The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 297 Zuo Zongtang worships God, Yang Xiuqing arrives in Shanghai (seeking tickets and subscription)

Dongting East Mountain, Taihu Hall Yamen.

"Bang, bang, bang" bursts of white smoke were exhaled, straight up to the blue sky above Dongting Mountain. The outside of Taihu Hall was filled with white smoke after bursts of cannon firecrackers, and tens of thousands of firecrackers shrouded the entire Dongshan Town in a festive atmosphere. Lion dance teams and gong and drum teams with flags bearing the surnames of merchant families competed with each other on the flat ground outside the yamen, shaking their heads and tails.

The prominent figures on the east and west mountains of Dongting Lake were all wearing exquisite silk gowns and newly made red pointed hoods. They surrounded Zuo Zongtang and Yu Wanqing, who were wearing official robes. They stood outside the yamen with smiles on their faces, anxiously waiting for the arrival of Luo Yaoguo, the King of Wu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The government office of Taihu Hall was not very big, but could only accommodate about two to three hundred people. Shen Henian, a well-mannered, scholar-looking comprador and the leading figure of the Dongtingshan Gang in Shanghai, was standing with Luo Yaoguo's father-in-law Zhou Lichun, both of whom were smiling from ear to ear.

The Xishan Shen family, to which Shen Henian belonged, was originally a rice merchant that transported Jingchu rice to Suzhou and Songjiang. However, when Shanghai was opened as a port, he keenly discovered new opportunities. He went to Shanghai and joined the foreign company Jardine Matheson and became a comprador. At the same time, he opened a money shop in Shanghai County, helping foreign merchants, Cantonese merchants, and Fujian merchants who came from afar to connect to the money shop system controlled by the people of Dongting Mountain in the southeast.

By the time Luo Xueyan rose rapidly in Shanghai, Shen Henian had already become a well-known tycoon and comprador in Shanghai. After the Xiaodaohui incident, he immediately joined Luo Xueyan through Wu Jianzhang's connections, and was full of sincerity. He gave him 50,000 silver dollars as a gift and also said that he could contact the Dongtingshan Gang for Xueshuai.

Luo Xueyan had many talented people who were good at fighting and killing, but few of them understood finance and were good at running businesses. Of course, they were very welcome to the first major comprador of HSBC in history.

It just so happened that Luo Xueyan himself also wanted to set up a HSBC Bank, rob the British Hu, and make it the "temporary central bank" of Shanghai and even the entire southeast China. So Shen Henian was pulled into the HSBC Bank under preparation by Luo Xueyan, and his position was higher than in history. He was not a "comprador" but a "boss".

Just after he helped Luo Xueyan and Wu Jianzhang to set up the HSBC Bank bit by bit according to the system of the foreign banks, he was recruited into the secret hall of the God Worshipping Society by Sister Yue Gui, the manager of Yu Garden, and was told the true identity of Luo Xueshuai.

Afterwards, Zhou Lichun took him to Suzhou to contact Dongtingshanren in Suzhou Chamber of Commerce. This is how the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce gave Luo Yaoguo one million yuan after he entered Suzhou. With this one million yuan "paving the way", the relationship between Luo Yaoguo and Dongtingshanren became closer.

At the same time, Zuo Zongtang's army also joined forces with the remnant troops led by Yi Liang and Qiao Songnian in Yixing on the west bank of Taihu Lake. After incorporating the troops of Yi Liang and Qiao Songnian, Luo Yaoguo and Zuo Zongtang's plan to jointly seize Zhejiang could begin to be implemented.

Their plan to seize Zhejiang was also very "Qing Dynasty-style", called "Southeast Mutual Protection"!
In name, it was a mutual guarantee between Luo Yaoguo, Zuo Zongtang and Luo Xueyan.

In fact, Zuo Zongtang helped Luo Yaoguo to take over Huzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang under the banner of the Qing Dynasty. This is as fertile as southern Jiangsu, and it is also half of China's silk industry and an important tea producing area.

After taking over these five prefectures, Luo Yaoguo had in his hands the eight most prosperous prefectures and one state in southeastern China!
According to the agreement between Luo Yaoguo and Zuo Zongtang, Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo, three of the five prefectures in eastern Zhejiang, would be actually controlled by Zuo Zongtang, while Huzhou, which is rich in Hu silk, and Jiaxing, which is adjacent to Shanghai, would be "seized" from Zuo Zongtang by Luo Yaoguo's Taiping Army.

After Zuo Zongtang successfully controlled the three prefectures of Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo, Luo Yaoguo would send assassins from the Dark Hall to help Zuo Zongtang deal with the Qing Dynasty's governor, provincial governor, provincial judge, admiral, general and of course the general of Hangzhou in Zhejiang, so as to clear the obstacles for Zuo Zongtang to become the governor of Zhejiang.

When Zuo Zongtang became the governor of Zhejiang, the remaining five prefectures in Zhejiang would be divided between Luo Yaoguo and Zuo Zongtang.

Of course, Zuo Zongtang could not just be the governor of Zhejiang. Luo Yaoguo would also ask the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Tianjing court for an official position as the general governor of Zhejiang. From then on, Zuo Zongtang would also be a double loyal minister!
Today's Dongting Mountain Alliance, in addition to showing the "Jiangsu and Zhejiang financial tycoons" that Luo Yaoguo, Luo Xueyan, and Zuo Zongtang will implement the Southeast Mutual Protection, has another purpose is to make Zuo Zongtang "worship God."

