The rise of an empire is based on countless corpses.
What about the fall of the empire?
That would be corpses everywhere!
1876 was definitely not a good year for the Qing Dynasty. In fact, a year ago, the largest drought in a century broke out in North China. In 1876, the drought began to worsen in Zhili,
The harvests in Shanxi and Henan were halved, and the locust plague caused by drought further aggravated the disaster. Thousands of miles away in North China, the fields were full of hungry people and their bones were covered with white bones.
A drought turns the world into hell.
At this time, no one knew that the drought sweeping through Zhili, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and other northern provinces would last for several years. This drought, known as the "Dingwu Famine" in history, resulted in more than 1,000 deaths.
Ten thousand people starved to death, and more than 20 million victims fled the famine. I am afraid only God knows how many people died of starvation on the way to escape famine. Only one or two out of ten survived.
Groups of hungry people walked forward on the official road, leaning on crutches. Among these hungry people, there were neither old nor young. The old, weak, sick and disabled had either starved to death or been robbed for food.
, it is a common thing for people to be preyed upon, or to be preyed upon, in such a famine. There are dozens, dozens, or even hundreds of hungry people in groups, not for other reasons, but to protect themselves.
Of course, if you can have a big meal in that place, that's God's blessing.
It is God’s blessing to “eat the big households”, but for the big households that are eaten, it is a catastrophe.
Holding a wooden stick in his hand and a waist knife at his waist, Deng Zihui looked around with vigilance. A month ago, his home was robbed by a group of hungry people, all the food was robbed, his father died, and even his daughter-in-law
He was also ruined, his son was beaten half to death, and his daughter-in-law hanged herself.
A family is broken and a person is destroyed...there is nothing worse than this.
In order to survive, he had no choice but to flee famine with his family like other people. His mother died on the way to escape famine, and even his grandson was skin and bones from hunger.
"Dad, we are going there."
Deng Shoude looked at the long secret passage with some despair. The trees on both sides of the official road didn't even have much bark left. The bark had been eaten up long ago.
"Go east, there is a railway to the east, and there is a train station next to the railway. Get on the train and go to Daming..."
Deng Zihui said,
"When we arrive in Daming, we will have enough to eat..."
When he said this, he touched the cloth bag tied around his waist again, which contained a few pieces of jewelry. They were the only possessions of the Deng family, although he believed that even if he had nothing, as long as there were ten years of peace,
He will definitely be able to live a good life again, but the prerequisite is that he can survive.
"By then, in less than ten years, I will be able to rebuild the Deng family's mansion in Daming!"
Once upon a time, when he heard about the Ming Dynasty, he just laughed it off. The Ming Dynasty... died early, but now, the overseas Ming Dynasty has become his last life-saving straw.
In fact, it is not only his, but also other people's. Even the government is closing the city gates and prohibiting refugees from entering. At the same time, they are also posting notices everywhere telling them - go to the railway, there are porridge shacks and trains there, as long as they
When they arrived at the train station, they were alive.
This is not to coax hungry people to leave its territory to prevent civil unrest. This is indeed true. In the train station, there is indeed a porridge run by Mr. Li, the governor of Zhili. As long as they get there, they can drink a bowl of porridge.
Eat porridge, then board the train and sail from Haizhou to Nanhua.
That night, more than 30 members of the Deng family finally saw the railway. They walked along the railway for another day. At the simple train station in Guanzhuang, they saw the porridge shack and the grass huts that stretched for several miles at the train station -
—Hungry people from all over the country built straw huts.
Like everyone else, when Deng Zihui and his family arrived at the place, they also lined up, got their number plates, and then waited to get on the bus.
"Okay, now I can survive..."
After eating a bowl of hot porridge, Deng Zihui's face finally showed a glimmer of hope.
Live!
I can survive this time...
While more than 30 members of Deng Zihui's family were thankful to have survived, in the stationmaster's office at the railway station, the stationmaster was standing by the window looking at the hungry people outside the window, with a smile on his face.
"Silver, this is all silver!"
silver!
For officials, hungry people are like silver. For every hungry person sent to the train station, they will get one silver, and the governor's office will get one tael of silver. As for freight and other charges, they will be settled extra.
For the hungry people in desperate situations, the train station became the hope of life in these famine years. Not only could they drink a bowl of porridge, but they could also board the distant train and then board the immigration ship.
Travel to an unknown continent.
In this land, they are just hungry people whose life and death are ignored, but for the Ming Dynasty, these hungry people are the foundation for enriching the country's strength.
When the rushing trains brought thousands of hungry people from Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places to Haizhou, in the Haizhou concession, the new consul Qiu Huaiyi seemed a little anxious.
"Ships, you must hire as many ships as possible. I don't care if they are British ships, American ships, German ships, or French ships. You just hire them, and you must do your best to send people to the Ming Dynasty!"
In the consular office, facing the managers of several shipping companies, Qiu Huaiyi made his request directly.
"I don't want to worry about money. The Ming Dynasty is not short of money, but it is short of people! Nowadays, so many people come here every day. There are almost 200,000 people in the waiting room outside the city. If such people want to get on the ship, the ship
From there, you can just hire them,”
"Consul, foreign ships here in Haizhou are increasing their prices now..."
The speaker was Li Zhi, manager of the Ocean Shipping Bureau. He was from Ming Dynasty and opened a shipping company in Haizhou five years ago. While operating coastal transportation, he also ran the immigration ship business.
"Talk to them, as long as it's acceptable, then accept it!"
Qiu Huaiyi said.
"In short, let's send people to the Ming Dynasty first. You must know that for our Ming Dynasty, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! There is a severe drought in these provinces and tens of millions of hungry people. If only 10 or 20 million people can go to the Ming Dynasty, then our Ming Dynasty
But you no longer have to worry about insufficient manpower!”
Like all consular officials stationed in China, Qiu Huaiyi's responsibilities are very simple. One is to protect overseas Chinese, and the other is to recruit immigrants as much as possible. Unlike his European counterparts who recruit scholars, college students, and technicians and engineers, he recruits immigrants here in China.
The conditions for immigration are very low - as long as they are in good health, both men and women can go to Daming.
The Ming Dynasty was an overseas Chinese country, and all Chinese compatriots were welcome to come.
"Of course, the most important thing is to survive! If we transport one more person, we can save one more people. "Saving one life is better than building a seven-level pagoda." In short, I leave it to you!"
Standing up, Qiu Huaiyi looked very sincere when he saluted the shipowners.
It is his responsibility to transport immigrants to the Ming Dynasty, and it is his conscience to save people's lives. In fact, they have been saving people, and even the rice used in the porridge was donated by the Ming Dynasty. However, none of this was for
It’s just known to the outside world.
But one thing that is certain is that this famine was a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity for the Ming Dynasty and a good opportunity for the rise of the empire.
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!