The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 164: Zeng Guofan, this cunning guy, also betrayed us?
Changsha City, Yibu Gate.

Like Chaozong Gate, Yibu Gate is a city gate next to the Xiangjiang River. There is also a wharf outside the city gate, called "Yibu". It was originally the main road for officials to enter and leave Changsha by water, and it was not very prosperous. However, with the rapid increase in population, the originally deserted Yibu Gate has become lively. Like Chaozong Gate, a commercial street has appeared along the river. The streets are lined with shops.

Most of the shops inside and outside Chaozong Gate are grain stores and rice shops, while the shops outside Yibu Gate mostly sell livestock. Fatty Wu was selling pigs and sheep into the city this time, so he naturally entered the city through Yibu Gate.

It was almost noon when Fatty Wu, Sushun, Shengbao and others landed. It should be the busiest time on the street, but there were no people on the street outside the Yibu Gate. Most of the shops on both sides of the street were closed. There was a restaurant near the city gate that looked very prosperous. The door was open, but it didn't look like it was open for business. Even the tables and chairs inside were gone. There was only a group of well-dressed refugees crowded inside. I don't know where they came from. They just stared blankly at Fatty Wu, Sushun, Shengbao and others driving pigs and sheep passing by.

There was a tax checkpoint of the Taiping Army outside the Yibu Gate, which stopped Fatty Wu from buying pigs and sheep and insisted on collecting taxes. Fatty Wu then took the purchase contract signed with the Tianshi Mansion to negotiate, and asked Sushun and Shengbao to wait outside the restaurant first.

Sushun was a Manchu noble, the son of the dignified Prince Zheng! Naturally, he disdained to deal with these Han gentry who had fled. However, Shengbao was a man who could strike up a conversation. He actually struck up a conversation with an elderly gentry who was sitting on the doorstep smoking a pipe.

"What's your name, old man?"

"No need to bother, my surname is Huang. Judging from the accent, this gentleman is from the north, right?"

"Yes, I am from Zhili, my last name is Guan, and I came south to sell horses. Is Mr. Huang from Changsha? Is this shop yours?"

"No, the owner of this shop ran away when the Taiping Army came. I fled from Yongzhou and originally rented a house nearby, but the rent was too expensive and I was short of money, so I just..."

The old gentleman stopped talking about his sad part, took a deep puff of his pipe, and blew out a cloud of smoke that covered his wrinkled face.

Shengbao didn't want to end the conversation, so he asked him again: "Yongzhou Huang family? Who is Huang Ziying to you?"

"We are just from the same clan. We are all from the Lingling Huang lineage, and we are all of the Shi generation. However, the Lingling Huang family is a large family with too many people, and it has been passed down for so many generations."

"Old man, you have been in Changsha for some time, right?" Shengbao did not discuss the family tree with the old man, but led the topic to Changsha, "How is the situation in Changsha?"

"It has been a while." The old man took another puff of his pipe and exhaled some smoke. "It was a chaotic time. Oh, I won't say more. I won't say more. You will see for yourself when Mr. Guan enters the city! Oh, when the country prospers, the people suffer! When the country perishes, the people suffer!"

Shengbao also sighed, and lowered his voice to ask: "Brother, I heard that there is a Bull Demon King among the Taiping Army in Changsha City. Is this true?"

Although these words were asked in a low voice, Sushun was able to hear them by pricking up his ears.

"There is such a thing as the Bull Demon King!" The old man Huang shook his head and said, "It's incredible to say, but on the day when the Taiping Army rushed into Changsha City, I did see a huge shadow of a Bull Demon appear on Huangdao Street."

"Did you see it with your own eyes?" Sushun turned his head and looked at the old man with sharp eyes. "You live outside the Yibu Gate, can you see it?"

"This gentleman, you may not know that at that time I was still living on Taiping Street in Changsha. That night, the sounds of killing and artillery were deafening. How could I sleep? I went up to the second floor to watch, and what I saw was a huge phantom of a bull demon! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it even in my dreams!"

