The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 185: Deceiving the emperor is an art and even a science!

Changsha City, Hunan Governor’s Office!

"Hahaha, I, Luo Bingzhang, am back again!"

In the lobby of the governor's office, Luo Bingzhang's hearty laughter was heard again.

"Ji Gao, Luo Shan, hurry up and draft a memorial for me. I want to report the victory to the emperor! Just say that I led the people to attack the city, braved the arrows myself, and fought for seven days. Finally, I broke into Changsha City. Now I have recovered most of Changsha, including seven of the nine gates of Changsha. I have also recovered the governor's office, and the siege of Tianxin Pavilion has been lifted. By the way, I also want to commend the officials and generals! Ke Zhai, you are the first meritorious, Ji Gao, you are the second meritorious, Luo Shan, you are the third meritorious."

It turned out that when Luo Yaoguo and Xiao Chaogui were beating up Sai Shang'a and Xiang Rong, and Hong Xiuquan was fighting Senggelinqin, Luo Bingzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Luo Zenan, Shengbao and his gang had finally taken back most of Changsha City by buying and fighting!

Yes, that's half a dozen.

After Luo Yaoguo's army left the city, only Zhu Jiutao's disciples were left in Changsha. They were no match for the Taiping Army, and were just militiamen. They could not fight against the more than 20,000 Qing troops outside the city. Moreover, Changsha had a Tianxin Pavilion and a Yingchun Gate in the hands of the Qing army, so they could enter the city at any time.

So after some discussion, Mr. Zhu decided to sell most of Changsha City to Luo Bingzhang. However, Mr. Zhu did not sell all of Changsha City. He still kept Huangdao Gate, Derun Gate, and the area from Huangdao Street to Taiping Street, Cai Gong Tomb and Shimapu outside the city, and Juzizhou in the Xiangjiang River.

In this way, once the main battle between the Taiping Army and the Qing Army in the south determines the winner, Mr. Zhu can immediately take back Changsha City.

After Luo Bingzhang spent money to buy most of Changsha City, the Qing army that entered the city treated the impoverished gentry in Changsha who were looking forward to the Qing army as rebels.

Although Luo Yaoguo was full of malice towards the gentry and landlords, he was very strict in restraining his troops. His troops not only had a lecturer system, but also female soldiers who could serve as military police, so his troops did not plunder when they entered Changsha City.

Zhu Jiutao was originally a local boss in Changsha. All the merchants in Changsha had paid him protection fees, and many of them were his disciples. If you want to be a gangster, you must be loyal! Since they paid the protection fee and worshipped the old man, Master Zhu Jiu must of course control his disciples. He would not rob them of money or sex, but at most he would "have to pay more" - the protection fee must be increased!
But Zuo Zongtang and Luo Zenan's militia, Shengbao's Eight Banners soldiers, and Luo Bingzhang's Fu Biao Green Camp soldiers were not so polite!

After suffering for so long outside Changsha, I finally bought a house in the city. Shouldn’t I let go and make a fortune?
Many of them still owe debts to the King of Hell in order to redeem their lives!
It would take a hundred years to pay back the salary of those dead soldiers, so of course we have to start robbing now. This is a natural thing and no one can stop us.

The reason for this group of Qing soldiers was very good, to catch the rebels! In Changsha, anyone who cut off his braids was a rebel who joined the Taiping Army!
What? You still secretly keep your braids?

Then just cut it now!

At this moment, most of Changsha was transformed into a hellish scene, with flames everywhere, crying and shouting, fleeing civilians everywhere, and Qing soldiers looting crazily everywhere.

It’s still okay for ordinary poor people, but if you really have some property, even if you have made great achievements, you cannot escape the harvesting of the Qing army!

Even the Huguang Governor Cheng Yancai, who had just come from the west bank of the Xiangjiang River and entered the city through Chaozong Gate, was almost robbed by a group of Eight Banners soldiers! Fortunately, Feng Zicai was very fierce and led dozens of his men to kill four or five Eight Banners soldiers that Xianfeng had spent 600 taels of silver to redeem. He also captured a limping Eight Banners soldier and brought him to the furious Cheng Dazhijun.

The lame Eight Banners soldier kept crying and shouting, "Grandpa Taiping Army, please don't kill me. My family has money and can redeem me. I also know you, Luo Tianshi."

"Snapped!"

A slap came up, and the Eight Banners soldier's eyes were full of stars. Then he heard an angry voice yelling: "You bastard, open your dog eyes and see who I am?"

When the lame Baqi opened his eyes, he saw a crane patch.

"Crane patch? First rank. Governor of Huguang?" The Eight Banners soldier raised his head and saw a handsome old man staring at him. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "It's General Cheng. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm Aisin-Gioro Aduo, deputy commander of the vanguard of the Demon-Subduing Battalion, and I'm from the Prince of Yu's Palace!"

It turned out that the person Feng Zicai had captured was Jin Aduo, who had recently been promoted to the rank of deputy commander of the vanguard, a fourth-rank official.

