The most insidious part of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was to dress up as the inheritor of Han culture under the lipstick of inheriting the Ming Dynasty and avenging the first emperor, and to adopt a policy of courtesy and co-optation towards the gentry and landlords, so that many Han gentry and landlords felt that they had just changed the emperor, and they had no intention of resisting. However, through the three major cases in the south of the Yangtze River, the scholars have recognized the true face of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty is just a monkey and a crown, and once they sit firmly in the country, they will burn books and pit Confucianism, stifling the freedom of thought. They just planned to kill the etiquette and shame of the Han people, leaving only some tame and numb minions.

Wei Geng said angrily: "We must immediately issue a letter to let the scholars of the whole country recognize the true face of the Manchu Tartars!" Tear through their disguises! Let the scholars stop being obsessed! ”

"That's right! Send a text! Let everyone see the true face of the tartars! All the soldiers shouted.

Hong Xiguan made a gesture to signal everyone to be quiet. When everyone was quiet, he slowly spoke: "Guys, do you really think that the pen can rival the butcher's knife? ”

"We are all scholars, and we don't have soldiers in our hands, so how can we fight with the Tartars?" Qu Dajun asked.

Hong Xiguan smiled: "Weapons, we have them!" Bing, we have it! You can come to us to buy weapons and hire our people. What we lack here is a foundation, and we need your foundation to support it. ”

"As long as you can keep us safe, buy weapons, and hire your soldiers, that's not a problem! Originally, Zhang Shangshu was our support! Silver is not a problem for us! Qi Li Sun Sri replied slowly.

"Organize your tenants, dig a trench, bring in the water, and turn the surroundings of your mansion into a castle! Construction now! If our intelligence is not wrong, the Tartars will attack you after the New Year! We have to do it as soon as possible! Hong Xiguan said.

The information of the Heaven and Earth Society is still relatively accurate, there is information provided by the insider, the so-called Tonghai case has not yet ended, and Zhu Guozhi is strictly investigating the matter. In real history. In the second year, Wei Jing, Qian Zhangzeng, Pan Tingcong and others were killed, Qi Bansun sent Ningguta, and his brother Qi Lisun died of depression. Chen Sandao died of grief before the incident. The rich gentleman Yu Yuankai found someone to intercede through channels, and was pardoned by the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and then disappeared.

The area of Shaoxing is a river network area south of Hangzhou Bay, and the surrounding river network is vertical and horizontal. From the map, Shaoxing is densely packed with rivers, and as long as you dig a trench at random, you can bring water from the river.

As for weapons and ammunition. It can be transported through various rivers. Although the Qing court implemented the sea ban, set up barrage ropes at the estuaries of major rivers, and arranged underwater hidden piles, Shaoxing's river estuaries are numerous, the river network is dense, and there are hundreds of estuaries at the sea, and the Qing court cannot be sealed. Of course, when the fleet entered Shaoxing, locals needed to lead the way. Otherwise, I really don't know how to get to the destination.

Under the command of Hong Xiguan, the Qi family's family members, long-term workers and tenants waved hoes and shovels and began to dig trenches. The excavated earth was raised and used to reinforce the fence.

"Everyone, work hard! The proprietor will improve your food. More pay! Tenants who have done well will be free of rent this year! The butler shouted at the housekeepers, the long-term workers, and the tenants.

"You! Water baby! Well done! Don't you like that fire-burning girl? Well done, I'll let the owner call the shots for you and reward that little girl to you! The housekeeper walked over to a sweaty man. In front of the long-term workers who are working hard.

"Thank you, butler!" The water baby was overjoyed and thanked again and again.

Under the heavy reward, these households, long-term workers and tenants all worked hard. And the two brothers Qi Lisun and Qi Bansun were not stingy. He took out a large amount of money and distributed the money to these households, long-term laborers, and tenants. The stakes are important, even their lives are dying, who will be stingy with money at this time? Hong Xiguan told them that they would not be willing to give up the money now, and when the Tartars came and raided your house and cut off your heads, the Tartars took the silver.

The Jiangnan scholars were convinced of Hong Xiguan's words, and they had also seen with their own eyes that after many Jiangnan scholars were killed by the Qing court, their homes were also raided, the silver was robbed, and their families were sent to be slaves.

Everyone gathered firewood and the flame was high, and a trench three and a half zhang wide and one zhang deep was quickly enclosed outside the Qi family manor. At the junction of the ditch and the river, several tenants and foremen dug a hole with their hoes, and the river poured into the ditch, and in a short time a moat surrounded the manor.

The walls of the manor were also being rebuilt, and Hong Xiguan came up with the blueprints, and asked the Qi family, long-term workers, and tenants to go to the mountains to dig stones, and at the same time let ships bring cement from Qiongzhou. Of course, cement is sold for money, and a bag of cement sells for twenty taels of silver.

According to Hong Xiguan's design, the Qi Mansion will be transformed into a castle with a length of 40 zhang and a width of 30 zhang. There are four prismatic corner forts at the four corners of the castle, the size of the base of the corner fort is four zhang square, fully enclosed, three zhang higher than the city wall, and there are shooting holes on the corner fort, which can be used to shoot outside with firearms. In the center of the manor, a gun emplacement was also built.

"Can a fortification like ours withstand the attack of the Tartars?" Qi Lisun still asked worriedly.

