1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 8 Team Training
"To put it nicely, they're a local militia; to put it bluntly, they're just a bunch of local thugs, nothing to be afraid of."

Shi Dakai, on the other hand, was very familiar with the local militia.

When the local militia in Guixian was mentioned, Shi Dakai wore a disdainful expression, showing no regard for them whatsoever.

He winked at Shi Zhenlun, signaling him to open the door.

"Let's open the door and welcome guests. I want to see which ignorant fools have ruined our brothers' drinking mood."

"Got it!"

Shi Zhenlun also disregarded the local militia, strode to the closed courtyard gate, and pulled out the bolt.

A dozen or so militiamen kicked open the courtyard gate with a bang and stormed into the yard, shouting arrogantly as they went: "It's time for your family to pay your militia wages for this year!"

"Tuan Dingyin?" Peng Gang looked at Peng Yi in confusion.

As far as I can remember, their family has indeed had to pay a sum of money for the militia every year in recent years.

As for the exact amount of silver to be paid by the militia, Peng Gang had no idea.

For wealthy peasant families like his, the biggest fear wasn't the land tax (i.e., summer tax and autumn grain tax). Although the land tax wasn't low, the amount was relatively stable. As long as it wasn't a year of major disaster, and they had a well-managed paddy field in front of their house that could yield more than three shi per mu, their family could barely afford the land tax.

During the Daoguang era, the actual regular tax collected in Guixian County, Xunzhou Prefecture, was approximately seven dou of grain sold from medium-sized fields, which could barely cover the tax on one mu of land. At the same time, the yield per mu of medium-sized fields in Guixian County was about one shi and eight dou.

The land tax ratio in Shangtian is basically the same as that in Zhongtian. Guixian County is not like the fish and rice fields of Jiangnan and the two lakes. If the yield of rice per mu is three shi, it can be called Shangtian.

The actual land tax collected for Shangtian was about 1.2 shi (a unit of dry measure), and the tax rate was basically the same as that for Zhongtian.

What their family fears most is excessive taxation and forced donations.

Tuan Ding Yin was one type of apportioned tax.

Donations were used by the heads of prefectures and counties to handle local public affairs, such as water conservancy projects, city wall repairs, maintaining local security, the salaries of the county government's three shifts and six offices, and to make up for local fiscal deficits and cover expenses collected by higher authorities during inspections.

There is no fixed quota for the levies; how much is collected depends entirely on how corrupt the local officials are.

During the Opium War, due to the ineffectiveness of the Green Standard Army, more than 50,000 local militia were recruited from the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.

After the war, the Qing government failed to properly resettle and dismiss the local militia. At that time, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions were frequently hit by natural disasters, and the people were suffering. As a result, most of the dismissed militia joined the Heaven and Earth Society or fled into the mountains to become outlaws.

As a result, the security situation in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, especially Guangxi, deteriorated rapidly.

Xunzhou Prefecture was a severely affected area by bandits, and the counties of Xunzhou Prefecture had no choice but to recruit men to form militias to defend themselves against bandits.

Guangxi's finances have long been in deficit. The local governor could not even guarantee the full payment of the military salaries of the local Green Standard Army, and needed to obtain funding from other provinces, not to mention the additional allocation of funds to recruit local militias.

According to the official regulations of the Qing government, the expenses required for recruiting local militias were to be donated by local militia leaders, directors, and coordinators, who encouraged local households to contribute voluntarily.

While nominally self-funded, in practice, donations are often forcibly extracted, a practice that has become the norm.

The militia system in the Qing Dynasty originated during the reigns of the Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors, and first emerged during the White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan and Hubei during the Jiaqing era.

There are two types of local militia: one is militia that defends its own territory, and the other is militia that follows the army.

The local militias in Guixian County belonged to the former category, while the Xiang Army, Huai Army, and Chu Army, which later stepped into the forefront and became the mainstay of the Qing Dynasty, belonged to the latter.

It can be simply understood that the nature of the militia that defended their own hometown was more similar to that of the local militia, while the nature of the militia that followed the army was more similar to that of the field army.

“Our family didn’t contribute any men to the militia. When it was our turn to contribute, we were supposed to pay in money and grain as compensation,” Peng Yi whispered to Peng Gang.

