The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 293: Hong Tianwang: Are you all going to Shanghai? I want to go too! (Please subscribe, please ticket)
Yangzhou, Ge Garden, East Palace, Baoshan Tower.

Yang Xiuqing, the current ruler of Yangzhou and the Eastern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, leaned on the railing of this long building, looking at the small lake, rockery, and autumn colors in the garden below. A woman in a red jacket and long skirt, with a slender figure and a beautiful face, was sitting in the room, strumming the pipa in her hand and singing something in a humming voice: "The deep alleys are covered with yellow flowers, the windows are covered with red leaves, and the sound of autumn is desolate."

However, Yang Xiuqing was not very interested in the "Yangzhou Skinny Horse" given to him by Huang Xiqing, the general manager of the Lianghuai Salt Industry. He only kept it by his side to appease a group of Yangzhou salt merchants. In fact, he did not understand what the woman was singing. It was not festive at all, but a little sad. If Hong Xiuquan heard this tune, he would definitely be beaten, but Yang Xiuqing did not care. No matter what she sang, he just listened to it.

Suddenly, a sound of footsteps was heard, and Yang Xiucong, leading the Spring Official and Prime Minister Meng De'en, hurried up the stairs.

"Greetings to the Nine Thousand Year Old King of the East."

When Meng De'en was five steps away from Yang Xiuqing, he lifted his robe and knelt before His Majesty the Eastern King.

"Deen, what's the matter?"

Yang Xiuqing did not turn around to look at Meng De'en, nor did he ask the "thin horse" to shut up. He just asked softly amid the melodious sound of the pipa and the singing.

"My Lord, the Heavenly King sent me to Yangzhou to ask you when you will return."

Meng De'en came to Yangzhou to urge Yang Xiuqing to return and govern the country.

Ever since Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, crossed the Yangtze River to lead his army, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's court was handed over to Hong Xiuquan to manage. Hong Xiuquan was quite happy at first. He had been the Heavenly King for so long and had never been involved in government affairs. All he did was play with the Queen's women and edit the "True Covenant". Finally, when the "Four Living Fathers" were all gone, it was time for him to manage things.

I have all the power! I can do whatever I want. It makes me happy just thinking about it!
But who would have thought that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's direct jurisdiction was not large, but it caused a lot of trouble!
Now Shi Dakai is using troops in Anhui and Jiangxi, and Yang Xiuqing is fighting in northern Jiangsu. The military supplies for these two armies have to be raised from Tianjing.

Luo Yaoguo, Xiao Chaogui and Feng Yunshan, the three "living fathers", all occupied large territories, but did not pay taxes to Tianjing. They only sent some food or arms to Tianjing from time to time, but the quantity was not much and could not support the consumption of the two armies of Shi Dakai and Yang Xiuqing.

At the same time, the Tianjing court also had to manage the logistics of various battlefields around Tianjing, Zhenjiang Prefecture and southern Anhui - some of these places were basically controlled by the Taiping Army, while in some of them the Taiping Army only took a few strongholds, and there were still many territories to be pacified!

In addition, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s court expenses were also huge!

This was because Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing had brought more than 100,000 people with them in Changsha, plus those who had joined them along the way from Hunan to Tianjing. When Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing led their troops into Tianjing, not counting the personnel of the upper, front, and rear armies, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom court alone had to support more than 300,000 male and female soldiers from various armies!
Even though 60,000 to 70,000 people were taken away by Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai, there were still 20,000 to 30,000 people stationed or fighting in other places outside the city of Tianjing, and there were still more than 200,000 people eating dry meals in Tianjing!

Although these more than 200,000 people were divided into male and female camps and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not have to pay them military salaries, their food, clothing, housing and transportation had to be provided by the Heavenly Kingdom, and the actual expenditure was no less than paying them salaries.

In short, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s current court had very little income and too much expenditure, and it was simply unable to make ends meet.

As for Tianjing, the only big city under Hong Xiuquan's rule, due to Hong's poor governance, too many levies, and various rumors about the implementation of "separate camps for men and women" in the city of Tianjing, the population migrated out, all industries were depressed, and even the supply of rice, grain, salt and vegetables became a problem. Prices rose sharply.

Hong Xiuquan, who had only been in charge for less than a month, was already overwhelmed and began to miss his "living fathers".

But none of the "living fathers" want to go to Tianjing to clean up the mess, including "Yang God". "Yang God" now wants to take over Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Nantong Prefecture, and Haimen Hall - so that he can take over the Lianghuai salt industry!

Everyone in the world needs to eat salt!

As long as he had the Huai salt in his hands, Yang Xiuqing would never have to worry about having no money.

With the money, he could develop Guazhoubu into a "Little Shanghai", and then buy foreign guns and cannons to equip his direct Heavenly Kingdom Army.

In addition, as long as Yang Xiuqing captured Huai'an Prefecture, he would open the channel for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains.

The Northern Expedition was definitely the greatest political correctness of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

As long as he used Yangzhou and Huai'an as his strongholds and continued to carry out the Northern Expedition, he would be able to become the "first dad" among the "four living dads" and obtain money, food and muskets from Luo Yaoguo in Shanghai, Xiao Chaogui in Wuchang and Feng Yunshan in Hunan.

