The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 335 God's house doesn't have any surplus food! (Please subscribe and vote)

At Qingjiangpu, Huai'an Prefecture, a group of people dressed as merchants stood on the dam, watching a small steamer, emitting black smoke, and slowly approaching a long line of cargo ships and passenger ships. Soon, the stern of the small steamer approached a cargo ship that was several times larger than it and loaded with coal. Without waiting for the steamer to stop, the sailor on the cargo ship threw a hemp rope as thick as a bowl over, which was steadily caught by a sailor on the steamer and then tied to a pile at the stern of the steamer.

A thin young man in Taiping Army uniform, speaking Anhui Mandarin, said to the businessmen with great excitement, "With the steamer tugboats bought from Shanghai, not only has the travel time been shortened by half, but also a lot of manpower and money have been saved. Currently, the number of these steamer tugboats on the canal south of the Huai River has been increasing. I heard that Shanghai Governor Luo Xueyan even invited foreign brothers who know how to build ships to be the master craftsmen and opened a Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, specializing in the production of small steamers."

Next to the skinny Taiping soldier was a young man in his twenties with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who was wearing a silk gown and had a braid on the back of his head. He asked curiously, "Brother, judging from your clothes, are you a Taiping soldier?"

"Yes! I am a Taiping Army soldier. My last name is Ding. I am a farmer in Lujiang. This year, there was a severe drought. The landowners and the government were pressing hard. I couldn't survive any longer. So I went to Anqing with a few fellow villagers to join the Taiping Army."

This Taiping Army soldier named Ding did not hide anything at all, and the Ming Dynasty generously admitted it - I am a Taiping Army soldier who was forced to rebel by the officials!
After he finished speaking, he asked the young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes with a smile: "What's your name?"

"My surname is Weng," the young man introduced himself, and then asked, "Brother Ding, since you are a Taiping Army soldier, how did you end up in the Qing territory?"

The Taiping soldier surnamed Ding smiled and said, "It's okay to tell you this. His Majesty the Eastern King sent an order to Anqing, asking for new brothers who can speak Anhui dialect to go to the Eastern King's Mansion in Yangzhou to serve. I was sent to Yangzhou by my superiors. I thought the Eastern King was going to march into Anhui and asked us to lead the way.

I didn’t expect that the Eastern Palace had opened a shipping company and wanted to do business with the Anhui people under General Zeng of Huai’an, so they wanted to transfer some Anhui people to the shipping company to do business.”

"Aren't your King Dong and Marshal Zeng enemies? Why are they doing business?" asked the young man surnamed Weng in surprise.

"It's because we don't have money!" The Taiping Army soldier surnamed Ding spread his hands and said with a smile, "The East King has tens of thousands of brothers who need food and drink, and the East King has great ambitions. He wants to march north to the Central Plains and kill all the Qing monsters. Does he have to recruit soldiers and buy foreign guns and cannons?"

When the young man surnamed Weng heard what the Taiping soldier surnamed Ding said, he didn't know how to respond for a moment, so he glanced at a boy next to him who was about the same age as the Taiping soldier surnamed Ding. The boy had a white face and narrow eyes, and looked a little gloomy. At this time, his brows were slightly frowned, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

This group of people were none other than Ronglu, the messenger sent by Emperor Xianfeng and Concubine Yi, his attendant Weng Tonghe, and their servants.

Among them, the messenger Ronglu was nominated by Concubine Yi - after all, he had some relationship with Concubine Yi and also knew Wanzhen, so he was indeed suitable to be a messenger to meet Luo Xueyan.

Weng Tonghe had not passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar yet, but was only a juren. Not long ago, the official shop of Daqing was having a big sale, and his father, the Minister of Works and the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, Weng Xincun, seized the opportunity and bought him a nominal position as an additional director of the Ministry of Revenue.

Later, when Weng Xincun heard that Ronglu was going to Shanghai to meet Luo Xueyan, he recommended his son to Ronglu as a guide. Weng Tonghe was from Changshu County, Suzhou Prefecture, and his family was a large landowner in Changshu. Weng Xincun's third brother, Weng Tongjue, who stayed in his hometown, had already taken the family's floating wealth to buy a house and land in Shanghai. So Weng Tonghe was now considered half a Shanghainese, so it was just right for him to guide Ronglu and visit Luo Xueyan's shogunate.
The plan that Weng Tonghe discussed with Miao Peilin under Zeng Guofan to pass through the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's ruling area was to disguise himself as a businessman and, under the protection of Miao Peilin's nephew Miao Changchun, take a grain boat directly from Qingjiangpu in Huai'an Prefecture to Shanghai.

But what Weng Tonghe never expected was that the passenger boat that Miao Changchun arranged for him and Ronglu was actually hung on a small steamer belonging to the East Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Moreover, this small steamer and several other cargo ships belonging to the East Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also had some Taiping soldiers in military uniforms - they were too lazy to pretend!
What has become of this southeastern half of the country now?
While Weng Tonghe and Ronglu were inexplicably surprised, a smiling pale-faced scholar had already negotiated the price with the bow of a passenger boat hanging behind the small steamer. He walked quickly towards Weng Tonghe and Ronglu, clasped his fists and said, "Zhonghua, Shengfu, it's already been negotiated. A total of four upper rooms, only need to stay in Yangzhou and Suzhou for half a day each, and it will take five days to reach Shanghai."

Weng Tonghe frowned and asked, "Brother Bushai, is everything okay on this journey?"