“In previous years, our village did not pay the militia tax at this time; it was paid after the autumn harvest.”

Since the establishment of local militias in Guixian County in the 23rd year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign (1843), the Peng family has had an additional expense from the local militias.

Their family had only two adult males, and they also had to manage thirty-three mu of land, so they couldn't afford to contribute any more men. According to the standards for wealthy households, they paid six shi of rice annually as payment for their labor service. Three shi were handed over to the county's training bureau, and three shi were kept for the local militia's use.

The local militia had promised his family a position as a minor leader, but the militia in Gui County had a bad reputation.

Aside from not daring to suppress bandits, they dare to do anything. On a daily basis, they do all sorts of despicable things, such as kicking down widows' doors, digging up graves of childless people, eating postpartum breast milk, and beating the blind and mute.

From the militia chiefs and directors down to the ordinary militiamen, everyone in the militia was proficient in eating, drinking, gambling, whoring, smoking, cheating, swindling, and stealing. The militia had become a gathering place for local thugs and ruffians.

His father, Peng Xin, worried that Peng Gang would pick up bad habits from the militia after joining, so he preferred to suffer losses and pay more grain than allow Peng Gang to become a minor leader in the militia.

Thinking about this, Peng Gang realized that these militia members were probably there to extort money from him because his father had just died and there was no capable man in his family.

How can you collect militia fees from these illiterate wretches? They probably can't even produce a receipt.

It's quite possible that these militia members were deliberately lured here by that old bastard Peng Xianzhong, who was so shameless.

Feng Yunshan reassured Peng Gang: "Don't worry, with me and the Shi brothers here, these dozen or so militiamen are nothing to worry about."

Feng Yunshan didn't boast. In Xunzhou Prefecture, besides teaching and preaching, he also organized and led the followers of the God Worshipping Society to participate in armed conflicts.

The situation of armed conflicts in Guangxi is very complex, and it is not limited to conflicts between the local people and the Hakka.

There are records of armed conflicts between Tujia people, Hakka people, Han people, Zhuang and Yao people, different clans, different villages, folk people and government officials, and even different branches of the Heaven and Earth Society.

However, the scale and frequency of the armed conflicts between the Tujia and Hakka people were the highest and most well-known. The armed conflicts organized by Feng Yunshan mainly involved leading followers of the God Worshipping Society to fight against local Tujia gentry and militia.

After all, most of the people who join the church nowadays are seeking the protection of the God Worshipping Society.

Most Chinese people are pragmatic. If the God Worshipping Society is unwilling to stand up for its members, it will be difficult to maintain its current membership of over four thousand, let alone continue to grow its ranks.

"Li Ba? Liu Weizi? It's you two scoundrels again!" As the militiamen approached, Shi Dakai recognized the militia leader as an old acquaintance from Qishixu.

"The Shi brothers?"

By the light from the plain lamp in front of the main house and the stove fire, Li Ba and Liu Weizi recognized the Shi brothers.

They never expected the Shi brothers to be here. Shouldn't they be in Nabang Village or Qishixu?
The dozen or so militia members who were arrogant just a moment ago immediately became as timid as mice seeing a cat after recognizing the Shi brothers, and their tone became much more amiable.

"Why aren't you guys staying in Qishixu? What are you doing in Qingfeng Village?" Shi Dakai asked with a gloomy face.

The three cousins, Shi Xiangzhen, Shi Zhenji, and Shi Zhenlun, had already put down their cups and chopsticks and gathered around Shi Dakai, their eyes wide with anger, confronting the twelve or thirteen militiamen.

Although the Shi brothers and Feng Yunshan's side had fewer people, they were more imposing than the militia.

"We brothers are also following the orders of Director Zhou to go to the village to collect this year's militia wages," Liu Weizi hurriedly said, standing still and not daring to move forward.

"Liu Weizi, you have no right to speak here." Shi Dakai ignored Liu Weizi and went straight to Li Ba to ask.

"Li Ba, in previous years the militia tax was collected in September, but it's only February now. Are you sure it was Tuan Dong Zhou who sent you guys to the village to collect the militia tax?"

Although Liu Wuzi was more cunning, he was not a leader of the militia and his words carried little weight within the organization. Therefore, Shi Dakai ignored Liu Wuzi.

