Chapter 433: Progress

The letter from Fenghua reported on the silkworm egg production at the villa, being handled by Wang Siniang and her daughter under the guidance of a technician from the Agriculture Committee. Since the twelfth lunar month, a female agricultural technician, a naturalized citizen from Lingao, had been sent to train them in egg production. According to Zhao Yingong’s plan, 1632 would be dedicated to producing eggs, not raising silkworms for silk. With two production cycles in spring and autumn, they could prepare about three thousand sheets of silkworm eggs. Large-scale sericulture would begin in 1633. This gave him six months to acquire enough mulberry plantations to prepare the material foundation for large-scale production.

The spring egg production was proceeding smoothly, and the cold storage for the eggs was also complete. The bigger problem was the lack of rain in Hangzhou since March and April. The irrigation of the newly planted mulberry groves on the hillsides relied entirely on a wind-powered waterwheel built last winter to lift water from the Qiantang River below. However, Hangzhou’s wind resources were not stable, and they often had to use oxen to power the water lift, which consumed a great deal of animal labor. The few oxen they had were not enough for the task. In the letter, Fenghua asked if he could submit a report to the Senate to get a steam engine for pumping water.

This matter wasn’t too difficult. Steam-powered water pump kits were a mature and systematic product of the Lingao General Machinery Plant, widely used in agriculture and mining. An application for one would likely be approved. The problem was that coal was hard to come by—or should they just burn firewood?

Zhao Yingong pondered this as he continued reading. The second part of the letter was a report on the construction of a charity hall on a newly purchased piece of wasteland at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. This was a euphemism for a quarantine camp. In 1632, the entire Zhejiang province suffered a major drought. It hadn’t rained since March, a devastating blow to agriculture. If the spring rice seedlings couldn’t be planted in time, it meant the year’s harvest was lost. As summer approached, a major drought for the year was now a certainty. Large numbers of people began to flee their homes, and the roads were filled with refugees.

The economic collapse caused by the agricultural disaster was particularly evident in the commercial and industrial sectors.

The Senate’s demand for population was endless. When Zhao Yingong came to Jiangnan, sheltering refugees from Zhejiang was already on the agenda. Since the end of 1631, he had already sheltered and shipped out several thousand people through the port of Shanghai.

Transporting a small number of people away would naturally go unnoticed, but in a year of major disaster, sheltering and transporting a large number of refugees would inevitably attract the attention of the government. Therefore, Zhao Yingong followed the successful experience of the Guangzhou Station—by setting up a charity hall.

The charity hall was named “Cixintang” (Hall of Compassion). Zhao Yingong introduced the model of a charitable foundation, drawing in a group of gentry to join as directors.

The main targets for inclusion were, of course, the Xu family. The banner of Grand Secretary Xu Guangqi had to be used. Xu Guangqi was not only a Grand Secretary himself, but his only son, Xu Ji, was married to the daughter of Shanghai’s wealthiest man, Gu Changzuo. This Gu Changzuo was known as “Gu Half-City,” possessing both wealth and power in Shanghai county.

To gain sufficient support from the Xu family, Zhao Yingong, with the support of Father Jin Lige, focused his efforts on them, trying to bring the two sides closer. As a result, their relationship was currently very friendly. Running a charity hall also objectively helped to spread Catholicism, so the Xu family had agreed to help—not only by providing protection but also by promising some funding. Gu Changzuo, Xu Guangqi’s in-law, also promised to contribute a few hundred taels of silver.

The next group was the Catholic gentry under the Hangzhou church system. Through the Jesuits, he also managed to recruit a few people to serve as directors. In this way, the work of Cixintang had a certain degree of security in both Nan-Zhili and Zhejiang.

Cixintang was located on a newly purchased piece of wasteland outside Phoenix Mountain Villa. It had an “interrogation station,” “men’s and women’s bathhouses,” “men’s hall,” “women’s hall,” and an “orphanage.” There was also a “Hall of Chastity”—for sheltering destitute widows—to serve as a cover. Naturally, there was also a “workshop” to extract the surplus value of the refugees. In fact, the first factory Zhao Yingong planned to open was to be under the guise of a charitable workshop.

The land by the Qiantang River was vacant, had an abundant water supply, and convenient waterway transport. It could also be developed as an industrial zone in the future. It was also very convenient for large-scale agriculture.

Sheltering refugees by the Qiantang River not only kept them away from the bustling city, making it easier to avoid attention, but also allowed them to be directly shipped out to sea by boat at night. This was Zhao Yingong’s plan.

The letter reported that the construction of the charity hall was ninety percent complete—the large number of refugees provided abundant labor. The elder architect from the Lingao General Construction Company estimated that it could be completed on schedule.

Zhao Yingong was very satisfied. As long as it could be completed on time, the Zhejiang part of Operation Engine would be half successful.

Although the main purpose of Operation Engine was to transport refugees from Shandong, the elders also had a great liking for the population of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Zhao Yingong knew that, setting aside all the grand reasons of population industry and decisive victory, many elders were actually looking forward to a steady stream of Shandong girls and Jiangnan beauties. Zhejiang had a reputation for producing beautiful women since ancient times; otherwise, the Vice-Marshal’s family wouldn’t have targeted Zhejiang when “selecting concubines.”

Now that they were starting to shelter refugees in large numbers, they could begin transporting them by autumn. Zhao Yingong was well aware that the refugees from Jiangsu and Zhejiang were actually more to the elders’ liking, because the transported refugees were not just farmers or fishermen, but also many artisans. They were better adapted to long hours of dull and boring work—the machine workers in Jiangnan often worked for more than ten hours a day at the loom.

