The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 211: Fake Father, Foreign Lord, There is a Devil

Jiangling County, Shashi Town.

As the year draws to a close, the temperature is still below freezing. There was a heavy snowfall a while ago, and the snow has not melted yet. There is a thick layer of white snow on the roofs of all the houses in Shashi Town. From a distance, it looks like a blanket of silver. However, the snow on the Shashi pier and the roads in the town had been cleared long ago.

The three senior officials, Imperial Commissioner Senggelinqin, General Guan Wen, who was in charge of Jingzhou, and Zhang Liangji, the Governor of Huguang, were standing worriedly on the dock without any snow or ice, watching an official ship with a large flag with the word "Zeng" flying slowly approaching.

"Your Highness, it would be fine if I and General Zhang came to greet you, but you are a prince, the Minister of the Imperial Guards, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Yellow Banner Mongolians. Isn't it a bit too grand to personally greet Zeng Disheng's father? Even if he carries a banner, he is just a bannerman. Why don't you go to the garrison office in the town to rest first? I and General Zhang will be here."

The speaker was Wang Jia Guanwen, the general in charge of Jingzhou. He was a bondservant of the Plain White Banner. According to the decree of Emperor Xianfeng, Zeng Linshu and Zeng Guofan, father and son, were both members of the Han army of the Bordered Yellow Banner.

The Han army of the Bordered Yellow Banner was higher than the Baoyi of the Plain White Banner, and Guan Wen was a nursing general. His official position was the deputy commander of the left wing of the Eight Banners Garrison in Jingzhou. It seemed reasonable for him to personally welcome the Minister of Tuanlian and the father of the Minister of the Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army. As for Zhang Liangji, he was a Han Chinese!
But Senggelinqin was a prince, and one of the governors of the Bordered Yellow Banner! The governor personally welcomed the flag guards. This was equivalent to the general manager of a large company standing at the gate to personally welcome an old man who was guarding the gate. It was a bit too grand no matter how you looked at it.

Senggelinqin shook his head and smiled bitterly, "The Taiping rebels are preparing ships in Hanyang and Wuchang, training soldiers, and buying horses at high prices. I am worried that they will go north along the Han River during the spring flood after the New Year, first take Xiangyang, and then invade the Central Plains!"

"Ah, then my Great Qing Dynasty is..."

"Isn't it?"

Guan Wen and Zhang Liangji both gasped.

Now the defense of Xiangyang is very empty! Xiangyang was originally the headquarters of the Hubei governor's office. The Hubei governor's 3,000 soldiers were stationed in Xiangyang. But Shuangfu had sent troops from Xiangyang before and had taken away 1,500 of the 3,000 Green Camp soldiers who were still able to fight. Now there are only 1,500 old and weak soldiers left. How can they stop the wolf-like and tiger-like long-haired soldiers?
Guan Wen will never forget how those crazy long-haired men charged forward carrying Hong Xiuquan's "little house"!

Senggelinqin sighed and said in a low voice: "Now the Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers in Hubei are in a state of collapse. We can only rely on the Xianghu militia to defend Xiangyang. Xiangyang must not be lost!"

Standing on the other side of Senggelinqin, Zhang Liangji, the governor of Huguang, who was short and fat, had a round face and a submissive expression, immediately took over Senggelinqin's words and patted his chest to assure: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will move the governor's office to Xiangyang after the New Year. I have already made an agreement with Zuo Jigao, and he will send Gaozi's fifth battalion to Xiangyang to assist in the defense."

Senggelinqin nodded, finally showing some relief on his face.

At this time, the official ship carrying "Zeng Linshu" and Zeng Guofan and his son finally docked at Shashi Wharf, and the gloomy faces of Senggelinqin, Guan Wen, and Zhang Liangji suddenly brightened up. Then the three smiling Qing officials saw Zeng Guofan, the "filial son", supporting an old man with triangular eyes, a big beard, a face full of flesh, and a big waist, coming out of the cabin.

It's obvious that this old man has practiced martial arts. He is half a head taller than Zeng Guofan, but he looks quite similar to Zeng Guofan. They both have triangular eyes and a big beard. They must be father and son!
Zeng Guofan also had a filial look on his face, with the corners of his mouth twitching a little. He smiled and glared at his good student Huang Shijie fiercely with his triangular eyes.

