The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 122 Zuo Zongtang, changes have occurred (asking for monthly tickets)
After killing the people, Wang Kuiyi held the knife, recited anti-government poems loudly, kicked open the locked door, and walked out of the cell where he was imprisoned. There was no one outside the cell!
After all, he was a criminal official who was "locked up and brought to the capital", and the treatment of criminal officials and ordinary prisoners was different. The "cell" where he was imprisoned was just an ordinary courtyard located in a corner of the governor's yamen.

In the past, when any criminal official from Hunan was to be arrested and taken to Beijing, he would be detained in this small courtyard first, and then the governor's office would arrange personnel to send him to Beijing, usually soldiers from the governor's standard.

However, the soldiers of Fu Biao were busy deploying defenses and suppressing the enemy. How could they have the time to send Wang Kuiyi, a trivial person, to Beijing to be beheaded? Anyway, Wang Kuiyi was not in a hurry, so he was just left aside and no one asked about it.

In addition, Huang Shijie also said hello to Zuo Zongtang, asking him to treat Wang Kuiyi well. Huang Shijie was now very popular, so Zuo Zongtang naturally gave instructions. As a result, the soldiers guarding Wang Kuiyi were even less attentive. During the day, Wang Kuiyi could walk freely in the yard, and Zhang Zhongqing could go out to do things for Wang Kuiyi. At night, they locked the door and left it alone. No one expected that Wang Kuiyi would kill someone and escape from prison!
In the Qing Dynasty, the most common thing for a criminal official to do was to commit suicide out of fear of punishment or to kill someone and escape from prison. Those were not criminal officials, they were heroes in the storybooks.

But Wang Kuiyi didn't play by the rules this time! He read the "Anti-Scripture" and saw that those "rebels" were enjoying a good life. He was at his wit's end, so he got drunk tonight and tried to kill someone and escape from prison!
Wang Kuiyi had previously served in the Hunan Governor's Office, where he had worked as a "laborer". He was ordered around by some advisers who had no official titles or official positions. He was probably more familiar with the layout of the Hunan Governor's Office than Luo Bingzhang and Zuo Zongtang.

After leaving the small courtyard where he was imprisoned, he staggered around in the governor's office, holding the knife he had just used to kill someone. Some patrolling soldiers saw him, but seeing that he was dressed in a long gown and looked like a scholar, they thought he was a legal advisor in the office or a Hunan gentry invited by Zuo Zongtang. No one questioned him, and they let him go to a side door of the governor's office. As soon as he walked out of this side door, he saw a large group of militiamen wearing blue cloth headscarves, wearing uniforms with the word "Yong", carrying swords, spears, and muskets, and holding torches, lining up.

These militiamen were standing facing the side door, and they all saw the traitor Wang Kuiyi walking out of the door, but no one paid any attention. Who would have thought that a scholar who came out of the governor's office could be a traitor?

Wang Kuiyi was frightened by this group of militiamen and broke out in a cold sweat. He sobered up a little and quickly put the dagger into his sleeve. He turned around and walked away along the high wall of the governor's office, disappearing into the night.

As soon as he left, Chen Qishu, who had sent Sun Enbao away, and Zuo Zongtang came out of the side door with a few people. The two stood outside the door, and Zuo Zongtang whispered: "The rice shops in Chaozongmen must be firmly controlled, and according to my instructions, they must pile up fires next to the rice warehouses of the rice shops in Chaozongmen. Wait for my order!"

"Ji Gao," Chen Qishu said with some reluctance, "Do we really want to burn all that rice? The price of rice in Changsha is already high, and we have to burn Chao Zongmen's rice as well."

Zuo Zongtang's face was as gloomy as water, and he nodded gently: "Burn it. Burn it all! A merciful army is not good! Now is not the time to worry about these things. If we keep the rice, there may be no place for us to stand in Hunan."

"Yes!" Chen Qishu agreed and said nothing more.

Zodiac Street.

Yuanbao and Ronglu stood side by side on Huangdao Street. In front of them were many tables, chairs and benches that were moved from the shops on both sides of the street, blocking the relatively wide Huangdao Street. Only a small path on each side was left for traffic.

Behind the two men were thousands of Green Camp soldiers from Gansu and Shaanxi, carrying spears, muskets and holding torches. Although their comrades were killed by the Taiping Army in the night battle of Shimapu, they were still the second most powerful force of the Qing Dynasty, only slightly inferior to the Sauron soldiers.

They worked overtime late at night when they were asked to do so. They stood straight and didn't whisper to each other. The team was quite orderly and there was a real spirit of simplicity and courage.

Yuanbao and Ronglu both led the Eight Banners Army before, and when they compared themselves, both looked worried.

After all, the Qing dynasty was based on the Eight Banners. Now that the Eight Banners soldiers were so unbearable and the Taiping rebels were so brutal, the Han officials and gentry began to organize militias.
As the two were thinking about this, they suddenly heard an angry curse in Shengjing accent: "You, the descendants of the Eight Banners, are members of the Qing Dynasty. You have been supported by the country for generations and have lived off the people's blood and sweat. You should think about repaying the court, practicing martial arts diligently, reading more poetry and books, and keeping loyalty in your heart. Once there is a crisis, you can stand up and defend your country. How could you know that you are so unbearable? How can you face your ancestors in the future?"