"What happened next? What happened to the Bull Demon's phantom?" Shengbao asked again when he saw that the old man was silent.

"Later, later." The old man looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Shengbao seemed to understand something and immediately took out two pieces of silver and handed them over.

After Old Man Huang put away the silver, he started talking again: "Later, I saw balls of fire coming out of Huangdao Street, and the Bull Demon's shadow disappeared." "Have you seen it again after that?" Sushun asked again.

"I've never seen it before," the old man shook his head. "I haven't seen it since. Maybe the demons are afraid and have fled away?"

Shengbao and Sushun looked at each other. Sushun seemed to want to ask something else, but Fatty Wu came hurriedly over. He clasped his fists towards Old Man Huang, then said to Shengbao and Sushun, "Finally, we have an agreement. These Guangxi people are really hard to reason with. Let's go into the city and send the pigs and sheep to the Angel's Mansion first."

The situation in Changsha was similar to that outside Yibu Gate, except that there were many more ragged beggars on the streets.

Most of the shops on both sides of the originally bustling street were closed, only a few shops selling rice and grain were still open, and there was some business, but the customers coming in and out all had sad faces, and some were even cursing.

Sushun and Shengbao could not understand Hunan dialect very well, so Fatty Wu whispered to them: "The price of rice in Changsha has been rising every day recently, and it has more than doubled compared to before the Taiping Army entered the city!"

"It has increased so much?" Sushun was surprised, "Don't they care about the lives of the people?"

Fatty Wu just shook his head: "What can we do? The waterway in and out of Changsha has not been fully opened yet. I don't know how much money we have to pay along the way."

As soon as he said this, a group of Taiping soldiers with red scarves on their heads suddenly appeared at a crossroads ahead. Each of them held a spear and lined up at the intersection, blocking the road.

"What's going on again?" Fatty Wu complained, bowed to Sushun and Shengbao, and hurried up to negotiate.

"Let's go take a look," Shengbao leaned close to Sushun's ear and whispered, "This place is not far from the governor's office. I wonder what happened?"

Sushun nodded, and followed Shengbao to chase Fatty Wu to the intersection.

The three of them had just reached the intersection, and before they could ask any questions, they heard a Taiping soldier with a Hunan accent shouting in Mandarin: "Don't worry, don't worry. A great master is coming to Changsha to meet the angel, so the road is temporarily closed!"

"Why is there another master coming to Changsha to worship the angel?" asked a citizen passing by Changsha City.

The Taiping Army soldier was friendly and replied with a smile: "Master Tianshi and Deputy General Manager Su are getting married soon, and the masters from all walks of life will send people over for a drink and to make some contacts. It's human nature!"

All the lords and masters in all aspects?

What does this mean?
Just as Sushun and Shengbao were thinking about it, the Taiping Army shouted, "Here they come, here they come, stop making noise, it will be over soon!"

Sushun and Shengbao looked around and found that the Changsha people who were blocked at the intersection had no intention of kneeling or avoiding, but stretched their necks to watch the fun. They knew that there were no rules on the Taiping side, so they also stretched their necks to watch.

After a while, a group of people came up, with the Taiping Army in front wearing red scarves, about a hundred of them. Then came more than a hundred soldiers wearing blue cloth and short robes with right lapels, carrying swords, spears and muskets, one of whom was holding a banner with the inscription "Minister Zeng of Tuanlian".

Minister Zeng? Was there also a Hunan Minister Zeng in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?
Sushun and Shengbao were just confused when a familiar face and familiar clothes appeared in their sight.

The familiar face is composed of drooping eyebrows, triangular eyes, high cheekbones, a big beard and some other parts. At first glance, isn’t this the evil face of Zeng Guofan?
Why did he, a Hunan militia minister, come to Changsha instead of staying in Changde Prefecture? Which militia minister was he?

And the familiar clothes are even more frightening. It is a cotton robe with wide sleeves and a right lapel. He has a hood on his head and a simple-shaped long sword on his waist. Except for the hood used to cover his "bald head", he is dressed exactly like Confucius in the portrait!
(End of this chapter)