The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 163 Sushun "Steals Books"

"You two gentlemen, you don't know that this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a poor country, and it has a grudge against all the rich families in the world for killing their fathers and mothers!"

On a large, smelly ship carrying livestock heading to Changsha, the one who gritted his teeth and cursed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a fat man with a fat head and big ears! A fat man named Wu, he was Wu Si, Wu Abao, one of the nine disciples of Master Zhu Jiu.

He was now dressed like a rich man. He originally had a false braid on the back of his head, but he took it off when he boarded the boat at the Xiangjiang Pier in Xiangyin County. He also replaced his melon-shaped hat with a piece of red cloth, which he wrapped on his head. However, his clothes were still the same, an exquisite blue silk gown.

He continued to speak ill of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and while speaking, he handed two red scarves to the two "adults" in front of him who were of extraordinary bearing and had guards. He smiled bitterly and said, "If you two adults want to enter the city incognito, you should change your disguise. The poor Taiping Army is very mean to people like us who have wealth. If they find that you have braids, they will cut them off!"

When the two "adults" heard that they were going to cut their braids, they panicked and quickly took the red scarves and put them away. The guards accompanying the two "adults" seemed to be frequent visitors to Changsha, a dangerous place, and had already prepared their own red scarves, so they didn't need Wu Abao to give them to them.

And these two "adults" are of course Sushun and Shengbao, who are not afraid of dangers!

Sushun was a man of swift and decisive character. After agreeing to march into Changsha, he could not wait to reach the Tiefu Temple camp. In Xiangyin, he asked Shengbao to contact Wu Abao, an insider who had business dealings between Changsha and Xiangyin. He arranged a large wooden boat for transporting livestock, loaded with hundreds of fat pigs and hundreds of fat sheep as cover, and then took Sushun and Shengbao to Changsha together.

The main themes were a "secret visit" and a "surprise attack". But you couldn't show off your magical sword that could execute first and report later in front of the officials in Changsha, otherwise you would definitely get beaten!
That is the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

After putting away the red scarf, Sushun asked Wu Abao: "Why does the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have a grudge against the rich families in the world for killing their fathers and mothers?"

"Sir, have you ever heard that blocking someone's financial path is like killing his parents?" When Wu Abao said this, his fat face was full of anger, as if Luo Yaoguo had raided his house.

"Oh, how do they block people's money?"

"Divide the land, cancel the debts, and divide the wealth!" Wu Abao was so hateful that he looked like a rich and unkind landlord!

He pointed at his fat carrot-like fingers and said, "I have three thousand acres of paddy fields in the south of Changsha. Three thousand acres! I bought them with the money I earned from running a restaurant. They were all confiscated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's strongmen and distributed to the tenants. Those hundreds of tenants each got a few acres of land! That's not all, they also cancelled the high-interest loans that those hundreds of tenants owed me, which amounted to tens of thousands of taels! It's a good business with nine out and thirteen in. I can earn several thousand stone of millet in interest a year!

And, and, in my big house in Shimapu, I had three thousand dan of rice, dozens of boxes of silk and satin, and several thousand taels of silver. It's all gone, all gone. Seventy-three percent of it was given to the Taiping Army and those poor Koreans! Woo woo woo."

As he spoke, Wu Abao started crying, it looked absolutely real!
Shengbao even testified for him, saying, "Yuting, that's what the Taiping rebels did! They took all the good land, food, cloth, and copper coins and distributed them to the poor. It's a sin!"

"Not only that!" Fatty Wu said with tears in his eyes, "Many places have killed people, many people have been killed!"

"Who were killed?" Sushun asked.

"The landlords and gentry!" Fatty Wu said, "The landlords and gentry didn't allow them to share their land and wealth, so they killed them! If I stayed in the countryside, I would have been beaten to death by them nine times out of ten!"

"How could they be so perverse?" Sushun was shocked and looked back at Shengbao.

Shengbao nodded heavily: "That's right! Yongzhou Prefecture, Guiyang Prefecture, Chenzhou Prefecture, Hengyang Prefecture and other places are all like this! Since the Taiping rebels entered Hunan, they have become extremely ferocious!"

Sushun was still a little puzzled, and asked Fatty Wu, "Then why are you still doing business in Changsha?"

Fatty Wu shook his head and said, "There's nothing I can do. If I don't do business, what else can I do? Study for the imperial examination? If I could pass, I would have passed long ago! Besides, there are so many chefs and waiters who eat with me."

"Why don't the Taiping rebels kill the rich and help the poor in Changsha?" Sushun asked again.

"The Taiping Army doesn't do those things in the city," Fatty Wu said. "They won't touch the rich people who stay in the city, nor will they extort money from the wealthy merchants in the city. They just ask everyone to open their doors for business as usual and pay taxes as usual."

"Why is this?" Sushun asked puzzled.

