The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 198: It's just about dividing the land! I've learned it too!

With a loud bang, the desk in the Qinzheng Qinxian Hall fell to the ground, scaring the eunuchs and palace maids who were standing around with their heads down to fall to the ground.

Several military ministers, cabinet scholars, and Manchu and Han ministers and vice ministers of the six ministries did not even dare to raise their heads.

Emperor Xianfeng, who had just pushed over the desk in front of him, stood there blankly when he heard crying coming from Chongqi, the head of the Ministry of Works, who was lying in front of him.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, my servant's father died so tragically, so tragically"

Chongqi was in his twenties, with delicate features and a gentle manner. His father, who died tragically, was called Sai Shang'a! He really died tragically, and he "died" twice, once he was "faked dead", and once he was "dying" - at this moment, Sai Shang'a was still being burned to death outside Chaozong Gate in Changsha, and was screaming in agony!
So what does "faked death" mean?

It is the passive form of "faking death to deceive the king"!

He did not take the initiative to fake his death, because he was captured by Hong Xiuquan and he no longer had the conditions to fake his death and deceive Emperor Xianfeng.

However, Senggelinqin was out of chivalry and did not say that he was "captured" or "missing", but instead made up a story about him dying a heroic death for his country.

According to Senggelinqin's memorial, after "falling into an ambush by mistake", Sai Shang'a led 8,000 death-defying soldiers to cover the rear, and fought a bloody battle with 50,000 Taiping soldiers on the side of the Xiangjiang River for three days and three nights. When they ran out of ammunition and reinforcements, they had to risk their life to break out.

On the way to break out, they encountered the Angel of Peace again. The "Bull Demon" Luo Yaoguo led 3,000 "demon soldiers", so Sai Zhongtang personally led Goshha on horseback to charge into Luo Yaoguo's central army. After beheading seven long-haired warriors in succession, he fell off his horse due to exhaustion, but still fought to the death. In the end, he was hacked to death by more than a dozen long-haired warriors. Before he died, he bowed to the north and shouted: "I, the slave Sai Shanga, am ashamed of the emperor's trust. I can only repay the country in my next life."

Look, how heroic it is.

It was precisely because of Senggelinqin's memorial that Chongqi was able to enter the palace in mourning today to ask for the grace of a grand funeral for his deceased father (actually his undeceased father).

With this grace, Sai Shang'a, who was being burned to death outside the Chao Sect, could be considered to have "died a worthy death". No one would bring up his past grievances in the future, and the future careers of his brothers and sons were also guaranteed.
However, Xianfeng was in no mood to admire Sai Shang'a's loyalty and heroism at this moment.

Because there were quite a lot of reports of defeat sent to Emperor Xianfeng today, in addition to the letter from Senggelinqin, there were also the "memorials on having to abandon Changsha City" sent by Luo Bingzhang and Luo Raodian, the "memorial on hearing that the Guangdong bandits were marching into Hubei" sent by Cheng Yancai, the "memorial on impeaching Cheng Yancai for abandoning Yuezhou without a fight" sent by Zhang Liangji, and so on.

All in all, it’s all bad news!
Oh, there is also a strange secret memorial from Zeng Guofan, saying that he wanted to raise the flag to Zeng Jia.
"Defeated? Defeated? Why did you lose?"

Xianfeng just muttered to himself: "It was fine yesterday, how come it was defeated overnight? Didn't Luo Bingzhang and Luo Raodian recapture Changsha City?"

"Didn't Senggelinqin and Saishang'a join forces? How did they lose? They had 30,000 troops! Luo Bingzhang, Luo Raodian, Zeng Guofan, and Shengbao had 20,000 to 30,000 troops. This is 50,000 to 60,000 troops! How did they lose like this?"

"How could a 50,000-60,000-strong army and the fortified city of Changsha be defeated by the Taiping rebels in one fell swoop? Even the Baling County of Yuezhou Prefecture was defeated? Isn't this too fast? Is the situation in Hunan beyond redemption? How did Sai Shang'a, Senggelinqin, Luo Bingzhang, Luo Raodian, Zeng Guofan, and Shengbao do their work?"

"Your Majesty, it is Cheng Yancai who deserves to die! It was because he deserted the battlefield and took away thousands of Hubei Green Camp soldiers that Changsha and Yuezhou fell so quickly. Your Majesty, please issue an order quickly to have him arrested and brought to the capital for the Ministry of Justice to discuss and punish! This will help boost the morale of the army and there is still hope!"

After the defeat at the front, the bigwigs in the court naturally wanted to find a way to cover up for their own people and clear themselves of the suspicion of deceiving the emperor, so they needed to find a scapegoat. Originally, Sai Shang'a should have taken the blame, but now he has become a loyal hero, so we can't let a loyal hero take the blame, right?
The Qing army's defeat in Xiangjiang can also be blamed on Senggelinqin, but several bigwigs have received Senggelinqin's letter, in which Senggelinqin told them that if they want to defeat the Taiping Rebellion, they will definitely not be able to rely on the Eight Banners and the Green Camp, and the only way is to organize militia! And organizing militia cannot rely only on the Han people, the Bannermen must also contribute!
Senggelinqin was going to his hometown, the Khorchin grassland, to recruit a Mongolian militia to help the emperor fight the Taiping Rebellion, and he also planned to reorganize the Eight Banners of the Beijing Banner!
After receiving Senggelinqin's letter, several bigwigs in the court knew that they could not let this monk king take the blame.

Because among all the bannermen, Senggelinqin had the best conditions for organizing militia, without a doubt.

Unlike the Eight Banners in other cities or the Eight Banners stationed in various cities, although Senggelinqin, a bannerman, had served as the Manchu and Mongolian governors of the Eight Banners for several terms, he himself was not a member of the Eight Banners.