He was a fourth-rank Eight Banner soldier, and was born in the Prince of Yu's Palace. Even though Cheng Yancai was concurrently the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and the Governor-General of Huguang with the title of Minister of War, he did not dare to kill an Eight Banner soldier of this rank in the street!

Cheng Yancai had no choice but to suppress his anger, nodded to Jin Aduo, and asked gently: "Where is Luo Ruzhai? Take me to see him!"

"Mr. Ru is in the governor's office," Jin Aduo answered, then felt something was wrong, so he asked again, "Cheng Zhijun, you are not going to go to Mr. Ru to file a complaint against me, are you?"

Cheng Yancai glared at Jin Aduo in anger and said, "What a bullshit complaint! You are an Eight Banners soldier and you are not under the jurisdiction of the Hunan Provincial Governor. Even I, the Governor, cannot discipline you, let alone Luo Ruzhai. I recruited Luo Ruzhai because the Xiang army was annihilated and Sai Zhongtang was defeated. I was chased all the way from Xiangtan to Changsha by Luo Yaoguo! If you don't prepare for the battle, his Taiping rebels will fight back soon!"

"Ah!" Jin Aduo's face turned pale with fear when he heard this, and he said in a trembling voice, "Cheng Zhijun, I will take you to see Luo Ruweng now."

"What? General Xiang's army was completely wiped out? Sai Zhongtang was defeated. How is this possible? Thirty thousand troops! Even if there were thirty thousand pigs for Changmao to catch, he wouldn't be able to catch them all in a few days!"

As soon as Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, heard Cheng Yancai's story about Sai Shang'a's defeat and Xiang Rong's annihilation, he felt dizzy. Fortunately, Zuo Zongtang and Wang Kuiyi helped him and he did not fall.

"Ji Gao, Zuo Ji Gao. Quick, send someone to get back the victory report for the Emperor!"

After calming down a little, Luo Bingzhang remembered that he had just reported the victory to Emperor Xianfeng.

Seeing that the Qing Dynasty was about to lose Hunan, it was really inappropriate to report the victory.

"No, no!"

"Mr. Ru, if you take back the victory report, you will be a criminal!"

Wang Kuiyi and Zuo Zongtang quickly stopped Luo Bingzhang.

Luo Bingzhang looked back at the two of them and said, "When the situation is so bad, reporting victory is just deceiving the emperor, isn't it?"

"Oh, that's not right." Zuo Zongtang said, "Have you returned to the Hunan Governor's Office? Have you recovered most of Changsha?"

"This is a great defeat for Sai Zhongtang and Xiang Junmen!" Luo Bingzhang had a sad face.

Wang Kui said, "The governor recaptured Changsha first, and Sai Zhongtang and Xiang Junmen were defeated later. Moreover, Sai Zhongtang and Xiang Junmen were not under the old man's control. They were at fault for the defeat and loss of troops, while the old man was meritorious in recovering the lost territory!"

"But in the current situation, what's the point of retaking Changsha? The three armies have been defeated and Xianghu Lake is hard to defend. Will the emperor forgive me for my mistakes just because I took back Changsha, which was destined to be lost?"

"Old Sir, you are wrong!" Zuo Zongtang said with a smile, "Changsha will be restored today, but Xianghu Lake will be lost tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The 800-mile express mail you sent today will be delivered to the front in four days. As for the news of the defeat of Sai Zhongtang and Xiang Junmen, you can delay it for a day or two and send it by 600-mile express mail. In this way, the emperor will receive the news of the defeat of Sai Zhongtang and Xiang Junmen three days later. By then, the imperial edict to reward you will have been issued long ago!"

Wang Kui smiled and said, "Then you will be able to secure your position as the Governor of Hunan!"

Luo Bingzhang frowned: "But, can the Qing court still control the affairs of Hunan?"

Zuo Zongtang laughed: "No, the old man's position as the governor of Hunan is stable! Because even if the emperor wants to punish you, no one dares to come to Hunan to take over. No one dares to come to Hunan, so naturally there is no way to punish you."

After hearing what these two people said, the Governor of Huguang Cheng Caicai who was present was dumbfounded!
Are officials in Hunan so lawless now?

The Governor of Hunan discussed how to deceive the emperor in front of the Governor-General of Huguang?

Aren’t you afraid that I will report you to the emperor?
But having said that, you were quite precise in deceiving your superiors. You calculated the date and schedule and executed your deception on time!

I have to learn this! My daughter Lingnan likes math, so I will ask her to do some math before I trick the emperor.

When Cheng Yancai was thinking about learning the advanced experience of deceiving the emperor in Hunan Province, Tazibu, who had just escaped from Tianxin Pavilion, walked into the hall of the governor's office, bowed, and then reported loudly: "Report to the governor, a large group of long-haired troops appeared on the west bank of the Xiang River and are heading north along the west bank of the Xiang River. The vanguard has passed Changsha City and is heading to Yiyang and Xiangyin!"

Going to Xiangyin or Yiyang? Are they going to attack Wuchang?

(End of this chapter)