The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 353 How could they let the Eight Banners soldiers go? (Please vote and subscribe)
"General Xue, you want to be the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang? This is not easy to arrange."

Ronglu is not old now, not even 20 years old, but he comes from a noble family and has been immersed in officialdom since he was young. He has heard and seen all kinds of things about buying and running for official positions. This time he came to Shanghai to deliver a letter for Concubine Yi. Although he was assigned by Emperor Xianfeng, he is now acting as a close person from Concubine Yi's family. When he heard that Luo Xueyan wanted to move for a governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, he immediately looked mysterious, as if he was a very unsophisticated person.

Of course, his methods were quite crude. In fact, the one who sold official positions and titles behind him was Emperor Xianfeng himself! However, this relationship could not be exposed, so this matter had to be done in the name of Concubine Yi.

Anyway, if you ask about this matter, it turns out that Concubine Yi accepted money from her brother-in-law Luo Xueyan to persuade her husband!
Luo Xueyan also knew that Xianfeng was behind Ronglu, and Weng Tonghe was his ally, how could he not know?
But he didn't ask, just pretending to be confused. After hearing what Ronglu said, he immediately took out a bulging envelope, placed it on the coffee table between the two of them, and gently pushed it over: "Zhonghua, a little gift. This has nothing to do with my purchase of the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. It's to thank you for helping Concubine Yi deliver the letter to me. It must have been a difficult journey, right?"

Ronglu was not polite. He smiled and put away the envelope. Without even opening it, he stuffed it directly into his sleeve pocket and clasped his fists: "Thank you!"

Then Luo Xueyan took out an even bulgier envelope like a magician, put it on the coffee table again, and gently pushed it: "This is for Concubine Yi. It's for Wanzhen's marriage. I heard that Wanzhen is the most beautiful woman in the city!"

"That's right!" Ronglu said, "I'm not praising Miss Wanzhen. If she were selected in the imperial selection, she would at least be the prince's wife!"

Luo Xueyan raised his thumb and said, "You are right! So I have to thank Concubine Yi for the 30,000 yuan in HSBC bank notes. There are 30 notes in total, each worth 1,000 taels. Give them to Concubine Yi as a reward.

By the way, HSBC is about to open a branch in Tianjin. In the future, if Concubine Yi needs money, she can ask someone to go to HSBC to let her know. I am a major shareholder of HSBC, and HSBC is Wanzhen's business. I know Concubine Yi's family is not very prosperous, so I will ask her to treat me and Wanzhen as her family members in the future. "

Of course HSBC wants to expand its business!

This bank was backed by the Nanyang Minister's Office, the Shanghai Governor's Office, the Jiang Customs Office, and the Zhejiang Customs Office. It also had shares held by many foreigners. It was a "transnational" bank with branches in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty. In the future, it would also open branches in Japan, Korea, Ryukyu Islands, and the Straits Settlements.

Of course, it is also necessary to open branches in Tianjin and even Beijing!
Otherwise, if there is any disturbance, where will the officials in the capital deposit their money?
Ronglu smiled as he put away the envelope containing the thirty thousand taels of silver and said, "Marshal Xue, Imperial Concubine Yi is the biological mother of the eldest prince. Maybe she will be the mother in the future..."

I can't say any more of this, or else Xianfeng will be forgotten.

However, Luo Xueyan was also a wise man, and he immediately stroked his beard and laughed: "That's great, I will be a royal relative in the future!"

Ronglu smiled and said, "You are more than just a royal relative. If you become the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, you might have a future as the King of Wuyue!"

"Hey," Luo Xueyan waved his hand, "Why is it the King of Wuyue? It should be General Zhang, the King of Wu of the Yuan Dynasty!"

The King of Wu of the Yuan Dynasty he was talking about was Zhang Shicheng!
Ronglu frowned slightly. If Luo Xueyan is Zhang Shicheng, then who is Zhu Yuanzhang? Who is the Yuan Dynasty? This analogy is not quite appropriate!
Luo Xueyan's face darkened, and he tapped the table lightly with his fingers: "Zhonghua, I won't beat around the bush in front of you. The Taiping rebels are showing signs of sweeping across the southeast like Zhu Yuanzhang and Hongwu did back then!"

"Not really?" Ronglu frowned. "When I came to Shanghai, I passed through the territory of the Taiping rebels. I felt that the territory of the Taiping rebels' pseudo-Eastern King, pseudo-Wu King, and pseudo-Heavenly King was like the Three Kingdoms, and their laws were very different! Moreover, even the people in the territory of the Wu King, who seemed to be in the best situation, were fleeing and running to Shanghai under the Snow Marshal. Do you think they can last long like that?"

Luo Xueyan smiled bitterly: "The gentry and landlords from Suzhou, Changzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing and other places are running to Shanghai. They all come with silver, so the market in Shanghai is so prosperous. But their industries are all left in the local area. This is a great opportunity for the local poor farmers and the gentry and merchants who have taken refuge with Luo Yaoguo. Once the reshuffle is completed, these fertile places will become hairy money bags and rice jars!

