The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 206 There Have Never Been Any Foreign Brothers!

In an overly lavishly decorated hall in the West Palace, a few cups of tea were emitting a lingering aroma. Xiao Chaogui was wearing a wide-sleeved dragon robe embroidered with thirty-six dragons, without a hat, with long hair draped over his shoulders, sitting leisurely in the seat of honor.

Luo Yaoguo wore a plain red cotton robe with a cross collar, which was somewhat faded. He had grown his long hair for several months, which he tied into a bun with a wooden hairpin inserted on top of his head. He sat next to Xiao Chaogui and chatted with His Royal Highness the King of the West.

Queen Xi Hong Xuanjiao wore a dragon robe embroidered with twenty-four dragons, similar in style to Xiao Chaogui's. She sat on the side with Su Sanniang, who was also wearing a red robe. She listened to the two grown men talking with a smile on her face, and would occasionally interject a word or two.

Su Sanniang seemed reserved and dared not say a word - in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's system, Xiao Chaogui, Hong Xuanjiao, and Luo Yaoguo were all gods, while she was just a mortal.

"Old Eight, you are the Angel of Peace, with the same rank as the Winged King, and you have also reserved the title of King of Wu. According to the 'True Imperial Edict' issued by the Heavenly King in Changsha, you should wear a dragon robe with twenty-four dragons like Old Seven. How can you wear a plain red robe? And it's made of cotton. This is too frugal. No wonder the captain of the gate couldn't recognize you."

Xiao Chaogui seemed to have some opinions about Luo Yaoguo's dressing style. He pointed at the washed-out red robe and shook his head.

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said, "I have a dragon robe, which I wear when I go to court. Normally, when I am at home or out and about, ordinary robes are more comfortable to wear."

He didn't like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's exaggerated dragon robes, which were expensive and eye-catching - the best silk was selected, and twenty dragons were densely embroidered on it, and the material and labor costs would cost at least ten taels of silver. Moreover, wearing such clothes would attract too much attention and easily attract assassins!
Luo Yaoguo didn't dare to ride a horse when he went out because he didn't like riding in a sedan chair. So he just wore a plain red cotton robe as his daily clothes to show his hard work and simplicity.

Hong Xuanjiao, the "good sister", blinked her eyes and said with a smile, "Eighth brother, you don't have any silver, do you? How about I give you a few tens of thousands of taels? Your brother-in-law and I have received hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in the past two days. They were all sent by Chang Dachun, who offered Jiangxia City, and the profiteers in Hankou and Jiangxia acted as a middleman. This guy is indeed a corrupt official and knows how to make money!"

As she spoke, Hong Xuanjiao also laughed, not feeling ashamed of accepting bribes at all.

Luo Yaoguo just frowned slightly, and had no intention of teaching Hong Xuanjiao to be honest and upright. After all, she and Xiao Chaogui were now the "vassal kings" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Wuchang Prefecture and Hanyang Prefecture were originally their territory.
Xiao Chaogui smiled and said to Luo Yaoguo, "Eighth brother, please accept it. Your sister knows that you are short of money. Although you have received a lot of silver, your expenses are also high. Your upper army is paid every month, and the smallest holy soldier is given one tael and five cents of silver. There are also expenses for the Angel Palace, the Lecturer Group, and the Dark Hall. I am afraid that less than 50,000 or 60,000 taels a month will not be enough, right?"

Now, among the twelve armies under the command of the six commanders of the Taiping Army, namely Upper, Central, Front, Rear, Right, Left and Upper, only the Upper 1st and Upper 2nd Armies under the command of Luo Yaoguo, the commander of the Upper Army, have implemented a fixed military pay system.

The other armies did not have fixed salaries. They only gave out some silver to make their subordinates happy when they won a battle, especially when they captured a big city.

Of course, the military pay that Luo Yaoguo gave was not much. The lowest-paid holy soldier was given one tael and five cents of silver a month, and the highest-paid military commander was given thirty taels of silver a month. Luo Yaoguo only had one military commander under him, and that was Su Sanniang.

As an angel, he was a Winged King. According to the backward system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he could use the small treasury of the Angel Palace as he pleased. However, Luo Yaoguo still set a fixed salary for himself, thirty taels a month, the same as Su Sanniang.

The number of troops in the Upper One and Upper Two Armies has expanded to 24,000 to 25,000. The military pay for the two armies alone would cost 50,000 to 60,000 taels.

If we take into account the expenses of military rations, bedding, equipment, gunpowder, tents, and military rewards, plus the expenses of Luo Yaoguo's Angel Palace, Lecture Hall, Dark Hall and other three government offices, it would take more than 100,000 a month.

