The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 112 The Heavenly Soldiers Have Arrived!

At the same time when Zuo Zongtang and Huang Shijie, two scholars of the Xianghu School of Statecraft, who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty and had militia in their hands and carried the Anti-Classics, stepped into Changsha hand in hand, more than a hundred large wooden boats were riding the north wind on the vast Xiangjiang River, heading south.

The hundred-odd ships were filled with Qing soldiers, and more than fifty of them were filled with Green Camp soldiers. The uniforms with the word "兵" on the chest were old and mostly washed white, and seven or eight out of ten were patched. Most of the soldiers were thin and had a slightly numb expression. It was dinner time, and they were all seen sitting in the cabin with their legs folded, holding dry and hard steamed buns in their hands, chewing them with cold water.

The officers had their own cabins, where they gathered together. Tables were filled with wine and fresh fish, and they were eating with hearty gulps. However, each of them had a sad look on their face, and looked worried.

As they drank cup after cup of wine, the officers began to talk in low voices.

"Have you heard? The bandits that started this time in Guangxi are really powerful. According to the Eight Banners soldiers from Beijing, they are bandits from the gods in heaven!"

"There are gods in heaven? Aren't they just religious bandits? It's not like the White Lotus Sect has never been defeated before, so how can they be a match for the Gansu-Shaanxi Green Camp?"

"That's right! Since we defeated the Three Feudatories, our Gansu and Shaanxi soldiers have been the purple and gold pillars of the Qing Dynasty and the bridges of the sea. The Eight Banners and the Saurons are not as tolerant of hard battles and fearless of death as our Gansu and Shaanxi soldiers! In recent years, the Eight Banners soldiers and the Green Camp in the south have all smoked foreign cigarettes and can't stand the hard battles at all!"

"What's the point of you guys enduring hard battles and not fearing death? In the end, won't the credit go to the bannermen? There are more than 40 ships of Eight Bannermen going to Changsha with you this time, all of them are elite troops of the Beijing Banner! There's also someone called Fumo Batulu leading them, it's clear that they're going there to make merit."

"What a demon-subduing Baturu. Even the White Lotus Sect of Chuanchu couldn't subdue him!"

"Hey, be careful with your words, be careful with your words!"

A group of captains with northwestern accents talked about the sad things of the general. They all looked droopy. They had almost finished drinking. Someone took out a pipe and started puffing. Soon the cabin was filled with smoke. The faces filled with reluctance and helplessness were covered by the smoke.

"Alas, those people are gathering together to smoke foreign cigarettes again!"

Ronglu pushed the door and walked into the cabin of the demon-suppressing Baturu, the second-class guard Guaerjia Yuanbao. As soon as he sat down on a chair, a helpless expression appeared on his young face.

Yuan Bao didn't smoke that stuff, because it was harmful to the body and also dampened his ambition. He was the demon-suppressing Baturu of the Qing Dynasty and had a bright future ahead of him. Why would he numb himself with that stuff? But he didn't hate drugs like the young Ronglu did. He just smiled bitterly and said, "Let them be. The Eight Banners children may not have to worry about their livelihood, but how many of them can make a living? Most of them live in a muddleheaded way, day after day of boredom. Taking a few puffs is like being a god!"

"But they are about to go into battle and fight the long-haired men. They don't conserve their energy or gather their strength, but just smoke and puff. Is that okay?"

Yuan Bao waved his hand nonchalantly: "What's the problem? If they smoke too much foreign cigarettes and go back to the battlefield and see the Taiping rebels coming all over the mountains and plains, they will probably be frightened to death before they even fight, and won't be able to die like men."

"That's what you said." Ronglu was still a little unconvinced, "We are also descendants of the Eight Banners after all. How can we be afraid of those charcoal burners, miners, bag carriers, boatmen and farmers?"

Yuan Bao glanced at this young master who was a dual-general in the same family and just smiled and shook his head.

In fact, he had the same idea when he left Beijing with Sai Shang'a.

Aren't they just a bunch of hungry paupers? How can they be compared with the noble descendants of the Eight Banners?
"You'll know once you're in the battle," Yuan Bao shook his head and didn't say any more to Ronglu. Instead, he pointed to the table of food and wine in front of him and said, "Come, have a few drinks with me. We'll be in Changsha tomorrow. Changsha is a great place! The girls in the brothels in Changsha are fair and tender, and they're all petite, but prettier than my Li'er and your Lan'er!"