Hong Xiguan said: "How many people do you think the Tartars can come?" Even if all the officials of San'in and Huiji came, we would all blast back with a row of guns! If they dispatch the green battalion soldiers, there are not many people in the green battalion in Sanyin and Huiji, and even if all the green battalion soldiers from the two counties come, they will not be able to defeat us! ”

"What if the green battalion soldiers from Hangzhou come?" Qi Bansun asked.

"Hangzhou? They don't want Hangzhou anymore? If they dare to dispatch the green battalion soldiers from Hangzhou, they are not afraid that our warships will take advantage of the tide to rush into the Qiantang River? Hong Xiguan sneered.

Then Hong Xiguan began to sell his weapons to these Jiangnan scholars: a dog-lock flintlock flintlock pistol for three hundred taels of silver; a bird for fifty taels of silver; a tiger squat cannon for two thousand taels of silver; A thousand-pound Franc cannon is five thousand taels of silver. The hiring fee for hiring a Ming soldier is five taels of silver a month, and the ammunition consumed is charged separately.

Hong Xiguan also provided them with red-coated cannons, but the price of red-coated cannons was too expensive, one cost 10,000 taels of silver, even a rich man like Yu Yuankai would feel pain, and in the end it was an agreement between the two parties, the rich merchant rented the twenty-four-pound red-coated cannon of the Ming army, and the monthly rent of a cannon was 300 taels of silver, and the cannonballs were charged separately.

The price of shells is: 50 taels of silver for solid shells, 100 taels of silver for shrapnel shells, and 300 taels of silver for flowering shells.

Except for the dog-lock flintlock pistol, the other weapons were all old weapons that Wang Xinyu had eliminated. These weapons are free of charge, and they can be sold for a high price when you come here.

Seeing that these Jiangnan scholars were so rich, and it was not too expensive to buy these high-priced weapons, Hong Xiguan secretly scolded in his heart: You people, when the Ming Dynasty was back then, you would be willing to pay more taxes! The imperial court had money, pacified the victims of Shaanxi, and destroyed the Liaodong Jiannu, and it would not allow the Tartars to develop to today's scale!

Having said that, these Jiangnan scholars are indeed self-inflicted. In the Ming Dynasty, they enjoyed the best treatment, and the Donglin Party spoke for them and gave them tax reductions and exemptions, so they were not satisfied, so they had to force the imperial court to repeatedly reduce taxes on Jiangnan, and forced Emperor Chongzhen's dragon robe to be patched, but he refused to come out with money. When the Manchus came to Jiangnan, they thought that as long as they surrendered, they could continue to live a good life.

Who knew that in the eyes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Jiangnan Shi clan was a group of pigs raised very fat and waiting to be slaughtered!

The Ming Dynasty died without money, which was caused by the Donglin Party and the Jiangnan Shi clan they represented, and when the Manchu Qing Dynasty came to Jiangnan, these Jiangnan Shi clan tasted the bitter wine they brewed.

Although the Jiangnan Shi clan suffered on their own, Wang Xinyu still saved them. Only then did he send Hong Xiguan to Jiangnan to contact these anti-Qing righteous people.

Yu Yuankai's home was also nearby, and after the persuasion of Hong Xiguan and others, he also asked the tenants to dig a trench to divert river water into the surrounding area of the manor, forming a moat.

Similarly, Yu Yuankai's house was converted into a huge castle with a moat dug around it.

Qi Lisun and Qi Bansun's family are not as rich as Yu Yuankai, but because they have a better relationship with Wei Jing, Qian Zhangzeng, Pan Tingcong and others. Under the arrangement of Hong Xiguan, Wei Hui, Qian Zhangzeng, Pan Tingcong and others also moved their families to the Qi family's manor, and at the same time they helped the Qi family share part of the cost of buying weapons and building a castle.

In addition, some Shanyin and Huijishi clans related to the "Tonghai Case" also relocated and settled in Qifu and Yufu respectively, helping these two families bear part of the costs.

Yu Yuankai's castle is larger, 60 zhang long, 50 zhang wide, there are four corner forts at the four corners, there are four fortresses on the middle city wall, and there is a fort built in the middle of the manor, on which four red-coated cannons are erected. In each corner fort and bastions, three tiger squat cannons and a thousand pound franc machine were placed. In addition, Yu Yuankai purchased 500 bird guns and 100 flintlock pistols, and hired 600 Ming troops to garrison them, while also developing a group of armed men in his own homes and tenants.

While the two castles were under construction, the ships sent by Zhang Huangyan quietly entered Shaoxing at night.

The transport, led by locals, enters through a small river and docks at a pier outside the moat.

Cannons wrapped in straw and boxes of muskets were transported to the manor, and the silver provided by the scholars was exchanged for export goods such as silk, ceramics, and tea, which were loaded onto ships and shipped to Zhoushan.

Zhang Huangyan was very pleased to see the goods brought back by the returning ships: because of the Qing court's sea ban and harsh sea relocation orders, the Jiangnan Shi clan was frightened, so that they did not dare to risk providing them with goods for export trade. So far, Zhang Huangyan has not received export goods for almost a year. Now that the three major cases in Jiangnan have occurred, these scholars have to buy weapons from Zhang Huangyan in order to save their lives, which makes the goods urgently needed by the Zhejiang army get access to the sea. (To be continued.) )