The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 358: Old Heaven, New China (Request for subscription, request for votes)
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianjing.

The brilliant morning glow was rising from the horizon, passing through the clouds, emitting wisps of golden light, passing through the tall and majestic walls of Tianjing, and sprinkling on the Golden Dragon City with its vermilion walls, green tiles, and numerous palaces and pavilions.

The sunlight slowly moved westward, shining from the east gate of Jinlong City all the way to the tallest and most majestic hall in the center of Jinlong City. Under the eaves of the main entrance of the hall hung a plaque with black characters on a yellow background, and on the plaque were three large characters engraved: Sun Palace.

The hall was vast, with the door wide open. Dozens of female soldiers in red hats and yellow clothes stood solemnly on the steps outside the door, holding their swords. There were five chairs in the hall, one of which was placed in the middle, facing north and south, facing the open door. It was a gilded dragon chair, and a tiger skin was spread on the chair.

A man wearing a dragon crown and dragon robe sat on the dragon throne with a solemn face, playing with a purple gold bowl engraved with cross patterns in his hands. He was the second son of God and the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom - Hong Xiuquan.

He sat quietly at the desk, his expression becoming more solemn, and he looked much more arrogant than when Luo Yaoguo first met him at Suoyiferry that day.

The other four seats in the hall were empty. They belonged to Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan, and Luo Yaoguo. Although they were not in Tianjing City, the seats in the Sun Palace had to be reserved for them.

On the right side of Hong Xiuquan stood a female general with her head held high, chest out, heroic eyebrows and phoenix eyes, a sharp gaze, about thirty-four or thirty-five years old, wearing a sword and a revolver. Her temperament was quite similar to that of Su Sanniang. She was the most trusted female general of Hong Tianwang, Bian Sanniang, the general manager of the female camp of Jinlong City.

In addition to Bian Sanniang, there were another 35 female guards armed with swords and guns standing on the left and right of Hong Xiuquan inside the main hall. Their age and temperament were similar to Bian Sanniang. They were all "old sisters" who had followed Hong Xiuquan out of Guangxi. They were all widows who had lost their husbands and could serve the Heavenly King wholeheartedly. Each of them had a firm gaze and a serious expression, as if they were engaged in some sacred cause.

During this period, Luo Yaoguo was busy laying the foundation for the new China in his mind, while Hong Xiuquan was consolidating the heaven on earth in his mind in the city of Tianjing.

Since Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan and Luo Yaoguo, the four great fathers, were all running their own independent kingdoms, Hong Xiuquan also obtained real power that had been untouchable in history before the Tianjing Incident.

Now, not only was the city of Tianjing completely under the control of Hong Xiuquan, but the southern part of Jiangning Prefecture outside the city of Tianjing, as well as the six prefectures and one state of Zhenjiang Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Chizhou Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, and Guangde Prefecture were also under the direct control of Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Kingdom Center.

In addition, the four great fathers, Yang, Xiao, Feng, and Luo, did not completely give up on "supporting" Hong Xiuquan. They were still willing to maintain the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's posture and confront the Qing Dynasty in the north.

Yang Xiuqing sent salt to Tianjing every month, Xiao Chaogui and Feng Yunshan sent hundreds of thousands of dan of rice to Tianjing after the autumn harvest last year, and Luo Yaoguo sent silver and silk and satin to Tianjing every month.

The two rounds of military expeditions by Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai took away a lot of troops that originally needed support from the central government in Tianjing.

So starting from last autumn, the supply situation in Tianjing City improved significantly, and the lives of the male and female saint soldiers who followed Hong Xiuquan became better and better. However, the system of separating male and female camps was not abolished.
However, the prestige of Hong Xiuquan, the Hong Tianwang, was getting higher and higher, and he seemed to be a living god.

At this moment, opposite Hong Xiuquan, in the empty hall, three men wearing yellow robes and paper dragon crowns on their heads were crawling, all with their foreheads pressed to the ground, not daring to look up at the lofty Hong Xiuquan.

"Agan, Ahuang, Agang, the three of you are all heroes of the Heavenly Kingdom!" Hong Xiuquan spoke slowly at this time, with a gentle tone, as if he was talking to three old friends rather than subjects, "Agan, if I remember correctly, you and the mountain people were my earliest believers, right?"

"Agan" is Hong Rengan, Hong Xiuquan's cousin and one of the only two believers of Hong Xiuquan in his early years.