When everything is ready, Hong Xiuquan will be invited from Tianjing to the Huaiyang Army, and they will march north to attack Beijing together. As long as they win, he will be the number one in the Heavenly Kingdom!
"return?"

Yang Xiuqing said calmly: "De'en, go back and tell the Heavenly King that I will return after I finish my work in Yangzhou." "Your Highness, the Heavenly King hopes that you can return to Tianjing as soon as possible."

Yang Xiuqing turned his head and glanced at Meng De'en without waiting for him to finish his words.

Meng De'en shuddered, and quickly put his forehead to the ground, speaking in a low voice and hesitatingly: "There are many affairs in the court of Tianjing now. Among all the kings, only the Northern King is still by the side of the Heavenly King. I really can't handle it."

"Oh," Yang Xiuqing responded softly, "De'en, go back and tell the Heavenly King that the battle in Yangzhou is not over yet. I have only taken three counties and one state out of the six counties and two states in Yangzhou Prefecture. There are still Dongtai, Baoying, Xinghua and Gaoyou states that I haven't taken. We should take them all, right?

In addition, there is one state and two counties in Nantong Prefecture, as well as a Haimen Hall. After these territories are taken, I will go to Shanghai incognito. After going to Shanghai, I will return to Tianjing. "

"Go to Shanghai," Meng De'en said softly.

Yang Xiuqing sneered, "You can tell the Heavenly King: I want to go to Shanghai to broaden my horizons, meet the foreign brothers there, and buy a batch of foreign guns and cannons. The battle of Yangzhou went so smoothly this time because the King of Wu sent many foreign guns and cannons, and many foreign generals and soldiers who believed in the True Covenant came to help."

After saying this, Yang Xiuqing waved his sleeves. Meng De'en had no choice but to kowtow repeatedly, rolled up his robe and left.

Tianjin.

The north wind is howling and autumn is in full swing, but the construction sites of Golden Dragon City and Sun Palace are bustling with activity.

Hong Xiuquan rarely left his temporary Heavenly King's Palace and stood on the tower of Chaoyang Gate, quietly looking at the construction site below. A young and beautiful woman wearing a bright red Western-style low-necked corset and a bell-shaped puffed skirt stood beside Hong Tianwang, fiddling with a Western-style sealed "Bible. True Testament" in her hand. It was Hong Xuanjiao, the "Seventh Daughter of God".

This dress of Hong Xuanjiao was custom-made in Shanghai by Luo Yaoguo and sent to Tianjing for her. When Luo Yaoguo went back to Tianjing last time, she asked him what kind of beautiful clothes the foreign women in Shanghai wore. So Luo Yaoguo helped her measure her size, and after returning to Shanghai, he ordered Xu Yuegui to go to a Western dress shop run by a Westerner to custom-make a dress, and sent it to Tianjing together with the "Bible. True Testament" printed and bound in Shanghai.

Hong Xiujiao was really brave enough to wear it, and even wore it to meet Hong Xiuquan, who could not criticize her because she said, "Victoria and her fifth sister also wore it like this." They are all daughters of God, Victoria can wear it, but Hong Xiujiao can't?

But you know what, Hong Xuanjiao looks pretty good in this outfit.

Hong Xiuquan stole a glance at Hong Xuanjiao, then turned his gaze to Meng De'en who was kneeling beside him. Meng De'en didn't dare to look at Hong Xuanjiao who was wearing a Western dress, but just bowed his forehead to the ground, looking respectful.

"Does the Qing people want to go to Shanghai for fun?"

It turned out that Men De'en had just returned from Yangzhou and had reported to Hong Xiuquan that Yang Xiuqing was planning to go to Shanghai in disguise.

"The King of the East said that he would go to Shanghai after he conquered Yangzhou, Tongzhou, and Haimen."

Meng De'en repeated what he had just said.

"Is Shanghai so good? The Chinese people are willing to cheat and deceive to get it. The Qing people don't even want to go back to Tianjing, they just want to go to Shanghai."

Hong Xiuquan turned and looked at Hong Xuanjiao: "Xuanjiao, what do you think?"

Hong Xuan smiled sweetly: "Fourth brother and ninth brother are both very smart people. They both attach so much importance to Shanghai, which shows that it is indeed important."

Because of Victoria's joining, Wei Changhui, Hong Xuanjiao, Shi Dakai, and Luo Yaoguo from God's family have all dropped one place in their ranking.
"Now that you mention it, I also want to go to Shanghai to take a look." Hong Xiuquan suddenly chuckled and said, "Xuan Jiao, do you want to go with me?"

Hong Xuanjiao blinked her eyes and said, "Heavenly King, what should we do about the government affairs in Tianjing?"

Hong Xiuquan smiled and said, "Let's leave it to Zheng Bao for now, and let him be in trouble to get the favor. You can go and tell Guo Bao that he will arrange for Xuan Jiao and I to visit Shanghai incognito!"

(End of this chapter)