The biggest landlord and scoundrel in the border area of Zlingling, Ningyuan, and Daozhou was Huang Shijie, Huang Lord from Egang Town in Daozhou!
This Lord Huang is not old, being only about twenty-five or twenty-six this year. The reason he is called "Lord" is because of three things: one, his family owns a lot of land; two, the richest family in Daozhou is his; three, all the land around Egang Town is owned by the Huangs, all of it his!
Secondly, Huang Shijie passed the imperial examination and became a county scholar a few years ago, making him a scholar with an aristocratic title!
Don't think that the title of "Xiucai" is not valuable; only when you take the exam will you know how difficult it is!
In general, the admission rate of "Xiucai" is about one percent.
Out of every hundred scholars, only one can pass the exam to become a "Xiucai," which is very difficult to pass.
With all his abilities, Hong Xiuquan only passed the first hurdle of the imperial examination for the title of Xiucai — the county level exam. Then he was eliminated in the prefectural level exam in Guangzhou; he failed several times. In the end, with no other choice, he had to rebel and become a heavenly king.
When Huang Shijie, the Huang Lord, was only twenty-two years old, he consecutively passed the exams and became a county scholar with the top score in Yongzhou Prefecture.
The value of being a county scholar is undeniable, as Huang Shijie is clearly a straight-A student.
However, "Huang Scholar" had a big ambition, so after becoming a county scholar, he did not rush to take the imperial examination and instead went to study at the famous South College in Changsha Prefecture. He became a disciple of renowned Confucian scholars and thought leaders Luo Zenan Luo Luoshan.
The economic school is not a school of scholarship, but one that values practical use. Because officials from this school are more capable in handling affairs and more adept at forming coalitions, in the reign of Daoguang, there emerged three outstanding scholars and officials from Hunan: Tao Shu, He Changling, and Wei Yuan. They set an example for the younger generation of Hunan scholars.
So Huang Shijie, the Huang Lord, also wanted to follow in the footsteps of his fellow provincemen Tao Shu and He Changling. He not only wanted to study how to write fuwen (a type of classical Chinese composition), but also to learn practical skills that are useful in governing, so that after he passes the imperial examination and becomes a jinshi (a degree equivalent to a Ph.D.), he could rise swiftly through the ranks!
This ideal is of course very rich, but the reality is... a bit bare bones!
The Huang Lord hasn't yet learned all of Luo Luoshan's abilities, nor has he managed to pass the imperial examination and become a jinshi (degree equivalent to a Ph.D.) and thus become a parent of the Chinese people. The Taiping Army is now just outside his "doorstep" — almost all of Egang Town's land is owned by his family, and even part of the neighboring land in Lingtang and Shuangpai belongs to him. The Taiping Army has now advanced to Zlingling, just north of Lingtang, so this is effectively at his doorstep!
For Huang Shijie, the Huang Lord, the approach of the Taiping Army was not the scariest... They were just a group of rebels who believed in heretical and superstitious doctrines, after all.
The area around Yongzhou Prefecture has seen numerous rebels since the White Lotus Rebellion started over decades ago!
Whether it's the White Lotus, Green Lotus, Tian ti hui (Heaven and Earth Society), and so on. There will be a rebellion every few years. So Huang Shijie, such a rich landlord and scoundrel, has long been used to people rebelling and has had a mature plan for dealing with bandits — that is, organizing local militias. This way he can protect himself while also earning some merits by chopping off a few heads.
What truly troubles Huang Shijie and even causes him deep anxiety is the increasing number of poor beggars, both within and outside Egang Town... There are just too many, too many!
Although Huang Shijie was born into a family of great wealth, his family's "Jiangxia Huang Clan, Zhenling Branch" had been the ancestors of landlords for generations. By the mid-Qing Dynasty, his branch had become a merchant-landowner. Not only did they buy and rent land, but they also controlled transportation on the Xiao River. At its peak, the family's main business extended from Changsha to Guangzhou!
But since he began to understand the world, all the people he knew...... including his father, uncles, and cousins, as well as himself, have become increasingly poorer.
And each year, they got poorer and poorer, with no sign of improvement in sight.
Starting from the "Gengshen Variation" when the foreign devils came knocking on their door over ten years ago, the Huang family's ancestral business, which had always been prosperous, began to decline. Their business got worse year after year! The only profitable venture they had was smuggling opium from Guangzhou to Hunan. Other businesses made no profit at all.
The large-scale import of opium and the increasingly dilapidated condition of the Xiao River shipping further turned the once prosperous Egang Town into a desolate place!
In this vast town, there seem to be no more thriving businesses apart from opium dens, tea houses, brothels, gambling dens, and pawn shops.