He put down the letter and picked up the next one. This one was more important, a telegram from Lingao about the progress of Operation Engine in Shandong.

Since Elder Lu Zeyang’s great victory over the rebels in Laizhou, the entire Deng-Lai battlefield had, as expected, fallen into an endless stalemate. The entire Eastern Three Prefectures were ablaze with war, and refugees were everywhere.

Shortly after Lu Zeyang’s great victory, on the fifteenth of the second lunar month, Peng Youmo, a staff officer of the Shenwu Left Battalion originally defending Lüshun, led five hundred Sichuan soldiers to reinforce Laizhou by sea. On the fifth of the third month, General Liu Guozhu sent six hundred cavalry, led by Colonel Li Jing and Major Zhang Ruxing, as reinforcements, but most of them deserted on the way, and less than two hundred and seventy-five actually arrived.

Since the troops on Qimu Island were only concerned with sheltering refugees and did not intercept the rebel transport, to put sufficient pressure on the Ming court, the rebels received a clear promise from Qimu Island: as long as they did not fire on the southern gate suburb, the island forces would not interfere if the rebels breached the city from other gates. The rebels then began to transport heavy artillery and ammunition to the walls of Laizhou with impunity, continuously attacking the city.

Although Sun Yuanhua was once ostracized by the officials and generals in the city due to the fall of Dengzhou, the reinforcing Shenwu Left Battalion staff officer Peng Youmo and the victor of the southern gate battle, Lu Zeyang, were both under his command. Thus, they had to continue to rely on him. And when the report of the great victory at Laizhou went up, he gradually became the central figure in the war in Laizhou and even in Shandong.

In the fierce offensive and defensive battles, a number of defending officials, generals, and gentry were successively “martyred.” Among them were Li Mengguo, the commander of the Laizhou garrison, and Bai Zhongren, a centurion, who fought to the death as in history. There was also Zhang Xin, a Laizhou gentry who would have become the Manchu governor of Tianjin, who also died from a “stray arrow.” In short, the local gentry and military officers of Laizhou suffered heavy casualties, and a number of students also died in battle. For a time, Laizhou seemed to be in a precarious situation.

On the twenty-seventh of the third lunar month of that year, Vice Minister of War Liu Yulie, in his capacity as supervisor, set out for Laizhou with his army. He had assembled reinforcements from Jizhou and Miyun, as well as volunteer militia, a total of twenty-five thousand infantry and cavalry from three garrisons. On the second of the fourth month, the Chongzhen Emperor even sent a eunuch to deliver six Hongyi cannons to the relief army at the Shahe River.

However, Liu Yulie and the other commanders were all ignorant of military affairs. The various forces advanced in a disorderly fashion, with chaotic discipline. During their slow advance, the more than eight hundred carts of supplies and baggage escorted by Wang Wencheng were attacked by rebel cavalry and completely burned. This not only caused supply difficulties but also cut off their route.

Kong Youde ordered the captured soldiers of Wang Wencheng to be incorporated into his army and then sent people to spread rumors in the county town of Changyi, where the government army’s main camp was located, that the three garrisons had been completely annihilated. Then he used the surrendered soldiers to attack Changyi. Liu Yulie was terrified and fled directly back to Qingzhou. A few days later, Liu Yulie heard that the troops of the three garrisons were still there, but their supplies had been burned, and they could no longer fight. He ordered a retreat. The rebels took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, and the government army was completely routed at the Shahe River. Countless were captured, and a large number of firearms were seized by the rebels.

Next, the Ming army made an even bigger fool of themselves. Sun Yinglong, an old general from Tianjin, claimed to be a brother of Geng Zhongming and boasted that he could get Geng Zhongming to tie up Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng and surrender. The governor of Tianjin, Zheng Zongzhou, believed him and gave him sixty ships and two thousand men.

Sun Yinglong sent someone to persuade Geng Zhongming to surrender. Geng Zhongming used a feigned surrender to lure Sun Yinglong and the two thousand men and ships of the Tianjin navy directly to the water city of Dengzhou. Geng Zhongming then beheaded Sun Yinglong. By acquiring this naval force, the rebels’ power on the water became even stronger. They could easily communicate with various places in Dongjiang, and a steady stream of former Dongjiang troops began to pour into the Deng-Lai area from the sea.

The series of defeats of the government army made the situation in the Eastern Three Prefectures even more chaotic. A large number of defeated soldiers became bandits or directly joined the rebels. This caused a large number of civilians to flock to Qimu Island for refuge. At one point, the entire refugee camp on Qimu Island was full, and they could not be transported away in time. Lu Wenyuan had to set up temporary shelters on the mainland to accommodate more refugees.

The inexplicably incompetent defeats of the Ming army made the elders of the Qimu Island Front Committee completely lose their last bit of reverence for the Ming Dynasty.

“Seize territory! Seize people!” Lu Wenyuan issued the order from the Qimu Island Front Committee. Subsequently, the Shandong detachment, under the command of the returning Zhu Mingxia, began a fierce expansion of its territory. Taking advantage of the local chaos, the Shandong detachment quickly expanded its forces on the spot, recruiting a large number of young and able-bodied men from the refugees to form a local militia, led by the veterans of the detachment. Starting from Qimu Island, they advanced more than ten li and established several strongholds and forts, garrisoned by the local militia. In the end, they actually occupied an area of dozens of square li around Qimu Island and took advantage of the chaos to occupy the Zhaoyuan area.