This Huang Shijie seemed quite reliable when he took on so many responsibilities, but it turned out that the "fake father" he brought to Zeng Guofan was actually a militia coach from the Huang family in Etang, a man named Wu Zhiyong, a scholar!
Although they are of the same age, have triangular eyes and big beards, they also look like villains. But the direction of "evil" is different. Zeng Guofan is a "civil villain", while this guy has a face full of fat, and is a "military villain". And this guy's head is too big, Zeng Guofan standing next to him looks like he was picked up!

But Zeng Guofan had no choice. Time was running out. There was no time to change his father. Moreover, pretending to be Zeng Guofan's father was deceiving the emperor. Who would dare to do that? Only this "Wu Evil Man" was bold enough.

Not only was he bold and daring, he was also Huang Shijie's confidant, and he had a blood feud with the Taiping Army - his two sons and three grandsons were all killed in the land distribution movement in Daozhou!

In addition, Zeng Guofan's father was a scholar who failed the provincial examination seventeen times, so it would not be possible to marry someone who was uneducated. This Wu scholar was a man of both civil and military talents, and had beautiful handwriting, which was in line with the character of "a scholar who failed the examination seventeen times".

So this "fake father" is actually quite suitable for Zeng Guofan.
Seeing Zeng Guofan's grateful eyes, Huang Shijie also smiled and went up to him, lifted up the other arm of Zeng Guofan's "fake father", and said to Zeng Guofan with a smile: "Teacher, rest assured, I will take good care of you along the way."

Zeng Guofan sighed helplessly and ordered: "Ziying, when you arrive in Beijing, remember to visit your senior brother Li Shaoquan. Among my students, Shaoquan is the most talented. Now is a chaotic time, it is his chance to make achievements. Please persuade him on my behalf not to make trouble in the Hanlin Academy. The Taiping rebels will soon attack his hometown. This is his disaster, but also his opportunity. You must seize it!"

Huang Shijie said respectfully, "I understand. I will definitely visit Brother Shaoquan when I arrive in Beijing."

In the British Concession in Shanghai, in a newly built three-story British-style building located on the bank of the Huangpu River, an old foreigner with a square face, a high and pointed nose, and two big beards on both sides of his face was holding a document titled "Secret Report on the Discovery of the Devil in China" and reading it carefully.

This old foreigner is called Aliguo. He is the British Consul in Shanghai and the current British Concession is under his jurisdiction.

Opposite Aliguo's desk sat two other younger foreigners. One was an American in his forties, with a round face, red neck, and a big belly. His name was Ma Hui. He was the U.S. consul in Shanghai. It was said that he had served as a major in the National Guard of a certain state. He particularly liked people calling him "Major."

The other one was in his thirties, well-proportioned, elegant, a Frenchman named Ai Tong, who was originally an employee of the French watch shop Li Ming Ming, and was now the French consul in Shanghai. The "Secret Report on the Discovery of the Devil in China" that Aliguo was reading was brought by him - the Tu Lama not only gave a copy of the report to Prince Gong, but also sent an assistant priest from the St. Nicholas Lama Temple to take the report to Shanghai and hand it over to the Catholic Church in Shanghai. At this time, France had just changed from a republic to an empire. The newly-minted Napoleon III held high the banner of Catholicism, claiming to be the protector of Catholicism and was particularly friendly to the church, so the Catholic Church in Shanghai handed the report to Ai Tong, the French consul in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the three foreign officials, Aliguo, Aitong and Major Ma Hui, were worried about the successive victories of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Now that they had rare first-hand information, of course they had to get together to study it.

Although discovering the devil seems a bit absurd, these three foreign gentlemen cannot say that the "devil" does not exist now!
They all worship God, especially Aitong, who was a clerk in a watch shop. He didn't worship God much when France was in the Second Republic. But after President Napoleon became emperor, he became pious and went to church to worship God every week.

Since he firmly believes that God exists, it is possible that the devil could appear in China.
The American redneck consul Ma Hui also likes to worship God. He is a believer of the Presbyterian Church and goes to church every week to worship God. There are many legends about the devil in the United States. Although he does not really believe in them, he likes stories about them very much and does not mind becoming the protagonist of a story about an American Presbyterian who defeats the devil in China.

However, Aliguo, an Anglican, wanted to throw this report into the trash can - it was obviously nonsense!

A devil fell from the sky, a devil with horns and a human body riding a bicycle. That bear bishop must have drunk too much vodka to write such a report!
Thinking of this, Aliguo put down the documents in his hand, looked at the French "little clerk" and the American country bumpkin major in front of him, smiled bitterly and said, "Gentlemen, what do you think about the issue of discovering the devil in China?"

(End of this chapter)