The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 43: Mr. Huang, the female long-haired girl has sent you an anti-scripture (Please, don’t raise it, just read it!)

"My dear, you died tragically! I am so sorry for you."

"Brother Ziying, please accept my condolences!"

"Yes, Ling Zheng died of chastity, which was a worthy death. I will definitely build a chastity arch for her in the future!"

In a mansion in Shuangpai Town in Yangming Mountain, Daozhou, Mr. Huang Shijie was crying in the hall, and there were two senior officials beside him trying to persuade him. One of them was a military officer of the first rank, a tall and mighty old man, who was the former governor of Hunan and a "master" who was a military scholar. Because his mother died not long ago, he returned to his hometown to mourn and be a filial son. Later, because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was about to start, he took advantage of his feelings to reinstate himself, took the title of governor, and led 2,000 troops to fight the Taiping Army. At this time, his army was stationed in Daozhou.

The other person was a fifth-rank civil servant, a pale-faced scholar in his forties, and he was none other than Wang Kuiyi, the governor of Daozhou who was a Jinshi graduate.

Now these two are working together to enlighten Mr. Huang Shijie, which shows how great Mr. Huang's face is.

Huang Shijie was still wiping his tears: "General Yu, Governor Wang, you don't know that my wife and I are childhood sweethearts. We have been inseparable since we were little."

He cried and grabbed Yu Wanqing's robe: "General Yu, you must avenge my wife! As far as I know, it was a group of long-haired women who captured Lingtang and Etang. They are no match for General Yu's elite soldiers!"

"Female longhair?" Yu Wanqing had just called Huang Shijie a brother, but now he looked embarrassed. "Could it be that the news is wrong? How can a woman go to the battlefield?"

Wang Kuiyi interrupted and said, "General Yu, the Taiping rebels really do have female soldiers. That's what the newspaper from Guangxi said. The Taiping rebels' main force is besieging Lingling now. They sent some female soldiers to harass the surrounding villages and steal some rice and grain!"

Huang Shijie nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, that must be the case! General Yu, this is your chance to make a contribution! This female long-haired man is also a long-haired man!"

How could Yu Wanqing be willing to take the risk of sending troops?

He was a military candidate in the 23rd year of Jiaqing's reign and a military scholar in the 2nd year of Daoguang's reign. It took him more than 30 years to climb to the high position of admiral. How difficult was that? Shouldn't he cherish it? Moreover, he was a Han Chinese and a military officer. The highest position a Han Chinese military officer could reach was admiral.

Going up, Yang Yuchun did become the governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, but how much credit did he have? Does Yu Wanqing have that ability? He has no such ability at all! He knows his own limitations. His ability to lead troops in battle is far inferior to that of Yang Yuchun, let alone Xiang Rong.

Xiang Rong worked so hard and risked being killed by the Taiping rebels for so long, but what was left? He was dismissed and sent to serve in the Xinjiang army!

Therefore, it is right to make more money as an admiral. Let others do the job of getting no benefits if you win and being exiled if you lose!
But he couldn't say that he was afraid of the female Taiping rebels - if this were to be reported to Emperor Xianfeng, wouldn't he be accused of being cowardly?

At that time, he will be dismissed and exiled.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Yu Wanqing shook his head repeatedly. "There are tens of thousands of long-haired thieves. How could they send a group of female thieves to Etang to steal food? It must be a misunderstanding!"

"How could it be a miscommunication?" Huang Shijie said, "Zhang Bazong of Lingtang Station has fought with these female thieves."

"What does he, a lieutenant commander, know?" Yu Wanqing certainly wouldn't let it go. "My troops are responsible for protecting Daozhou and supporting the imperial envoy Sai Zhongtang on his way north. We can't afford any mistakes!
Whether Sai Zhongtang's plan to annihilate the Taiping rebels in Lingling will succeed depends on whether I can defend Daozhou!"

Since he had already mentioned Sai Shang'a, Huang Shijie and Wang Kuiyi naturally had nothing to say. Huang Shijie just shed tears, and Wang Kuiyi could only sigh.

At this sad moment, Huang Shijie's butler Huang Fu suddenly came running over, shouting as he ran: "Master, Master, good news! Master, Master, something bad has happened!"

Huang Shijie was confused after hearing this. He wiped his tears and angrily scolded, "Huang Fu, what are you yelling about? Is it good news or bad news?"

Huang Fu had already walked in quickly, lifted his robe and knelt down, first kowtowed to Yu Wanqing and Wang Kuiyi, two officials, and then answered Huang Shijie: "Master, there are both good news and bad news! Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Then, let's listen to the bad news first!" Huang Shijie said with a sad face.

"Master, our house in Etang Town was broken into by a group of female Taipings and the poor Koreans in Etang Town. A Taiping leader even burned all the IOUs found in the house! He also said that he would distribute our ten thousand acres of fertile land and the wealth seized from the house to the poor Koreans in Etang, Lingtang, and several nearby towns! He wanted to make land and wealth equal."

"This, this, this"

Huang Shijie was dumbfounded.

This is quite bad news!

He was mentally prepared for the Taiping rebels to rob his family of their belongings, and he also expected them to burn his IOUs. But dividing his land was a bit surprising.

Although the slogan of "equal distribution of land and wealth" has often been used by rebels in history to mislead the people, it seems that no one actually follows it!

After all, the purpose of rebellion is to "replace the emperor". If the chief rebel leader succeeds, he will become an emperor, and the big leader will become a duke. Shouldn't the small and medium leaders and minions occupy more land to pass on to their descendants? You have divided the land equally among the people, so how can those small and medium rebels occupy the land?