Yuanbao and Ronglu looked at each other and smiled bitterly. The one who cursed was a distant relative of theirs, also a good-looking fellow named Wenxiang. He was a capable and learned man who passed the imperial examination and was good at calligraphy and painting. In the past two years, he had also taught himself some foreign affairs. It was said that his family had even hired a foreign-speaking teacher from Guangdong to teach him to speak English "tadpole script"!
But this man was a bit old-fashioned, and he was a Manchu who had lived in Shengjing for generations. He was relatively simple and could not stand the corruption of the bannermen in the capital. He started to scold those Eight Banners foreign tobacco soldiers from Beijing. He scolded them all the way. But it was useless. The Eight Banners soldiers ate iron crops, and the 1,000 Eight Banners soldiers who followed Shengbao south were already a strong force. If they were sent back, the ones who replaced them would be even worse.

As for deducting money, that was even more impossible. He was not from the Green Camp, so why didn't the gang sue him for deducting military pay? Moreover, the military pay was not under Wenxiang's control, but Shengbao's. Shengbao didn't want to offend anyone like that.

They can be beaten, but it can only be done lightly by their own people. They are all neighbors in the old city. Can they really beat them to death?
So Wenxiang had no other way to deal with those masters except to scold them. But today he was really furious. They were about to go to the battlefield, but these masters were still slack and decadent, smoking foreign cigarettes and dazed, and refused to get up. Wenxiang was so angry that he whipped them with a horse whip and finally urged these 1,000 Eight Banner masters to get up.

Then, these guys started to complain that the muskets were too heavy, that the thunderbolts were too heavy, and that they dragged their feet when they formed the team. When they drove over from the Jade Emperor Temple, they were still dawdling in the battle! Are there any of them like this? Wenxiang was almost pissed off by these people.

Just as Wenxiang was cursing vigorously, suddenly there was a drum sound from the Huangdaomen tower!
Wen Xiang quickly stopped talking, listened carefully, and vaguely heard the cry of "Oh no, the Bull Demon King is coming!"
The Taiping Army is about to enter the city!

"Hurry!" Wenxiang shouted, "Hurry and hide in the shops on both sides of Huangdao Street. Prepare fire sticks, thunder bombs, and muskets." He finally shouted with all his strength, "We are all descendants of the Eight Banners. Even if we die, we must die like heroes. We dare not bring shame to our ancestors!"

When Yuanbao, Bai Siwen and Ronglu heard this, their eyelids rolled. Is this what one should say before going into battle?
Not auspicious at all!
"Oh no, the Bull Demon King is coming!"

"moo moo"

"Crackling, crackling"

"Kill the Qing monsters and go to heaven! Kill the Qing monsters and divide the land!"

Outside Changsha City, the two teams, one running and the other chasing, are getting closer and closer to the Huangdao Gate!
Although Fucheng and his Goshaha wanted to lead the pursuers to Tianxin Pavilion, the pursuers already knew that the tower of Tianxin Pavilion looked like a city gate tower and were not fooled at all. They still drove seven or eight hundred Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camp infantrymen towards Huangdao Gate.

Zhu Ba, wearing a horn helmet and holding a red flag, was still walking at the front of the team. He had slowed down now, not because his legs were weak, but because the Gansu-Shaanxi Green Camp in front of him could no longer run.

Although this group of guys were the second most elite troops of the Qing Dynasty, they seemed to be much worse than Huang Shijie's Daozhou militia and Zhang Guoliang's "straw sandal men" when they ran away. After all, they had strong legs and would not lose their weapons when they ran away.

But the Gansu-Shaanxi Green Camp ran out of steam after less than five miles. Not only did they lose all their weapons, but many of them even lay on the side of the road gasping for breath. Zhu Ba asked someone to bring them over and saw that they were all elderly!

It turns out that the Green Camp soldiers are a hereditary military service with a lifelong tenure. Once they are appointed as "guard soldiers", they will have a long-term meal ticket. There seems to be no regulations on when they can be discharged from the army!
Now there are more old men in the team, and they lack exercise, so their physical strength is certainly not as good as the young men of the Taiping Army and Hunan militia. If Li Shixian, Zhu Ba and others did not hold back their strength, after chasing for more than ten miles, the Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camp would have been caught up.

At this time, the sky was already slightly brighter. Zhu Ba suddenly heard a long suona sound, so he stopped, holding a red flag in one hand and pressing the other hand on the hilt of the knife, looking at the Huangdao Gate a mile away. The city gate seemed to be open and the drawbridge was not retracted!
"Great! You are so brave to leave the city gates open! Now is the time for us to make achievements!"

Zhu Ba was so excited that his whole body was shaking. He held the red flag tightly in one hand, pricked up his ears, and waited for the charge.

Suddenly, the suona sounded again, this time it was two short syllables, plus two slightly longer syllables, and then three short notes again, which together made the sound of "didi - da di - didi"!

Zhu Ba waved the red flag vigorously a few times, then pointed it forward fiercely and shouted angrily: "Kill the Qing monsters and divide the land!"

(End of this chapter)