The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 427 Your Majesty, now is the time when the long-haired people are at their weakest! (Please subscribe and vote)

Emperor Xianfeng frowned, his eyes full of doubt, and pouted his lips and said, "Christ's Shroud? What kind of treasure is this? Christ has been in heaven for more than 1,800 years, right? How can a piece of cloth made more than 1,800 years ago still be useful now? Don't tell me it's just a rag!"

Lama Tupolev knew that this matter could not be explained by words alone. He slowly reached into his arms, and with such careful movements that he was taking out a family heirloom, he took out a small silver box. The surface of the box was inlaid with tiny rubies, forming the shape of a cross, which looked unusual. Lama Tupolev first made a cross on his chest like an extremely devout fanatic, and then gently opened the lid, and with his thumb and index finger, he picked up a piece of linen cloth as if he was holding a rare treasure. The cloth was tattered, khaki, and had a few dark brown spots on it. It looked really inconspicuous, and was about the same size as Lama Tupolev's palm.

"Your Majesty, look! This is the legendary Shroud of Turin!" Tulamar held the cloth high in both hands, as if he was holding an incredible magic weapon, and showed it to Emperor Xianfeng and the ministers in the Qinzheng Qinxian Hall.

Emperor Xianfeng took a look and was extremely disappointed. He pouted and said, "Is this the Shroud of Turin? Why is it so small? How can this small piece of cloth wrap the body of Christ? Tu Lama, are you deceiving me?"

As if he had expected Xianfeng to ask this question, Tu Lama explained calmly, "Your Majesty, you don't know that this is only a small part of the Shroud of Turin. The entire Shroud was a holy relic captured by the Crusaders during the attack on Jerusalem. It was first enshrined in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, and later was treasured in the Turin Cathedral in Italy. The piece in my hand is one of the few pieces of the Shroud that the late Russian Emperor Alexander I begged and begged from the Vatican after defeating Napoleon I and saving Europe!" Tu Lama spoke with great joy, and lowered his voice mysteriously, "Don't underestimate this piece. The magic power it contains is no less than that of the Spear of Longnusky. Just stick this Shroud on the face of the demon Luo Yaoguo, and that guy will go to hell immediately!"

"What? Stick...stick it on Luo Yaoguo's face?" Xianfeng wondered, "How is this similar to the Chinese Taoist priests using talismans to suppress zombies?" So he asked, "Then how do you stick this piece of rag on Luo Yaoguo's face?"

Tu Lama patted his chest and vowed: "We must find a way to catch Luo Yaoguo first!" His tone made it seem as if catching Luo Yaoguo was like catching a chick.

Xianfeng rolled his eyes, his face full of suspicion: "Catch? That's easy to say! Do you really not know how powerful Luo Yaoguo is, or are you fooling me here? Luo Yaoguo has 100,000 Taipings under his command, each with a foreign gun. What can I use to catch him?"

Tu Lama said with a serious face, "Your Majesty, please don't get angry. This piece of Christ's Shroud has a magical power, which is to restrain Luo Yaoguo's prophetic art! According to you Chinese, Luo Yaoguo is good at calculating. His 100,000 foreign rifles and long hair are difficult enough to deal with, but what is even more deadly is his prophetic art. As soon as the Qing soldiers stepped out of Beijing, he counted with his fingers and knew exactly how many people the Qing soldiers had, what equipment they had, how much dry food they had, and where they were marching from. He knew everything clearly. Even if Napoleon I was resurrected, he would have to watch helplessly in this battle." Tu Lama said with saliva flying, "So, to defeat this demon, we must first break his prophetic art. As long as I use the secret method to stick this piece of shroud on the flag of the Qing main force, Luo Yaoguo will not be able to calculate the movements of this main force even if he racks his brains."

When Xianfeng heard this, his eyes widened instantly, as if he had seen a savior: "Tu Lama, can this trick really work?"

Tu Lama straightened his back and swore solemnly: "Your Majesty, I swear to heaven that this method is absolutely reliable! And according to my observation, now is the time when the Taiping Rebellion is at its weakest. It is the perfect time for the Qing army to attack and wipe out the powerful enemy. If we miss the opportunity, we will regret it!"

Xianfeng was not so easy to fool. When he heard this, his face darkened and he snorted coldly: "Oh? The Taiping army has a lot of territory, population, money, and soldiers now, so how come it is the weakest time? Tu Lama, you are not lying here because you see that my Qing Dynasty may join forces with Britain and France to deal with you Russia? If your Emperor Nicholas really doesn't want to be attacked from all sides, he should quickly withdraw the fleet from Heilongjiang and withdraw the troops from Sakhalin Island. Naturally, I will not join forces with Britain and France. But he took advantage of the chaos in my country to invade the border and rob land, and even dared to threaten the birthplace of my Qing Dynasty! Can I turn a blind eye and ignore it?"