Senggelinqin was not affiliated with any of the Eight Banners, but was the eleventh Zasakdoro Prince of the Left Rear Banner of Khorchin in Outer Mongolia. To put it simply, he was a vassal prince under the Emperor of Qing.

He had his own territory and people, but at the same time, because of Emperor Daoguang's trust, he was summoned to the capital at the age of 23 and did a job that was generally only done by the nobles of the Eight Banners, and he did it for more than 20 years.

So, Senggelinqin became a Mongolian prince disguised as a noble of the Eight Banners.

On the one hand, he was regarded as an Eight Banners noble by Daoguang and Xianfeng, and was trusted by them. On the other hand, he was a vassal king, and he could go to his own territory and recruit militia from his own people for Xianfeng.
Therefore, if Xianfeng wanted to set up a "non-Han militia", Senggelinqin was the only one he could do.

Since he is the only one who can do the job, he cannot be the one to take the blame.

It is not convenient for Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, to take the blame. If he does, he will not be able to continue his duties as governor of Hunan. But in the current situation, who is willing to take over the mess in Hunan? No one can take over this mess!
He did a terrible job and no one else dared to take over, so they had no choice but to let him continue doing it.

As for Zeng Guofan and Luo Raodian, one was the Minister of Militia and the other was the Assistant Director of Military Affairs, they were not qualified to take the blame. Moreover, the court was still counting on them to organize some militia in Hunan to provide some support.

So after all the calculations, only Cheng Yancai can take the blame.

So Qi Junzao, the head of the Han ministers, pushed Cheng Yancai out!
Xianfeng turned his head, bent his thin back, and looked at Qi Junzao. Ma Yan was a little angry: "The mission has come to this point. A province is almost lost, and you push the former Governor of Huguang, Cheng Yancai, to take the blame? Is there no one else? Moreover, it was fine a few days ago. Even Changsha was recovered. How come it was defeated in the blink of an eye?"

When Qi Junzao heard this, his heart skipped a beat.

The emperor finally realized that he had been kept in the dark?

What was he trying to do? Was he trying to dethrone a highly respected military minister?
"Your Majesty, I am incompetent."

Qi Junzao was also tactful. Thinking of this, he immediately bowed his head and was about to resign.

"That's enough, that's enough!" Although Xianfeng knew that he had been deceived by some treacherous ministers, he also knew that now was not the time to pursue the matter.

What matters now is that the ruler and his subjects are united and work together to overcome the difficulties!

In addition, as an emperor, he did not have any ministers who were particularly trusted in the court, so he could not figure out who was loyal and who was treacherous. Moreover, he believed that under the wise leadership of his father, the majority of the court officials were still loyal, and the treacherous officials were only a small minority.
Thinking of this, Xianfeng waved his hands and said: "I know you are incompetent! But who else can I use if not you? My teacher."

When mentioning "teacher", Xianfeng did not say anything else but sighed.

His teacher Du Shutian was supposed to join the military affairs department this year, but he died of illness while on a business trip abroad in June.

"Your Majesty, now is the time to recruit people. Du Wenzheng's son Du Han is both virtuous and talented, and is willing to take on responsibilities. Why not let him take over and go to the Military Affairs Office to learn how to walk."

Qi Junzao was able to become the chief military advisor, so he must have understood what Emperor Xianfeng was thinking. The emperor must have felt that there was no one of his own keeping an eye on the military advisory office, so he didn't know who to target?

Emperor Xianfeng finally nodded and said, "It's time to let Du Han come back."

Then, he became angry again: "Let Senggelinqin, Sushun and Shengbao come back! I want to ask them in person how this war was fought."

"Your Majesty, I, Yi Xin, have something to say!" Prince Gong Yi Xin knew that he could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, and quickly asked to speak.

"You?" Xianfeng glanced at his brother warily, "Go ahead!"

Prince Gong Yixin said confidently: "Your Majesty, the defeat in Hunan was not caused by the war. It was because the land in Hunan was not enough to support the people of Hunan. There were too many poor people who were about to starve to death! Therefore, the rebellious Guangdong bandits' method of robbing the rich to help the poor and dividing the land won the hearts of the poor and vicious people, and their war losses were quickly replenished."

"Although before the Battle of Xiangjiang, the Taiping rebels only occupied Hengzhou, Guiyangzhou, Yongzhou and part of Changsha, which is just a tiny corner for the Qing Dynasty, there are probably millions of extremely poor people in this corner. If we select the best and strongest people to join the army, we can get at least 100,000 soldiers!"

"The imperial court's combat-ready troops in Hunan are no more than 50,000, and there are many bad habits among the official troops, and few are proficient in martial arts. They may not be able to match the vicious and cruel soldiers recruited by the Guangdong bandits to rebel."

Prince Gong Yixin spoke very logically, and Emperor Xianfeng's face became more and more unsightly after hearing what he said.

He understood everything. Lao Liu was going to bring the topic back to the "thousands of miles of fertile land outside the Great Wall"!

It seems that the failure of this war was all due to the fact that the emperor did not listen to advice and had divided up the thousands of miles of fertile land outside the Great Wall earlier, the poor people in Hunan would not have followed the Taiping rebels.
"Humph!" Xianfeng snorted coldly, interrupting Prince Gong Yixin's words, and said confidently: "Isn't it just dividing up the land to buy the poor guys' lives? I can do that too! I have thousands of miles of fertile land outside the Great Wall left by my ancestors to divide up. Whoever helps the Qing Dynasty fight the Taiping Rebellion will be given the good land outside the Great Wall!"

(End of this chapter)