This pale-faced scholar is Miao Peilin’s nephew Miao Changchun, and “Bu Shuai” is his courtesy name.

Miao Changchun waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry, everything has been arranged. There will be no problem!"

There will be absolutely no problem? If so, the problem seems to be even bigger, right?

Ronglu's face became even uglier, but Weng Tonghe was relieved. He turned around and said to Ronglu: "Zhonghua, let's get on the boat. Let's take this opportunity to take a look at the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's territory!"

Ronglu shook his head, threw his braid in front of him, and lifted it up with his hand: "Shengfu and I both have this, is there really no problem?"

Miao Changchun shook his head and said with a smile: "It's okay, we are merchants from the north. We can go shopping freely after paying the pigtail tax!"

Yangzhou Geyuan, Baoshan Tower. "Your Highness, this is the account of our Dongwang Mansion for three years."

Lu Xianba, the chief minister of the Eastern Palace, holding an account book, walked quickly to Yang Xiuqing, who was playing with a French-made Minié rifle with his head down.

"How is it? How much surplus is there?"

Yang Xiuqing asked casually.

"No, not much," Lu Xianba said with a dark, simple face.

"How much is a little?" Yang Xiuqing put the rifle in his hand on the table, then turned to look at Lu Xianbala.

"Your Highness the King of the East, there are still more than 825,300 taels of cash in the account of the King of the East's Palace," Lu Xianba reported a number.

Yang Xiuqing's face darkened. "Why is there only so little money? I remember that there was more than one million yuan when I reported the accounts last year. We have conquered so much territory this year, how come there is still less money in the account?"

"At the end of last year, the Central Army only had two armies, the First and Second Armies, with a total strength of just over 20,000. Including the female battalion, there were only over 30,000. Now the Central Army has expanded to five armies, with a total strength of over 60,000. Including the female battalion, there are almost 100,000!
Although these 100,000 men did not receive any salary, their food, clothing and expenses had to be covered. Every year on the Heavenly Brother's Ascension Festival, the Father's Report Festival, the Heavenly Brother and Heavenly King's Ascension Festival, the Father's Descent Festival, the Brother's Descent Festival, and the Angels' Advent Festival, they had to give out rewards. They also had to give out rewards for winning battles. Last year, millions of rewards were paid out on the six festivals alone, and more than one million were paid out for victories. In total, two million were paid out in rewards alone!
In the past two months, the East Palace received another 10,000 foreign guns, 50 foreign cannons, 10,000 barrels of gunpowder, 10 small steamers and a batch of ammunition, spending another 300,000 or 400,000 yuan.

After you, Your Highness the Eastern King, took over Yangzhou, the Heavenly King's Palace sent people to ask for money every month, and you issued an edict saying that 50,000 would be given every month.

You also spent 500,000 taels to buy food from the Palace of the King of West, 300,000 taels to buy cloth, silk, and cotton from the Palace of the King of Wu, and 150,000 taels to buy horses.

In addition, you also issued an order last month to give 50,000 taels to Zhang Lexing in Huaibei, and another 50,000 taels to Tang Zhengcai in Changjiang."

When Yang Xiuqing heard the series of numbers reported by Lu Xianba, he felt a little overwhelmed.

The only place where he can "make money" now is Yangzhou Prefecture, and he makes a lot of money from it. From the salt tax and the canal toll, he can make more than 3 million a year. However, there are too many places where he has to spend money!
Moreover, even though they were spending money like water, the Northern Expedition hadn't even started yet!
If the Northern Expedition really had to start, and if they wanted to ensure victory rather than just rush to their deaths, they would have to prepare at least 100,000 elite soldiers, right? After fighting for a year or two, they would have to prepare at least 10 million taels of silver just for food, clothing, rewards, and military equipment, right?

This does not even take into account the mobilization of large numbers of laborers to transport grain over thousands of miles!

In fact, if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanted to seriously launch a Northern Expedition instead of a bandit-style Northern Expedition, the materials needed would be an astronomical figure. Yang Xiuqing's idea of ​​supporting a large-scale Northern Expedition with just Yangzhou Prefecture was nothing but a pipe dream.

Seeing Yang Xiuqing's frown getting tighter and tighter, Grand Secretary Lu whispered: "Your Highness, it seems unlikely that you will really launch a Northern Expedition next year."

Yang Xiuqing raised his hand and waved, saying leisurely: "You don't have to say it, I know everything. But the Northern Expedition still needs to be carried out, because only by marching north can we get enough money and food to manage the Jianghuai area."

It turns out that what Yang Xiuqing had in mind was not the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, but to use the banner of the Northern Expedition to absorb enough resources from Luo Yaoguo, Xiao Chaogui, and Shi Dakai, and then take over the entire Jianghuai region, and then win over the Nianzi in Huaibei. By then, he would be able to overwhelm Luo Yaoguo, Xiao Chaogui, and Feng Yunshan, and become the most powerful faction in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom again!
Lu Xianba said, "But, when Ji Du came down to earth last year, he said, 'If the Yellow River collapses, the Qing will perish.' But the Yellow River will not collapse until the year after next. King Luo Wu and King Xiao Xi can definitely push the date of the Northern Expedition to the year after next!"

Yang Xiuqing snorted softly: "Then tell me, who is greater, Ji Du or God?"

Lu Xianba frowned and said, "But Luo Tianshi and Xiao Xiwang can be combined together."

Yang Xiuqing narrowed one eye and said in an inaudible voice: "Yes, they have to work together to make the real Ji Du descend to the earth!"

(End of this chapter)