Fortunately, Luo Yaoguo is also very good at making money!
At the beginning, the "divide of floating wealth" in the division of land, land and floating wealth was 70% and 30% respectively. The God Worshipping Society took 70% and the poor peasants could only take 30%. Of course, of the "70%", only "20% and 30%" could be handed over to the Angels' Palace. Most of it was used to build the Chamber of Commerce, the Farmers' Association, the militia and the grassroots of the God Worshipping Society.

However, after accumulating little by little, the Angel Palace made a total of 500,000 or 600,000 taels!

Later, Luo Yaoguo's military force became stronger, and he was able to engage in big business such as capturing people, ransoming people, and "certifying the loyalty and martyrs of the Qing Dynasty." He made more than 300,000 taels of silver in Changsha, and this time when he attacked Wuchang Prefecture, he certified three great martyrs of loyalty and silver, and received a total of 170,000 taels of silver.

This is more than 500,000 taels, plus the 500,000 or 600,000 taels obtained before, the total amount he got is more than 1.1 million taels.

He made a lot of money, but he couldn't afford to pay his brothers monthly!
Therefore, there is less than 600,000 taels of silver left in the Angels' account, which should be enough to support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom until it takes Nanjing. However, Luo Yaoguo wanted to buy some good things recently, so he really didn't have much money on hand.

If Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao could lend him a few hundred thousand taels, he would be happy to borrow without paying it back.

Thinking of this, he nodded and said with a wry smile, "It's a bit tight. I spent over 100,000 last month! I don't think there will be any big income in the next few months, and I will have to make some big expenses."

"How many large expenditures?" Hong Xuanjiao blinked and asked, "How much are still short?" "Maybe a few hundred thousand taels!" Luo Yaoguo reported a number and looked at Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao expectantly.

"Puff so much? What are you going to do?"

When Luo Yaoguo reported this number, Xiao Chaogui was drinking tea. He accidentally choked on the hot tea and spit it out on the spot, earning a roll of the eyes from Hong Xuanjiao next to him.

"Eighth brother, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are a bit too much. Can you tell me what to do with them?" Hong Xuanjiao was very caring towards Luo Yaoguo, her "half brother" who was more than a hundred years younger than her. However, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were indeed a huge sum of money.

Even for the Western Palace, which occupied the two important commercial towns of Jiangxia and Hankou, it was not a small sum. However, Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao now had a request for Luo Yaoguo.

Hong Xiuquan, the Hong Tianwang, has already announced that he will lead a million troops to the south of the Yangtze River!

Where did these one million soldiers come from? Aren’t they targeting the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangxia and Hankou?
If this were to be taken away, Xiao Chaogui, Hong Xuanjiao and others would suffer a huge loss!
Although Luo Yaoguo took out the "Tongtian Mirror" and made an appointment with Ji Du in heaven, asking Ji Du to come down to earth to accept "instructions", Xiao Chaogui didn't know what reason to use to send Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing away. He discussed with his generals Li Kaifang, Lin Fengxiang and others in the past few days, and both of them thought Hong Xiuquan's idea was good.

After the Chinese New Year, we will send a million troops to the south of the Yangtze River. It will be done in two or three months! Wait until next summer and send another million troops to attack Yanyun. We will march north during the autumn harvest!
Maybe we can scare Xianfeng away from Beijing. If he runs away, wouldn't the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom be established?

After hearing what they said, Xiao Chaogui didn’t know what to say after “Ji Du came down to earth”?

I had no choice but to ask Luo Yaoguo over to ask him.

But I didn't expect Luo Yaoguo to ask for such a huge amount of money, hundreds of thousands of taels!

Although the Holy Treasury of the Western Palace can afford this amount of money, it will still hurt!
"I'm going to Shanghai!"

The reason given by Luo Yaoguo left Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao a little puzzled.

"go to Shanghai?"

"What can you do in Shanghai that will cost you hundreds of thousands of taels of silver?"

Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao asked.

Go to Shanghai, and of course become a "beach owner"!

However, being a "beach master" does not cost that much, and Luo Yaoguo has another very important matter to attend to in Shanghai.

Luo Yaoguo said: "Of course we go to Shanghai to buy foreign guns and cannons from the foreign devils!"

Xiao Chaogui suddenly realized: "Oh, you are going to Shanghai to buy foreign guns and cannons from foreign brothers!"

"No!" Luo Yaoguo said firmly, "Brother-in-law, there have never been any foreign brothers!"

"No, no foreign brothers?" Xiao Chaogui was stunned.

He was just about to say, "Don't foreigners all worship God?" Luo Yaoguo had already spoken: "Except your brother-in-law and Sixth Sister, everyone else, get out!" He turned his head and glanced at Su Sanniang, "Sanniang, you get out too! I want to tell your brother-in-law and Sixth Sister some secrets of heaven!"

(End of this chapter)