The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 258: Xianfeng: Father, our Qing Dynasty has taken back sovereignty from the British! (Request for subscription, request for votes)

Yu Garden, second floor of Hanbi Tower, night.

The red candles, the jade curtains, the bed creaks and shakes
"You, you, are you really His Royal Highness the King of Wu?" Zhou Xiuying's voice with a hint of surprise came from the jade tent.

"Why would I lie to you? Of course I am Luo Yaoguo!" Luo Yaoguo replied proudly.

"You are not. I have seen the real Luo Yaoguo!" Zhou Xiuying said shyly and annoyed, "He is not like you!"

"Then I am not." Luo Yaoguo said with a smile, "If I were not Luo Yaoguo, you would be in trouble!"

"Hmph, I'm not afraid!" Zhou Xiuying's voice no longer sounded shy, but rather stubborn.

"Are you really not afraid?" Luo Yaoguo threatened, "Those who assassinate an official of the imperial court will be put to death by slicing!"

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I won't be afraid, I'll just do it. Ouch, ouch."

Zhou Xiuying was stubborn at first, but soon she started to cry out "Ouch, ouch"
Luo Yaoguo stood up from a large mahogany bed and stretched himself, looking very satisfied. He looked around and saw Zhou Xiuying lying on the side wrapped in a quilt with her hair disheveled. There were faint marks of being tied by a hemp rope on her exposed arms. There were some tear marks on her face, but the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, clearly a happy smile. Her jade hand outside the quilt was holding a "Tongtian Mirror".

Zhou Xiuying was really nice. She was reluctant to accept the offer at first, but she was quite stubborn. During the "intermission", Luo Yaoguo took out the "Tongtian Mirror" that could prove his identity and showed her the "precious historical materials" inside, as well as photos of Luo Yaoguo wearing the dragon robe of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Afterwards, Zhou Xiuying burst into laughter and cooperated with Luo Yaoguo enthusiastically.

After Luo Yaoguo showed his prowess again, Zhou Xiuying asked Luo Yaoguo to help her untie herself, and then she massaged Luo Yaoguo's back and shoulders, and waited on him until he fell asleep before she slept with him in the same bed.

Hearing the sound of Luo Yaoguo getting up, Xu Yuegui came up from downstairs yawning. She looked sleepy, but still forced herself to salute Luo Yaoguo.

"Sister Yuegui, have you been guarding all night?" Luo Yaoguo felt apologetic when he saw how tired she looked.

This subordinate is really loyal! I seem to have treated her unfairly, and I haven't helped her rescue Hong Daquan yet. If Hong Daquan died in Beijing, she would be a widow, which is really pitiful.

Xu Yuegui smiled and said, "Sir, she came into the mansion with the intention of harming you, so of course I have to stay with her, just in case she..."

"Thank you for your hard work!" Luo Yaoguo nodded to Xu Yuegui apologetically and said with a smile, "I will take her to the Wu Wang Mansion in Yufeng Mountain, Kunshan today and let her meet Sanniang. When we get to the Yufeng Mountain Palace, she will understand everything.

What a silly girl! Fortunately, she met me, otherwise she would have been tortured to death."

"Your Highness, King Wu, are you talking about me?"

Zhou Xiuying's delicate voice suddenly rang out. This silly girl had woken up without knowing when.

Luo Yaoguo also stopped talking with Xu Yuegui, turned around and looked at Zhou Xiuying who was rubbing her eyes, and said with a smile: "Xiuying, have you slept enough? If you have, get up, and let's go to Tianjing together!"

"Tianjin?" Zhou Xiuying was stunned. "Tianjin Wei?" "No, it's the capital of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianjing, which was the Nanjing City of the Ming Dynasty!" Luo Yaoguo smiled, "But before going to Tianjing, I will take you to Kunshan to meet my first princess, Su Sanniang. As long as she nods, you will be my second princess! Xiuying, are you willing to be my second princess?"

Zhou Xiuying was overjoyed: "Yes, Xiuying is willing!"

She had originally decided to use her beauty to charm the Great Qing demon Luo Xueyan, and then find a way to assassinate him. Later, Luo Yaotou discovered her true identity, and she planned to give herself to the demon first, and then find a way to escape. Later, when she learned that Luo Xueyan was actually Luo Yaoguo, she didn't plan to escape. She had sold herself to Luo the Archangel, so how could she escape quietly? Lady Zhou would never do such a shameless thing, and she would be Luo the Archangel's concubine for the rest of her life.

Unexpectedly, Luo Tianshi gave her a "second princess". This happiness came too quickly! Thinking about how she had tried to assassinate Luo Tianshi before, she really deserved death!
Thinking of this, she knelt on the mahogany bed and bowed to Luo Yaoguo: "Your Highness, Prince Wu, Xiuying wants to apologize to you. Xiuying didn't know you were the Holy Angel Prince Wu, so she wanted to sneak into Yu Garden and seduce you with her beauty. She took the opportunity to assassinate you, and almost caused a disaster! Please punish me. No matter how you punish me, Xiuying is willing."