When Hong Xiuquan was preaching in Guangdong in his early years, he fooled two believers, one was Feng Yunshan and the other was Hong Rengan. Later, Feng Yunshan followed Hong Xiuquan to Guangxi to preach and created a great career. Hong Rengan stayed in Guangdong to preach. Although he also developed some believers, his achievements were not great. Before and after the outbreak of the Jintian Uprising, Hong Rengan organized believers to escort the families of Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan to Guangxi twice. Among them, Hong Xiuquan's family arrived smoothly, while Feng Yunshan's family and Hong Rengan himself were intercepted by the Qing army. Later, Hong Rengan also organized one or two hundred believers to revolt in Qingyuan in response to the Jintian Uprising, but it was unfortunately suppressed casually by the Qing army.

But no matter what, Hong Rengan was indeed the oldest founding father of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and only Feng Yunshan could be compared with him.

"Yes, it's a pity that I was unable to open up a base in Guangdong for the Heavenly King." Hong Rengan cried, "I was also unable to protect the Southern King's family and many of his followers."

Hong Xiuquan waved his hand and said, "That was a test from Heaven. Although you have experienced many setbacks, you have never given up and have always been fighting for my Heavenly Kingdom. Today, you have finally become a minister of my Heavenly Kingdom. Your qualifications are only comparable to those of Shan people. Qing people, Guimeifu, Zheng people, Da people, and Guo people are far behind. Now they have all been crowned kings, but you are just a prime minister."

Hong Rengan said in fear: "Heavenly King, I am a humble minister with little talent and achievements. How dare I compare myself with the King of the East, the King of the West, the King of the South, the King of the North, the King of the Wing, and the King of Wu?"

Hong Xiuquan said: "But yesterday, the Heavenly Father came to me in a dream and said that you are also the son of the Heavenly Father and asked me to make you a king!"

Hong Rengan took a deep breath, pressed his forehead against the ground, and was unable to utter a word.

"Yihuang, Rigang," Hong Xiuquan then said to Hu Yihuang and Qin Rigang, "Although your qualifications are not as good as those of the Qing people, Shan people, Guimeifu, Zheng people, and Da people, they are not inferior to those of the Guo people at all, and your contributions are not small. Now it's time to be crowned kings!"

When Hu Yihuang and Qin Riguang heard what Hong Xiuquan said, they, like Hong Rengan, pressed their foreheads tightly against the ground and dared not breathe.

How could they not understand what Hong Xiuquan meant?
This is to help them and Hong Rengan to fight against the four "living fathers" Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Luo Yaoguo, and Feng Yunshan! Not necessarily the "four major ones", maybe only the three major ones.

After all, Hong Rengan and Feng Yunshan joined the God Worshipping Society together and they were old brothers who came from Guangdong together.

In addition, Hu Yihuang and Feng Yunshan also had a very good relationship. Before the Jintian Uprising, Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan lived together in Hu Yihuang's home.

Hong Xiuquan then slowly said: "Gan compatriots, Yihuang and Rigang, I have already mentioned to Shan compatriots about making you kings, and he is in favor of it! Qing compatriots, Guimeifu, and Guo compatriots should not object either. So you don't have to worry!"

"The Heavenly King is so kind to me that I can only repay him by being torn to pieces."

"Your Majesty, I am unworthy of such great grace."

"If the king of heaven gives any order, I will die for it!"

After hearing what Hong Xiuquan said, Hu Yihuang, Hong Rengan and Qin Riguang could only bow down and thank God for his grace.

Hong Xiuquan curled the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a very proud expression.

It's just a king. If you give more titles, won't it devalue the king?

Thinking of this, he stood up suddenly, glared at the three people kneeling below, and said word by word: "I will issue an order to invite the Qing people, your brother-in-law, the Shan people, and the Guo people to come to the court to discuss the matter of making you kings. As long as they have no objection, you will be the Gan King, Yu King, and Yan King of my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

On the same day that Hong Xiuquan expressed his intention to crown Hong Rengan, Hu Yihuang and Qin Rigang as kings in the Sun Palace of Jinlong City, two steamships, one large and one small, belching thick smoke, slowly sailed into the Huangpu River, which was as busy as a highway on the water.

One of them was the more than 2,000-ton steam paddle wheel frigate Dingyuan from England! Although this gunboat, named Dingyuan according to Luo Yaoguo’s idea, was full of British people from the captain to the ordinary sailors, it carried Luo Yaoguo’s dream of a “New China” - because Wang Libin took the Prussian elementary and middle school mathematics, chemistry, physics, geography, biology and other textbooks translated by Moore and Friedrich, as well as some British and Prussian university textbooks, on this steam frigate!
The other ship was the steam merchant ship Yuefa from Japan, which belonged to the same line. Ms. Rice, a gift from Hong Daquan to Hong Xiuquan, and a dozen other girls, as well as some other patriots who came to China to find a way to save Japan, were standing on the deck, looking at the increasingly prosperous foreign market.
(End of this chapter)