As for some poor people who ran to Shanghai, it was simply because the wages in Shanghai were high or to take a ship from Shanghai to San Francisco in the United States or New Gold Mountain in Australia to pan for gold, or to make a living in Southeast Asia.

Zhonghua, you don’t think there is a lack of population in the Changmao territory, do you? "

Ronglu shook his head.

What China lacks the least today is population! The territories controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are all densely populated. If they could get tens of millions of people out, maybe everyone would have enough food to eat!

"Zhonghua," Luo Xueyan said, "when you went to the Taiping territory, did you feel that the Taiping people were able to maintain order, production was going on as usual, and the public security situation was even good?"

"This..." Ronglu thought about it carefully and nodded slightly. Luo Xueyan smiled bitterly and said, "The Changmao army was just established, and it was much better than Li Chuang to have such a system! Until Li Chuang's defeat, he did not have a base that could be well managed and collect a lot of money and grain.

How is Changmao managing Yangzhou, Changzhou, Suzhou, Huzhou, and Jiaxing now? If time passes, he might become the second Hongwu. The imperial court must prepare early!"

Ronglu frowned.

If the Taiping Rebellion is similar to the Hongwu Rebellion, then wouldn't the Qing Dynasty really become the Yuan Dynasty?

Luo Xueyan said seriously: "Zhonghua, if we want to prepare to fight against the Taiping Northern Expedition, we will need money. I have some spare money, so I want to buy the position of Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, which can also be regarded as helping the emperor.

At the same time, it can also connect my First Town of the Nanyang New Army and Zuo Jigao's First Town of the Nanyang New Army, giving them more room for maneuver.

Don't think that Shanghai is well defended now, but this is only because the long-haired pseudo-Wu Wangfu is busy suppressing the territories of the four prefectures of Suzhou, Changzhou, Huzhou and Jiaxing. While distributing land, they are also trying to win over scholars. I heard that there will be an imperial examination this autumn!
Once they are done and have gathered all the strength of the four prefectures, the situation in Shanghai will be very difficult! If I could become the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Zuo Jigao could become the Governor of Zhejiang, there would always be more solutions."

Ronglu said, "I will ask someone to tell Imperial Concubine Yi what Marshal Xue meant."

Luo Xueyan added: "But the request for the Eight Banners troops to march south is extremely inappropriate!"

"General Xue, don't worry, the Eight Banners soldiers will not really go south to cause trouble for you," Ronglu explained with a smile, "What the emperor means is..."

"I understand," Luo Xueyan said, "Weng Shengfu has told me that the emperor is kind-hearted and no longer wants ordinary Eight Banners men to go to the battlefield and die.

But Zhonghua, do you think that in the chaotic times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan court could really abandon those useless Mongols and rely only on the troops of Richard Khan, Wang Baobao, Li Siqi, and Zhang Liangbi? Moreover, Richard Khan and Wang Baobao also had many Mongolian soldiers and generals under their command, right? Otherwise, when the dust settled, why didn't Wang Baobao's subordinates defect to Zhu Yuanzhang? Even if there is no title of nobility, a hereditary commander is pretty good!"

"This"

Ronglu's face darkened.

Luo Xueyan said calmly: "Zhonghua, I will still answer this question according to the emperor's wishes, but I will also write a memorial suggesting that the emperor train a new army of the Eight Banners. Please help me take it to Beijing. The emperor's second best option should not be to cut down on the iron-clad crops, but to let all the Eight Banners children in the capital take up arms and serve as soldiers."

He suddenly lowered his voice again: "I know that the emperor has ordered Senggelinqin to train the new army in Wanping for more than half a year, and has also bought many foreign guns and cannons to equip the new army. But... I seem to have heard that the Khorchin Mongols are not descendants of the Eight Banners? Zhonghua, am I right?"

"Yes, that's right." Ronglu nodded, his brows twisted into a ball, "They belong to Outer Mongolia, and they are indeed not affiliated with the Eight Banners. Only some Zasak princes were brought into the banner or regarded as being in the banner."

Luo Xueyan said leisurely: "When the Yuan Dynasty fell, it seems that the ancestors of Khorchin Mongols did not do much to defend the Yuan Dynasty, right? That was the Yuan Dynasty of them, the Mongols!"

Ronglu said nothing.

Luo Xueyan's words were a bit of an eye-opener for Senggelinqin, and also meant to sow discord between the Qing court and Khorchin Mongolia! When it comes to sowing discord, Luo Xueyan is of the same lineage as Luo Yaoguo! Luo Yaoguo used three volumes of "Anti-Scripture" to confuse people's hearts at the time, and Luo Xueyan can now make Senggelinqin suffer a good defeat with a memorial of "requesting the training of the Eight Banners New Army", and by the way, send all those useless Eight Banners soldiers to the battlefield to be shot in a line!

How could he let the Eight Banners soldiers go?

However, Luo Xueyan is about to marry Concubine Yi's sister Wanzhen. He is the uncle of the next emperor of the Qing Dynasty, a legitimate royal relative! It seems that there is nothing wrong with reminding the emperor and Concubine Yi to use the Eight Banners soldiers to control the new army in Wanping, right?

(End of this chapter)