The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 360: Friends of the Eight Banners Luo Xueyan (Please subscribe and vote)

Inner city of Beijing, Shifuma Street, Luoquan Hutong, Weng Mansion.

This was the Beijing house of Weng Tonghe's father Weng Xinzheng, and it was also the residence of Weng Tonghe after he returned to Beijing.

Weng Xincun was a Han official, and the fact that he could afford a house in the inner city of Beijing showed how well he was doing!
The inner city of Beijing is a banner city. In theory, only the children of the Eight Banners can live here. Weng Xincun has not yet been promoted to the banner, so generally speaking, he cannot own a house in the inner city of Beijing. But Weng Xincun is not an ordinary official. He is an official who enters the study room directly, that is, he is a teacher for the emperor's sons, the so-called "imperial teacher"!
However, Weng Xincun never really taught the emperor. He first taught Huijun Wang Mianyu, who was Daoguang's younger brother. Later, he taught the sixth prince Yixin, but not long after teaching him, his mother died and he returned to his hometown to mourn. After coming to Beijing, he taught the eighth prince Yixin. In the original history, this teacher Weng could have become the chief teacher of the Shangshufang in a few years!
As a Han scholar who was the tutor of three princes of the emperor's family, the emperor's family had to give him a house in the inner city of Beijing. After all, the princes were very eager to study and had to go to class early in the morning. Even if the tutors in the study room lived in the outer city, they would not be able to catch up!

In addition to being a good teacher in the emperor's family, Weng Xincun is also a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty. He is currently the Minister of War and is deeply trusted by Emperor Xianfeng.

In addition, he is also a good father who is good at teaching his sons how to be officials!
His eldest son, Weng Tongshu, was a Jinshi in the 20th year of Emperor Daoguang's reign. He passed the imperial examination and was selected as a Hanlin. He served as the academician of Guizhou and the junior secretary of the Zhanshi Palace. His official arithmetic was quite good. However, Weng Xincun was a little jealous of Jiang Zhongyuan, Zuo Zongtang, Huang Shijie, and Luo Xueyan, who were promoted through militia training and military merit, so he arranged an external mission for his eldest son to assist in the Jiangbei camp. He wanted his son to go back to his hometown to organize militia training, and he also asked his second son, Weng Tongjue, to go back to his hometown Changshu first to recruit people and form the Weng Family Army.

Unfortunately, before the Weng family army could be assembled, Su Sanniang had already occupied Changshu!

So Weng Tongjue had to take his fortune and go to Shanghai, where he became Luo Xueyan's assistant. Weng Tongshu's ambitions were not fulfilled, and his Jiangbei camp was broken up by Yang Xiuqing, so he had to run back to Beijing with Qishan.

After Weng Xincun learned that his second son had joined Luo Xueyan's court, he arranged a mission for his third son Weng Tonghe to go south to deliver a letter. He also wanted to find out about Luo Xueyan's affairs and see if the future of the Weng family could be linked to Luo Xueyan.
After all, the Weng family was the leader of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, with students, former officials, in-laws, and clansmen spread across Suzhou, Songjiang, Taichang, Hujia, and other prefectures, and Luo Xueyan was a powerful warlord who ruled Shanghai.

"Father, I heard a rumor in Shanghai, but I don't know if I should tell you about it."

In the study of Weng's house, Weng Tonghe was talking to a white-faced, beardless, stout old man in his sixties. Next to him sat a middle-aged man in his forties with a white face, long beard, and handsome features.

The old man was Weng Tonghe’s father Weng Xincun, and the middle-aged man in his forties was Weng Tonghe’s elder brother Weng Tongshu.

"Oh?" Weng Xincun glanced at his eldest son, who hurriedly stood up and walked to the door of the study, pushed the door open, stuck his head out to look out, then retracted his head and closed the door.

Weng Xincun nodded to his son Weng Tonghe again.

Weng Tonghe said softly, "There are rumors that Luo Xueshuai and King Luo Wu are in deep collusion, even..." He lowered his voice to the lowest level, "even one person!"

"Alone?" Weng was stunned.

Weng Tongshu was surprised and said, "Then my family is not."

He had only said half of his words when he was glared back by his father Weng Xincun.

Weng Xincun asked: "How widespread is the rumor that they are the same person? Does Ronglu know?"

Weng Tonghe shook his head: "I heard about it from my second brother and second brother-in-law. They are both Luo Xueshuai's friends, but they can't be sure. As for Ronglu, he probably doesn't know."

"Then you don't know either!" Weng Xincun said lightly.

"Then my second brother," Weng Tongshu reminded.

Weng Xincun glanced at his son again and said leisurely: "Now that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has become a major force, even without the Ming Dynasty, it will always be no problem to maintain the situation of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. And my Weng family is a famous family in Changshu after all, and the leader of the literati in Jiangnan. Although my father served as a high official in the Northern Dynasty, the Weng family is still a family of the Southern Dynasty!