Shengbao said: "This is because the landlords outside the city only collect rent and lend money, and do not participate in the management of the land. With or without them, farmers can grow food. As long as the food is grown, the Taiping Army will have food to eat. The wealthy merchants in the city have more things to take care of. If they don't manage it well, the business will fail. If their family property is divided, the business may be gone.

By then, the Taiping Rebellion will not be able to collect taxes, the poor families in the city will have nowhere to work, and it will be inconvenient for farmers in the countryside to sell their grain for something else."

Sushun was a little puzzled and asked, "Kezhai, how do you know so much?"

"That's what it says in the book." Shengbao took out Volume 1 of the Anti-Scripture and handed it to Sushun. "Volume 1 of the Anti-Scripture," Sushun said, "I have only seen Volumes 2 and 3 in the north."

"This volume one is the real thing!" Sheng Bao said, "Volumes two and three are more of a plot to sow discord, but volume one is the real way to teach people how to rebel! Not only does it teach people how to rebel, but it also teaches how to control people after they rebel!"

Fatty Wu echoed, "This gang of Tai-Hang is so evil that Changsha is full of poor gentry. Many people can't even afford to eat and have become beggars!"

"What?" Sushun's eyes lit up. "There are many impoverished gentry in Changsha?"

"Yes!" Fatty Wu said with a wry smile, "I am one of them too!"

"Won't the Taiping rebels arrest you?" Sushun asked again.

"No," Fatty Wu shook his head. "They won't arrest anyone who enters the city! We don't have to go to the provincial capital, we can just go to the county town and the Taiping Rebellion won't arrest anyone. They won't ask about the valuables they carry with them. If they meet a gentry on his way outside the city, as long as he doesn't have too many servants and isn't the family of the militia leaders who are their enemy, they won't detain him."

"Is that so?" Sushun asked Shengbao again.

Shengbao nodded, "That's right! The Taiping army can't tell whether the rich people in the city are fleeing from other places or have businesses in the city. Moreover, robbing the rich people after entering the city will easily undermine military discipline. The Taiping army is very strict in this regard!"

Sushun thought for a moment and then asked, "Are there any good gentry or common people in Changsha who miss the Qing Dynasty?"

"Too much!"

Fatty Wu slapped his thigh and said, "The poor outside the city have land to share, so they are naturally deceived by the Taiping. The people in the city, whether rich or poor, have no land to share. The Taiping has done them no favors and has caused Changsha's market to become depressed, making their lives difficult. Of course, they resent the Taiping and miss the Qing Dynasty!"

There are still people in Changsha who miss the Qing Dynasty!

Sushun was so excited when he heard this. If the people in Changsha were all loyal to the Qing Dynasty, wouldn't the Qing army have a great chance of counterattacking?
Fatty Wu seemed to think that Sushun didn't believe him, and he said in an unusually firm tone: "Sir, you will know when you go back to Changsha. The Taiping rebels may be popular in the countryside, but they are really not acceptable in Changsha! The people of Changsha all miss the Qing Dynasty, woo woo."

After saying this, the fat man started wiping his tears.

Sushun did not continue the conversation, but changed the subject and asked, "Is there an Angel of Peace in Changsha?"

"Yes, I have!"

Fatty Wu nodded and said, "This boatload of pigs and sheep was ordered by him for his wedding."

Shengbao, who was standing by, seemed unhappy when he heard this: "Wu Abao, don't you hate the long-haired people? Why did you sell pigs, sheep and cattle to that angel?"

"There are no cows, only pigs and sheep!" Fatty Wu said, "The angel doesn't eat beef, and doesn't allow others to eat it. And he really pays for things, and it's quite a bit. I can't go against the money!"

Don’t eat beef? Not only does he not eat it himself, but he also doesn’t allow others to eat it? That’s right, he is the “Bull Demon”!

Sushun narrowed his eyes and asked, "Boss Wu, let me ask you, is that angel injured?"

Fatty Wu nodded, "Yes, his ear was injured during the battle in Changsha, and he was recuperating in the mansion for quite a while. Half a month ago, I saw his right ear wrapped in gauze! Not only I saw it, many people saw it too!"

Sushun's face immediately flashed with joy, but he did not continue to ask questions. Instead, he changed the question: "You just said that the Angel of Peace is going to get married?"

"Yes," Fatty Wu said, "Tianshi Luo is going to marry Su Sanniang, the first female general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as his wife. All the generals under his command will come to Changsha City for a banquet. The Southern King and the Western King will also come. The Heavenly King, the Eastern King, the Northern King, and the Wing King who are far away in Yongzhou will also send people over. Naturally, there will be a big celebration."

This seems like an opportunity!

Sushun was immediately excited. All the high officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had gathered in Changsha to drink at the wedding of Luo Tianshi. Wouldn't other places be empty? It was just convenient for Senggelinqin to mobilize troops from all directions to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! And the hearts of the people in Changsha were on the side of the Qing Dynasty. Haha, God bless the Qing Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)