A tablet with the inscription "Heavenly Father Haotian Emperor" is now placed in the courtyard of Taihu Hall. Zuo Zongtang and Luo Yaoguo will kowtow and swear brotherhood in front of the tablet of "Haotian Emperor" in a moment, becoming good half-brothers with different fathers and mothers.

Although they were sworn brothers, they were also worshiping God, so Zuo Zongtang could be considered a member of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Luo Yaoguo had reason to ask for the position of Governor-General of Zhejiang for him.

He worshipped God, and was the sworn brother of God's adopted son. So he could be considered a relative of God, right? Now he led several prefectures in Zhejiang to surrender. Not only should he be made a general governor, he should also be made a prince!
Thinking that he was about to become a loyal minister of two countries, and might even assist the wise ruler Luo Yaoguo and become a loyal minister of three dynasties, Zuo Zongtang's smile became a little stiff. His loyalty was almost catching up with Lu Fengxian!
However, this "Zuo Fengxian" is still stronger than Yu Wanqing who "destroys the Qing and destroys the Qing again". He is only a "three-time minister", while Yu Wanqing, who led two thousand Shanghai new troops to join him in Yixing, is a "three-time person". The first life was Yu Wanqing, then Wanqing died and the Qing was reborn, and he was Yu Mieqing, and now he has changed back from Yu Mieqing to Yu Wanqing - Yu Wanqing is from Jinhua, Zhejiang, and Zhiyi is a county under Jinhua Prefecture. Luo Yaoguo planned to let him revive first, then go back to his hometown to recruit thousands of conscripts, and Zuo Zongtang would pay for the equipment and training to form a new army, and then take over Jinhua Prefecture. I don't know what expression Xianfeng would have when he learned that Yu Wanqing was resurrected?
This loyal hero of the Qing Dynasty is alive again!

"Ji Gao, His Royal Highness the King of Wu has arrived!"

When Zuo Zongtang was thinking about the "living loyal hero", the voice of the living loyal hero Yu Wanqing suddenly rang in his ears. Zuo Zongtang looked up and saw that Luo Yaoguo, wearing a dragon robe and a hood, had already emerged from a four-wheeled carriage. Zuo Zongtang hurriedly strode forward to meet Luo Yaoguo, and then bowed in front of all the Dongting Mountain people: "Your humble servant Zuo Zongtang pays homage to His Royal Highness the King of Wu!"

"No courtesy, stay on your own!"

Luo Yaoguo hurriedly stepped forward, stretched out his hand to support Zuo Zongtang, and then took Zuo Zongtang's hand and walked towards the Taihu Hall Yamen together, saying loudly as he walked: "Brother Ji Gao, let's go and worship the tablet of the Heavenly Father Haotian Emperor first!"

"Okay," Zuo Zongtang nodded with a smile and said loudly, "Your Highness, the tablet and the incense table are ready. We are just waiting for you to come!"

The two of them spoke very loudly, and the people around them could hear it clearly, and the stone in their hearts was finally put down a little.

It seems that their position in the future new era is not too bad. It is roughly equivalent to the eight imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty, right?
Shanghai, Huangpu River.

A luxuriously decorated passenger boat, towed by a small steamer, slowly approached a passenger terminal owned by Qichang Foreign Company on the Bund.

A middle-aged man with a pale face, short stature and a problem with one of his eyes was standing at the bow, with his hands behind his back, looking at the streets of the Bund in Shanghai, where foreign-style buildings were lined up and cars were coming and going.

This middle-aged man was none other than Yang Xiuqing, the Nine Thousand Year Old East King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!
He had already arranged the military affairs in northern Jiangsu and now came to Shanghai in disguise.

There were four people standing beside Yang Xiuqing, one of whom was Winster White, whom Yang Xiuqing called "Old White", and another was a short and fat man with a doughy face, surnamed Huang, also known as "Mr. Huang", named Xiqing, the owner of a garden of this generation and the general merchant of Lianghuai Salt. Another person was a scholar wearing a hood, a handsome middle-aged man named Ye Zhifa, who was Yang Xiuqing's attendant, and the fourth person was Yang Xiucong, Yang Xiuqing's mute guard.

"Xiqing, is everything arranged?"

Yang Xiuqing suddenly asked.

"Everything has been arranged," Huang Xiqing said with a smile. "I recently bought a house in the Shanghai New District, right next to the Tongshun Building and Wu Family Garden. It's a brand new house, and few people have lived in it yet. Everything is new."

"Old Bai," Yang Xiuqing asked again, "can you contact the foreigners?"

Winster White smiled and replied, "Your Highness, don't worry. I have a good relationship with Matheson, the boss of Jardine Matheson. He is a man with great connections. He can arrange for you to meet the foreign envoys whenever you want."

"Afa," Yang Xiuqing said to Ye Zhifa, "you know Xu Yuegui, right?"

The Eastern King's attendant named Ye Zhifa spoke with a Xianghu accent: "I know her. She and I are both from Hunan. We have met each other several times."

Yang Xiuqing nodded and said, "Go and ask her to come to the Huang residence next to the Wu family garden to see me!"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)