Shi Dakai ran a charcoal shop and a dye house in Qishi Market and frequented the market regularly. He was very familiar with the local militia activities in the area.

"This..." Li Ba hesitated, then forced himself to say, "It was Director Zhou who sent us."

"Oh? Is that so? Zhou Tuandong Chu Jiu wants to invite us brothers for drinks to discuss the establishment of the village militia," Shi Dakai said.

"I'll have to ask Director Zhou when the time comes whether the militia tax will be levied in February or September."

Li Ba and his gang were honest and straightforward. They were probably just being instigated by Liu Weizi to go to the villages to freeload and extort money to go back to Qishi Market for gambling and drinking.

They've done this kind of thing quite often on a regular basis.

"You're utterly useless and only cause trouble! You've ruined my life!"

Upon hearing that Zhou Tuandong Chu Jiu was going to treat the Shi brothers to drinks, Li Ba panicked completely, kicked Liu Weizi several times, and repeatedly apologized to Shi Dakai.

"We are sorry, Master Shi. We were just being rude and spoiled your fun."

Li Ba frequented the Qishi Market and was aware that Zhou Heming, the head of the militia, had recently been trying to recruit the village's Shi family into the militia.

Zhou Heming held Shi Dakai and his group in high regard; the Shi brothers' status after joining the militia was no lower than Li Ba's. Considering this, Li Ba dared not cause trouble for the Shi brothers.

Of course, if things get heated, you can't win a fight.

I was often beaten by the Shi brothers when I foolishly went to Shi Ji Charcoal Shop to collect "peace money".

"You're smart enough to get out of here!" Shi Zhenlun habitually pointed at Li Ba's nose and cursed.

In just a few words, the twelve or thirteen militiamen slunk out of the courtyard, not forgetting to politely close the door behind them before leaving.

Peng Gang felt a mix of emotions. How united their clan was! He wished he had such a united clan to rely on.

"Brother Dakai, is it true that you're going to drink with Director Zhou to organize those village militia?" Peng Gang asked. "Or is it just a pretext to deceive those militia members?"

"Master Peng, I'm not bragging, but those dozen or so bastards can be beaten to a pulp by Zhenji and me. We won't even need to make up some excuse to scare them," Shi Zhenlun said disdainfully.

Although the Shi brothers, Shi Zhenlun and Shi Zhenji, are not as tall as Peng Gang, they are still about 168 centimeters tall and have a lot of muscle, making them look like they are trained fighters.

Peng Gang had no doubt that the two brothers were capable of defeating twelve or thirteen militiamen.

The Shi brothers are famous in Guixian County, not only because of the unity of their clan, but also because of their fierce fighting skills.

"It's true." Shi Dakai nodded, indicating that it was indeed true.

“Zhou Tuandong is a local, while we are all foreigners speaking Hakka. Why would he recruit people to join the militia? Besides, you have already joined the God Worshipping Society,” Peng Gang asked, puzzled.

Peng Gang didn't know much about the local militia in Guixian County, but he had heard of Zhou Tuandong, the biggest leader of the local militia in Guixian County.

Zhou Tuandong's full name is Zhou Heming. He is the wealthiest Tujia man in Guixian County and holds the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations).

In terms of wealth, Zhou Heming and Qiu Gusan, the wealthiest Hakka man in Guixian County, are about equal.

The conflict between the Hakka and Tujia people in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions was acute. In the disputes between the Hakka and Tujia, apart from Jiaying Prefecture (Meizhou) in Guangdong where the Hakka forces were clearly dominant, the government in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions had always favored the local Tujia forces and tended to cooperate with the Tujia gentry. They believed that the outsiders were too arrogant and difficult to control, and worried that if the outsiders grew too powerful, the government would not be able to control them and would break the existing balance in Guangxi. Therefore, they intended to suppress the Hakka forces.

In the twenty-third year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign (1843), when Guixian County first established its local militia, both Zhou Heming and Qiu Gusan were vying for the position of head of the local militia. However, the local magistrate ultimately chose to cooperate with Zhou Heming, a gentry member from Tujia Township.

Peng Gang didn't quite understand why Zhou Heming would try to recruit the Shi brothers, Hakka people and members of the God Worshipping Society, into the Guixian militia.

(End of this chapter)