When Ronglu heard this, his eyes lit up: "Really?"

"Really, really!" Yuan Bao laughed, "I heard from my elder brother that we should go to Changsha this time and not go south anymore!"

"Changsha? Aren't we going to subdue the demons?" Ronglu was stunned. "How can we subdue the demons if we stay in Changsha?" Yuanbao picked up the wine glass and drank it all. "Because the demons will be in Changsha soon!"

"To Changsha? Aren't we blocked between Lingling, Quanzhou and Lianzhou?" Ronglu asked as he poured himself a glass of wine and took a big sip.

"Hmm, Lingling is in the north, Quanzhou is in the west, and Lianzhou is in the south. It seems like there's one direction missing?"

"How come there is no east when there are north, west and south?"

"That's right!" Yuan Bao laughed, "If the east is also blocked, how can Lingling, Quanzhou, and Lianzhou report victory?"

"Puff!" Ronglu spit out a mouthful of old wine, almost spraying it on Yuanbao's face, "Is this true? Sai Zhongtang wouldn't be that serious, right?"

Yuan Bao smiled coldly: "The note from Mr. Luo, the acting governor of Hunan, was sent to my eldest brother's ship a few days ago. Guiyangzhou and Chenzhou have been lost! There are still tens of thousands of Taimao troops going to Hengyang via Chenjiang and Leishui. The Huguang Chengzhi army guarding Hengyang will most likely abandon the city and flee. After all, Hengyang is not his place of duty!

Changsha is now empty, with only two thousand Fu Biao and several thousand militiamen. People are in a panic and have been frightened several times a night. The only ones we can count on are our one thousand Eight Banners troops and three thousand Gansu-Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers!"

"Two thousand Fu Biao, several thousand militia, one thousand Eight Banners, and three thousand Green Camps of Gansu and Shaanxi are only a little over ten thousand. Can they hold on?" Ronglu counted on his fingers and immediately felt that the matter was serious.

"Yes!" Yuan Bao nodded heavily, "We still have a thousand holy bombs engraved with the cross symbol." He smiled coldly and lowered his voice, "My brother, Tu Lama, and General Fu of Xi'an Town have come up with a plan to set up an ambush under Changsha City and arrange a thunder disaster for the Bull Demon King that will shake the world!"

"Thunderbolt?" Ronglu narrowed his eyes, "Okay, blow this monster to death!"

Changsha City, outside Huangdao Gate.

The official road was crowded with people fleeing from south to north.

As the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's territory in southern Hunan grew larger and the policy of "dividing the land" was implemented like a snowball, more and more gentry naturally abandoned their properties and fled for their lives.

Not only did the landlords in Chenzhou Prefecture and Guiyang Prefecture, which had recently been controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, see that something was amiss and "made all the money they could", but many landlords in the areas along the north bank of the Xiangjiang River in Hengzhou Prefecture and Yongzhou Prefecture to the north, and even in Baoqing Prefecture, also felt that something was amiss and began to consider their own countermeasures.

After reading "Anti-Classic", some gentry felt that they had great potential and began to organize militia in their hometowns to fight against the "Guangdong bandits", while those gentry who felt that they were no match for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fled to the provincial capital of Changsha first.

Of course, there were also some gentry who came to Changsha with their militia and their families.

For example, Jiao Hong, a "big landlord" from Guiyang Prefecture, now rode in a donkey cart, led his entire family, and was protected by a hundred young men, and arrived outside the Huangdao Gate, exhausted.

According to Zuo Zongtang's order, martial law was imposed inside and outside the Old Nine Gates of Changsha. The city gates were half-open and half-closed, and wooden fences were erected. A group of Green Camp soldiers from the city defense camp, who were full of foreign cigarettes, stood there with their chests puffed out and their bellies bulging out. Master Zuo had issued a strict order in the name of Luo Bingzhang, that no matter who wanted to enter Changsha, they would have to be carefully checked to prevent spies from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

"Are you a long-haired spy?"

Bo Yong, who is disguised as the chief instructor of the Jiao family militia, is now being interrogated by a Green Camp captain!
"No, my master Xu is a scholar from Guiyang Prefecture!" Boyong smiled and said, while taking out a heavy bag of evidence and handing it over, "Here is the evidence."

The general took the evidence and looked at it. It was top-quality opium! On the paper that wrapped the opium were the four big characters "Huang Family Old Shop"!
The evidence is irrefutable, he is definitely not a spy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
(End of this chapter)