"This is impossible?" Wang Kuiyi, the governor of Daozhou, was also panicked. "When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in Guangxi, it didn't distribute land to the poor people there! Why did it change the rules when it came to Hunan? Doesn't it intend to be a bandit anymore? Is it going to settle down in Yongzhou Prefecture? Then Daozhou would be..." If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanted to establish a base in Yongzhou Prefecture, then Daozhou, a subordinate prefecture of Yongzhou Prefecture, would be a place that the Taiping Army must take!

And Wang Kuiyi is the minister who defends Daozhou!

Huang Shijie also turned pale, muttering, "It must be so. This damned group of long-haired people are going to make Yongzhou their home! What should I do?"

If the Taiping Army made Yongzhou Prefecture their home, wouldn't all his land have to be distributed among the poor Koreans by the Taiping Army?
Wouldn't that mean he would lose everything?
Yu Wanqing was also a little anxious. His original plan was to station troops in Shuangpai first to "protect" Daozhou. After the Taiping Army broke into Lingling, the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture, and plundered it, he would lead his troops to retake it. The current Hunan governor, Bao Qibao, was in Lingling. Whether this guy died for his country or lost his territory, he would not be able to continue to be the governor of Hunan. Then, wouldn't Yu Wanqing be able to get his job back by taking credit for retaking Yongzhou Prefecture?
But if the Taiping Army stayed in Yongzhou Prefecture and refused to leave, wouldn't he have to fight the Taiping Army to the death in Yongzhou Prefecture?

This is not possible!
Just when Yu Wanqing was feeling overwhelmed, Huang Shijie asked again with a sad face: "Then, what is the good news?"

"It was Chang Mao who released you, the wives of the second and third masters, a dozen concubines, and the young masters and young ladies."

"What?" Huang Shijie was stunned and froze there.

Losing one's chastity is a serious matter!
The Huang family of Etang is a famous family in Daozhou and a family of scholars. If more than a dozen women lose their chastity at the same time, wouldn't they become a laughing stock in the scholarly community?

Yu Wanqing and Wang Kuiyi were also stunned for a moment, and then they glanced at Huang Shijie's head.
Of course, Huang Fu, the housekeeper, knew what the three masters were thinking. He quickly explained for the women of the Huang family, "Master, don't worry, none of the two wives and the dozen concubines have lost their chastity. Because the ones who attacked Etang Town yesterday were all female Tai Maos, and the leader was Su Sanniang, the deputy chief of the Tai Mao's female battalion. And there was not a single male Tai Mao in the entire army."

In fact, there were two men with long hair, one was Luo Yaoguo and the other was Hong Renfa.

However, all the women and family members of the Huang family who ran back from Etang Town were bitten to death, not a single long-haired man was left!

Without the male long-haired man, the Huang family women would not have lost their chastity.
Huang Shijie seemed unwilling to believe it: "Really? Huang Fu, have you found out everything?"

"I have found out!" Huang Fu nodded. "The servants who came back with us all said that they were the female battalion of the Taiping Army and did not want bound feet, so that Su Sanniang released the two wives and a dozen concubines. If you don't believe me, you can call the two wives to interrogate them."

"Okay, call everyone here right away!" Huang Shijie asked Huang Fu to call people without saying a word.

He no longer cared about the taboos between men and women - he had to ask Yu Wanqing and Wang Kuiyi to be witnesses to prove that Huang Shijie's wife had not been defiled by the Taiping rebels.

After a while, several crying women with bound feet were brought in by Huang Fu. The leader was a woman with a very "lucky look" - "Big Ah Fu" weighing at least 180 kilograms. She was Huang Shijie's childhood sweetheart and first wife. From her appearance, you could tell that she had not been defiled by the Taiping Army.
Huang Shijie saw that his wife Huang was holding a few thread-bound books in her hands, but he didn't know what the books were. Could they be ancient books from the family? So he asked, "Madam, what are you holding?"

Madam Huang was probably confused, so she answered subconsciously, "Master, this is the scripture that Su Sanniang, the female leader of the Taiping Rebellion, asked me to bring to you."

"What?" Huang Shijie was stunned. "Su Sanniang sent me scriptures? I, I don't know her!"

Yu Wanqing and Wang Kuiyi both looked at Huang Shijie with suspicion.

Huang Shijie asked quickly, "Madam, what sutra did that female warchief ask you to deliver?"

“Anti-classic.”

"Anti-seminal?"

“What is anti-song?”

Yu Wanqing and Wang Kuiyi, two highly vigilant Qing officials, stared at Huang Shijie's "big Afu wife" with sharp eyes and asked questions.

"That's it, that's the sutra of rebellion!"

As soon as Mrs. Huang said this, Huang Shijie felt dizzy and wanted to divorce her.

Isn’t this woman a traitor to her husband?

Su Sanniang, a famous female rebel, gave Huang Shijie scriptures and scriptures for rebelling. How did he explain this? Did Huang Shijie and Su Sanniang know each other for a long time?

Su Sanniang was from Guangdong. Although Huang Shijie was not from Guangdong, his family had done business in Guangdong since his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather, his grandfather, his father and himself had all been to Guangzhou.

In Guangzhou, the Tiandihui was full of clerks and shopkeepers from Shisanli, and who wasn't a member of the Hongmen?
Su Sanniang was the head of Guangyi Hall and had a very high status in the Tiandihui in Guangdong and Guangxi. It was not surprising that Huang Shijie knew her.
(End of this chapter)