And the Northern Dynasty is really out of money now! The emperor has already thought of saving money on the iron-clad crops of the Eight Banners children. He has everything a father should have, and he has no regrets in this life, and he is deeply favored by the emperor.

But what will you, Zeng Yuan, Zeng Rong, Zeng Chun, Zeng Gui, and Zeng Han do in the future? Even if the Northern Dynasty can be maintained, life will definitely be tight! They, the bannermen, can't even get enough to eat, how can we, the scholars of the Southern Dynasty, have a share?"

"Father is right!" Weng Tonghe said, "My family now has a large fortune in Jiangnan. It would be a pity to abandon it all."

"A good family property?" Weng Tongshu was stunned. "My family's land was not distributed to the poor by the Taiping?" "Of course some of it was distributed, but we made much more!" Weng Tonghe said, "Didn't my second brother take the wealth to Shanghai early? After he arrived in Shanghai, he bought hundreds of acres of land."

"One hundred acres is not a lot." Weng Tongshu said.

"That depends on where you are." Weng Tonghe said with a smile, "Shanghai has developed very fast in the past two years. The 100 acres of land that my second brother bought has become a good location. Roads and streets have been built. Except for the 30 acres where the Weng House was built, the rest of the land has been used to build houses. The shop front alone takes up half a street. If we sell it now, we can make at least 20,000 silver dollars!"

"So many?" Weng Tongshu was surprised.

It was not easy for Han officials in the Qing Dynasty to "net enough" to make this amount.

"That's it!" Weng Tonghe said, "Besides, our family's property in Changshu has not been lost. According to the instructions issued by the Wu Wangfu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, our family's houses and shops in Changshu City can be kept. The house in the countryside can also be kept, and the furniture in the house will not be moved. In addition, we can keep a hundred acres of mulberry garden. The only loss is a few hundred acres of rice fields and three or four thousand silver dollars of debt.

"My second brother has already done the math. Our family's losses in Changshu are at most 15,000 silver dollars, and we have earned 20,000 silver dollars in Shanghai plus a 30-acre mansion. This is much better than we originally imagined!"

"Oh, what about the situation in other places?" Weng Xincun asked.

"Almost all the people who had taken their wealth to Shanghai to buy land and property were there," said Weng Tonghe. "So the gentry in Suzhou, Songshan, Taiyuan, Changzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing and other places rarely organized militias to resist the Taiping Army. They all fled to Shanghai, and Shanghai became increasingly prosperous."

"Brilliant!" Weng Xincun glanced at his eldest son Weng Tongshu, "How is it? You didn't expect this approach, did you? Luo Xueshuai solved the problem for King Luo Wu, and took control of the talents and wealth of the six richest prefectures in Jiangnan, and even managed to divide the land. Even if this King Luo Wu is not King Zhu Wu, he is at least King Zhang Wu! Not bad, not bad."

He turned around again and asked Weng Tonghe, "What does Luo Xueshuai mean by the emperor cutting down the crops of the Eight Bannermen? The emperor is waiting for his memorial!"

Weng Tonghe said, "Father, I have brought General Luo Xue's petition. This petition was also written according to the emperor's wishes, and I helped him draft it. But he actually does not support the emperor's use of this to cut off the crops of the Eight Banners' children!"

"Ah?" Weng was stunned. "Don't support? What does he mean?"

Weng Tonghe said, "Marshal Xue said that the Wanping New Army cannot be controlled by the monk king and the Khorchin Mongols alone, but must also use the bannermen of Beijing! It would be best to let the bannermen of Beijing take the banner salary given by the court to serve in the Wanping New Army, and form a mixed force of bannermen, Mongolians, and Han people. Only in this way can the emperor firmly control this new army."

"what?"

"This"

Weng Xincun and Weng Tongshu were both stunned.

As Weng Tonghe spoke, he took out a large wallet from his sleeve pocket and placed it on the coffee table: "Father, this is the money that Luo Xueshuai gave us for our activities in the capital."

Weng Xincun took the wallet and opened it. Wow, there was a thick stack of banknotes!

Weng Tonghe said: "Marshal Xue has no other intentions. He just can't bear to see so many bannermen's children in Beijing suffering from hunger and cold. After all, he is about to marry Wanzhen, and he will also be the son-in-law of a bannerman!"

Weng Xincun smiled and said, "It seems that this Luo Xueshuai is a friend of the Eight Banners. Tongshu, do you think this can be done?"

Weng Tongshu nodded and said, "As long as there is enough money, this matter can definitely be done. I know a lot of censors, and they are all hungry!"

Weng Xincun thought for a moment and said to his eldest son, "Tongshu, go to Wo Genfeng's house right away and invite him to come over for a chat."

(End of this chapter)