi family or the Ding family, they all became greedy when they saw such rare silver bars.

So the two families relied on their local gentry and insisted on taking Yu Shun to meet officials in Rongcheng County. How could they go?

The argument turned into a move. During the push, Yu Shun saw someone trying to tie him with a rope, and he no longer cared about it. He took out his revolver and shot him in the sky.

Although Yu Shun talked to these people in a friendly manner, he was actually crazy. Yu Shun felt that behind him was Beihai Town, and the army of the court had beaten up several times. What are you gentry and landlords?

But to his surprise, although these villagers were startled by the gunshots at the beginning, their reactions became even more intense. They rushed forward, and many ants bite them to death, and tied up Yu Shun in just a few seconds.

In the civilian fights in the Qing Dynasty, villagers often made their own muskets, and gunfire was not unfamiliar with these people. The government prohibited the use of cast iron to build guns, so they used solid bamboo to wrap iron wire as gun barrels; if they rebel, they would be better for fighting. The west of Wendeng is Qixia Mountain, and there are many who have hunted with earth guns.

Yu Shun was stunned. He had only five bullets left in his gun, and thousands of people were around. Who would not hit whom? It would be even more troublesome if he fired it.

After being tied up, the silver bars and money on his body were divided up by the Bi family and Ding family members. The farmers who followed him to Sanggoukou Bay scattered. When they arrived at Rongcheng County, they didn't even see the county magistrate, and they were thrown into prison on the charge of "having a firearm that was inappropriate intent."

The companions who escaped from the chaos ran to Wendeng County overnight. Wang Changsheng was shocked when he learned about it. There were only a dozen of them, and they were not familiar with the place. If they went to Rongcheng to handle some things, they would definitely be bullied.

If you go to the prison robbery? Stop making fun of it. After more than a dozen pistols and more than 100 bullets, the plan to take people to Beihai Town will be ruined.

After thinking about it, Wang Changsheng decided to make preparations. He first sent someone back to Sheyang Lake and sent a message to Beihai Town for help; then he took two people from the Cao Gang to Rongcheng, inquire about the news, and tried to rescue him.

After more than ten days, more than ten thousand yuan was spent, and there was no progress in Rongcheng. Just as Wang Changsheng was waiting for news from Beihai, he unexpectedly came.

One noon in late June of the lunar calendar, Deng Fei drove the Jinglei and together with Beihai No. 1 and No. 2, he arrived at the ocean outside the Sanggoukou, southeast of Rongcheng County, the easternmost end of Shandong. Then the three boats continued northward and were soon discovered by the Qing army beacon tower located in Yangyuchi Bay, Chengshanjiao.

The Qing Dynasty set up a Dengzhou Navy Front Camp in Shandong, which was in charge of the coastal areas of Shandong. It was divided into three shan, Dengzhou Xun, Jiaozhou Xun, and Chengshanxun; and Yangyuchiwan was the garrison of Chengshanxun. In the 12th year of Yongzheng, Chengshanwei was promoted to Rongcheng County. In the first year of Qianlong, the Qing court built the Navy Camp south of Rongcheng and northwest of Mashan, and established the Chengshan Guard Office, with one shanty town and one shanty town, one shanty town, and two soldiers; two chang-carrying boats and two double-topped boats.

Zheng Yi, an intern captain of Beihai No. 1, looked through the telescope and saw that the Qing army under the beacon tower had already been in a mess. After a minute, the beacon tower had not yet been lit.

"What a bunch of waste!" Zheng Yi mocked him in his heart. He was about to ask Deng Fei for a walkie-talkie to tell him whether he could fire the cannon when he suddenly heard the sound of "booming" cannons coming from the thunder. The fires burst out in an instant around the beacon tower and smoke filled the smoke. A few minutes later, when Zheng repeatedly raised his telescope to observe, he saw that the beacon tower had turned into a pile of broken soil and rubble.

Then, three assault boats that could carry 16 people were slowly lowered from the deck of the Thunder, and a platoon of the North Marine Corps began to land.

Their goal was to open a landing ground and measure the depth of the water so that Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 could dock. As the two rows of the latter landed one after another, more and more North Navy soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and red and black skin blown by the sea breeze began to appear on the coast. An hour later, Deng Fei took his guard squad to the shore.

Another hour later, when Beihai No. 1 and No. 2 began to enter Yangyuchi Bay to moor, the Qing army's local garrison troops finally appeared in the North Navy's vision.

Deng Fei held up the telescope and observed for a long time, and finally confirmed that the group of people had only one hundred. Except for the military officer riding on the horse in the lead, the other Qing soldiers were wearing it so badly! If it weren't for the words written on their chests, no one would have thought that these were the local green camp troops.

When these guys approached tentatively and were still four hundred meters away from the temporary position, the Marines opened fire. To Deng Fei's surprise, the Qing army turned around and ran away as soon as they heard a few gunshots. A few minutes later, apart from a distant unlucky man who was shot in the thigh was screaming, even a Qing army could not see it.
Chapter completed!