"She is a brave and responsible heroine," Luo Yaoguo was relieved after hearing Zhou Xiuying's confession. "Xiuying, although you didn't know my true identity before, you intended to assassinate me and sneaked into the governor's mansion. After all, you put me in danger, so you still have to be punished. I will fine you 200 lashes, just keep it in the account!"

Another 200 whips? Zhou Xiuying's skin tightened when she heard this. She owed 200 before, and now another 200, which means 400. But Luo Tianshi shouldn't be too harsh.
"Xiuying thanks Your Highness for the punishment. Xiuying had violated military law in Zhu Junshuai's army before, and was fined 200 lashes. I am willing to accept it all!" Zhou Xiuying was honest and told all the "debts" she had owed before.

"Okay then," Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile, "Just put it all in the account and pay it back slowly."

Luo Yaoguo then instructed Xu Yuegui, "Sister Yuegui, go arrange a carriage. Don't make too much noise, just have the pistol company escort them."

"Understood, sir." Seeing that Luo Yaoguo had completely subdued Zhou Xiuying, Xu Yuegui felt relieved. She quickly cheered up, turned around and went down the stairs to arrange Luo Yaoguo's trip to Kunshan.

Luo Yaoguo's pistol company was actually the original cavalry guards. All members were equipped with Colt 1851 revolvers purchased from Qichang Foreign Company. They changed from "mounted infantry" who could not ride, shoot or charge with guns to "cowboys". With a six-round Colt revolver, they were not afraid of Senggelinqin himself. Naturally, they had no rivals on the road from Shanghai to Kunshan.

At the same time that Luo Yaoguo was taking his new beauty to Kunshan, in the Taimiao of the Imperial City in Beijing, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, with a numb face and lame legs, was kneeling in front of a row of ancestral statues and crying bitterly, holding several memorials he had just received!
"Father," Xianfeng said with tears in his eyes, "the whole city of Jiangning was conquered by the Taiping rebels. All the bannermen in the city were slaughtered, and only a few escaped. Now Wuchang and Jiangning have been lost, and most of the Yangtze River waterway is in the hands of the rebels. Jiangnan is in terror, and the whole country is in turmoil. The Qing Dynasty is in jeopardy. I, your son, feel ashamed of my ancestors and my father."

"Father, although the Qing Dynasty is in turmoil, there are many loyal officials and righteous men who have stepped forward to serve the emperor and the country! In Hunan, there are Zeng Guofan, Jiang Zhongyuan, and Zuo Zongtang. With a single call, they have gathered tens of thousands of people and have trained hundreds of Hunan warriors!

Luo Xueyan, a returned overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia, was even more proficient in Western military science. He first trained hundreds of new soldiers in Hunan using Western methods, and then negotiated with foreigners in Shanghai, purchased thousands of foreign guns, and established 6,000 new soldiers in Shanghai. He defeated the 20,000 Taiping army in Kunshan a few days ago, and defeated the Taiping pseudo-angel Luo Yaoguo in Shanghai, and took the opportunity to recover the sovereignty of the Shanghai Concession from the British. Father, it seems that the fate of our Qing Dynasty is not over yet!"

This time, Xianfeng reported the bad news before the good news. He started by talking about the shock caused by the fall of Jiangning and the south of the Yangtze River. Then he brought out the four major militia leaders Zeng, Jiang, Zuo, and Luo. In particular, what Luo Xueyan did in Shanghai really brought honor to him as the emperor.

Defeating Luo Yaoguo and Su Sanniang was fine, but taking back sovereignty from foreigners was unprecedented since the Opium War. In the past ten years, foreigners have been bullying the Qing Dynasty all the time, occupying a concession, launching a religious incident, and constantly demanding "revision of the treaty", always wanting to suck the blood of the Qing Dynasty.

Although Emperor Xianfeng was willing to give the foreigners some benefits to buy peace, the problem was that the foreigners wanted too much. The Opium War paid more than 21 million yuan in compensation, which was just a one-time loss. In the ten years after the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty had a trade deficit for many years, and a large amount of silver flowed out. The Qing Dynasty itself did not produce much silver, and the outflow of silver naturally caused silver to be expensive and money to be cheap, and the court's taxes and various expenses were settled in silver.

On the one hand, the high price of silver and the low price of coins increased the burden on the lower-class people, and on the other hand, it weakened the financial resources of the imperial court, leaving the Qing Dynasty with almost no money to pay salaries and suppress bandits.

Under such circumstances, the foreigners wanted to go even further and take more silver out of the Qing Dynasty's pocket. If all the silver was given to the foreigners, the Green Camp and the militia would not be able to get the silver and would rebel together, then the Qing Dynasty would really be destroyed.

It was precisely because of this that Luo Xueyan's act of taking back the Shanghai Concession made Emperor Xianfeng so pleased that he immediately felt that the Qing Dynasty had a future again, so he dared to come to the Taimiao to report to his ancestors today!

(End of this chapter)