Tupolev, whose thoughts were exposed by Xianfeng's words, panicked in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged. Just as he was about to continue to fool Xianfeng with lies, Zeng Jia. Guofan next to him spoke: "Your Majesty! I have something to say." "Go ahead!" Xianfeng nodded slightly.

Zeng Jia Guofan cleared his throat and said, "Your Majesty, Tu Lama is right about one thing. Now is indeed the weakest time for the Taiping Rebellion. At least, it is the weakest and most chaotic time since the Taiping Rebellion entered Jiangning."

"Oh?" Xianfeng became interested, "Why do you say that?"

Zeng Jia Guofan shook his head and analyzed it clearly: "Because the Tai Mao's National People's Congress was completely destroyed, what was originally a good political meeting turned into a fight. Xiao Chaogui was seriously injured and fell to the ground, Hong Xiuquan was placed under house arrest, and Luo Yaoguo took the opportunity to seize power. Now, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of the Tai Mao has lost all trace of peace. It has become a chaotic place full of smoke, miasma, and intrigue."

"Although there is no more chaos among the kings in Jiangning City for the time being, the fake kings of the Taiping regime will definitely have different dreams and be on guard against each other in the future. When faced with a national crisis, they may even stand idly by. Seeing others suffer misfortune, they will most likely gloat over their misfortune. Although Hong Xiuquan has been deprived of power, he is still the leader of the Taiping regime after all! As long as he is still breathing, changes may happen in Tianjing City at any time!"

Zeng Jia. Guofan became more and more excited as he spoke: "So now Luo Yaoguo is prosperous on the surface, but in fact he is facing internal and external troubles. If he doesn't spend a year or two to rectify the internal affairs, he won't be able to keep warm even the two so-called Zhili territories of Jiangnan and Jiangxi. As for Jiangbei, Hunan, Hubei... they are all the territories of Yang Xiuqing, Feng Yunshan, and Xiao Chaogui. Their armies, territories, and Luo Yaoguo's Taiping Central Committee have long parted ways. No one can command anyone, and they all wish the other side bad luck." At this point, Zeng Jia. Guofan bowed his hands, "I suggest that we attack the south with a false pretense, pretending to attack Luosha, but actually aiming at Taiping... While Luo Yaoguo hasn't sorted out the internal affairs, we should give Taiping a few hard blows. Even if we can't destroy them all at once, we have to severely injure Taiping in the north of the Yangtze River and in Hunan and Hubei. It would be best to drive them back to the core territories of Jiangnan and Jiangxi, and let the pseudo-kings squeeze there and fight each other. As long as they fight again, Taiping will definitely be finished!"

You know what, Zeng Jia Guofan’s words sounded like heavenly music, so pleasant to the ears!

Emperor Xianfeng narrowed his eyes, his pockmarked face full of expectation, but who knew that his expression would fall in the blink of an eye, and he could only be heard mumbling in a low voice: "The Central Government of the Taiping Rebellion has an army of 100,000... How many soldiers can I use? The Eight Banners New Army has at most 80,000 people, and the Zhili Beiyang Training Army has only 7,000 to 8,000 people. The Hunan Army and Huai Army under your command, Zeng Jia Guofan, only have 20,000 to 30,000 people in total. Zhang Liangji and Guan Wen's Hubei militia and Jingzhou Eight Banners have a total of 20,000 to 30,000 people. The Hunan Army left in Hunan is still 20,000 to 30,000, and Zuo Zongtang has only 20,000 people... All these are less than 200,000, how can this be enough?"

Zeng Guofan had already thought about this matter over and over on the way to Beijing, and had a good idea in mind. When he heard Xianfeng muttering this, he immediately clasped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have come up with a perfect strategy to quell the bandits. In summary, it is 'six routes of troops, south to attract north to attack, first take north of the Yangtze River, then pacify south of the Yangtze River'!" As he said this, he took out a memorial and held it high: "Your Majesty, please take a look!"

"Hurry up and bring it here!" Xianfeng was very happy. He quickly asked An Dehai to help him get Zeng Jia Guofan's memorial. After unfolding it and reading it for a while, he couldn't help but patted the table and laughed, "Guofan, you are really a good servant of mine!"

(End of this chapter)