His three uncles and two maternal uncles had also developed a dependence on opium, smoking clouds of it all day long, without any interest in their businesses or studies. They were rapidly deteriorating and their estates were quickly crumbling. Now they all needed Huang Shijie's help....
However, in Huang Shijie's eyes, these situations were nothing much. What truly scared Huang Shijie was that even the most fundamental rents and interest payments from his family's land were increasingly difficult to collect!
Yes! That's exactly what it is!
As a scholar of the worldly school, Huang Lord naturally noticed that through the phenomenon of increasing difficulty in collecting rents and interest payments year after year, his beloved Qing Dynasty was slipping further into decline.
Because those who pay rent and borrow high-interest loans are the poorest people in the Qing Dynasty... Not only are they poor, but they are also numerous, growing more so with each passing year, and becoming even poorer.
The surface reason for the difficulty in collecting rents and interest is, of course, high rents and heavy interest!
This is not because Huang Lord is too black-hearted, but because there are just too many poor bums who want to rent land and borrow money... the rents are so high that they are equivalent to half of the harvest, yet people still rush to lease the land!
And even with exorbitant interest rates of nine out of ten or thirteen out of ten, there is no shortage of borrowers!
Just as those tenants who borrowed money and leased land, despite the high rent and interest rates, would inevitably fall into extreme poverty due to poor harvests, low prices for silver and gold, and a lack of other opportunities to make money outside of farming... Not just one or two families facing poverty, but all of Huang's tenants!
They are really unable to pay the rents and interest.
The problem is that even though they can't pay the rent, they still need to rent the land!
Even if they can't pay the interest, they still need to keep borrowing!
The Huang Lord who leases them land and the one who lends them high-interest loans is not an evil man who harms them, but a big-hearted Huang Lord who saves them.
Because it is only through renting land and borrowing money that they can struggle to survive... even if it's only for a short while!
However, with such a large number of people in this situation, it indicates that the poor in Yongzhou Prefecture, even the whole of Hunan Province and even the entire country, are increasing in number and are on the verge of not being able to survive.
What will happen if so many poor people can't survive?
According to two thousand years of historical experience, the answer is undoubtedly..... rebellion!
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, wasn't it the poor in Guangxi who rose up in rebellion because they couldn't survive?
Their belief in God as the only true God is nothing more than a façade for rebellion, much like the White Lotus and Green Lotus sects. Without so many poor Guangxi bums joining them, how could the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have risen to such prominence?
As far as the Huang Lord knows, there are more destitute poor people in Hunan than in Guangxi.
"Master Huang, please be merciful......"
"Master Huang, please give us something to eat!"
"Master Huang, please buy my son... Please, for the love of heaven!"
Sitting on a slide chair, being carried by two laborers and protected by a group of beizhis (landlords' bodyguards), Huang Lord was inspecting the streets of Egang Town. Suddenly, he heard the most terrifying sound in the world... he looked up and saw that he was standing on the busiest street in Egang Town.
Oh, it should be said that this used to be the most prosperous di street in Egang Town, but now there is no prosperity here, only poverty, extreme poverty that cannot survive!
So-called di street is actually a market built on the embankment along the Xiao River, with shops on one side and docks on the other. Huang Lord faintly remembers that when he was young and followed his father to inspect the di street, there was a bustling scene of thriving business and merchants gathering.
At that time, poor men in Egang could find work by showing their strength on the di street.
With food to eat, they won't revolt!
When they grow old and lose their strength, naturally, they won't be able to rebel.
Back then, Huang Lord felt quite sympathetic towards those hardworking laborers and even felt that the heavens were unjust, with too many poor people. He even dreamed of a future where all the poor could eat enough to be full and drink enough to be satisfied.
But it turns out... that was the period of peace and prosperity!
Huang Lord's concerned gaze swept over the beggars lining the streets and the destitute men selling their children, and he let out a long sigh: "How have so many people become unable to survive? They're getting more and more every day...)"
An elderly butler took over Huang Lord's question, speaking in a hoarse voice: "Master, the water transport on the Xiangjiang and Xiao River has been interrupted for almost a month. The boatmen who still had something to eat have stopped. How can they survive? Now it's the spring hunger season, and the poor people around Egan Town and Shuangpai Town have all gone out to beg for food every year, but this year the city of Lianling is surrounded by bandits. So the poor people who beg for food are stuck here in our Egan Town. They are starving so much that some have even sold their children... Master, you are kind-hearted. Why not buy a few?"
Huang Shijie sighed bitterly: "We still have not much surplus grain. Why buy people? This year, people are the least valuable and most unwanted......"
The old butler sighed, "Master, we may not want these people, but there are others who do."
Hearing this, Huang Shijie trembled...... Yes, the poor, now someone wants them... the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants them!
It's truly terrifying!
