The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 443: No Longer Accurate? Did the Shroud Work? (Please Subscribe, Please Vote)
At noon, the sun was high in the sky, and the unobstructed sunlight poured directly onto the North Parade Ground outside the Xiaobei Gate of Guangzhou City. The dazzling light made it almost impossible for people to open their eyes. The Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ye Mingchen, had just returned to Guangzhou City a month ago. At this moment, he opened his bloodshot eyes like copper bells, and the cold murderous intent in his eyes shot viciously towards the center of the parade ground.

There, a group of men, women, old and young were stripped of their clothes, with hemp ropes tightly wrapped around their bodies like poisonous snakes, and the beheading flags stuck behind their backs trembled slightly in the wind.

In the past two years, Guangdong Province has been in chaos, with rebellions popping up one after another like weeds. The rebels who were arrested and beheaded by the government are countless, and the bannermen and soldiers in Guangzhou City have long been accustomed to this, and their eyes are full of numbness.

However, today's execution was completely different. The onlookers gasped when they saw this scene. Because today, the number of people who were taken to the North Parade Ground by the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi to be executed was as high as hundreds. In the crowd, the old man's white hair was like frost, shivering in the wind; the young children were only a few years old, and their frightened eyes were full of fear of death. There were both men and women, all of them were pale and thin, and their bodies were weak. At first glance, they were ordinary people who worked hard in the fields all year round.

At this moment, they were completely enveloped by fear, their bodies trembling uncontrollably, and many of them even became incontinent, with urine slowly flowing down their trouser legs. If their mouths had not been blocked, their cries of injustice would have probably broken through the sky.

Witnessing this tragic scene, not to mention the ordinary onlookers and soldiers, even the current Minister Luo Dunyan, who assisted Ye Mingchen in organizing the militia, the former Minister of Taichang Temple Long Yuanxi, and the former Imperial Censor Su Tingkui, could not help but show expressions of pity on their faces, and they all cast questioning glances at Ye Mingchen who was personally supervising the execution.

General Muten, who had just stepped down and had not yet left Guangzhou, was also full of doubts. He could not help but ask Ye Mingchen, who was already bloodthirsty, "Kunchen, the previous executions were at least disciples of the Tiandihui. The Tiandihui was bent on overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, so it was reasonable to kill them. But these people today, old and young, and even women, don't look like traitors of the Tiandihui at all. What capital crime did they commit?"

It turned out that this was not the first execution Ye Mingchen had supervised since returning to Guangdong. Prior to this, Tiandihui disciples in and around Guangzhou had suffered many bloody massacres. Within 20 days, the standard bearers of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi launched ten large-scale searches, an average of one every two days. In total, more than a thousand heads rolled down on the North Parade Ground, and the blood dyed the land red.

Today, those heads are still held high on long bamboo poles and hung at various gates of Guangzhou City. Each head looks grim and dead, with eyes wide open, which makes people terrified.

Most of the Tiandihui disciples who were beheaded before were adult men, but among those to be beheaded this time, the figures of the elderly and children can be seen everywhere, and women account for nearly half. This kind of killing without distinction of age, gender, is really too cruel. Even Mutten, who killed many people, couldn't help but feel that Ye Mingchen was a little too cruel when killing people.

Ye Mingchen smiled coldly, twirling his goatee with his fingers, and said coldly: "They have not committed any crime, but after investigation, they are found to be relatives of the traitors Hong and Feng."

Muten was stunned when he heard this, and looked surprised: "Why are there more? Haven't we already killed one round?"

Ye Mingchen looked grim and responded, "Those killed before were close relatives of the Hong and Feng traitors. But the Hong and Feng families are large Hakka families. In addition to the people who moved to Huaxian, they also have many branches in Jiaying Prefecture. When we sent people to Huaxian to arrest them, some relatives heard the news and escaped. This time, we finally caught them all in one fell swoop."

"Is it too widespread?" Muttern asked worriedly, frowning.

"Too Guang?" Ye Mingchen sneered, his laughter revealing endless coldness and determination, "If Hong Ni succeeds in his great cause, they will all be yellow belts and red belts. What do you think, should they be killed?"

Muten pondered for a moment and felt that what Ye Mingchen said made some sense. He couldn't help but sighed: "In that case, he really deserves to be killed."

Ye Mingchen looked up at the sky. It was almost three o'clock in the afternoon. He waved his hand and ordered loudly like thunder: "Someone, bring up the coffin of Hong Ni's father!"

"Father of Hong Ni?" Muten was stunned again, and asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Didn't they dig out the coffin last time and burn it to ashes? How come it's still there?"

The tombs of the grandfathers of Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan had long been dug up by the former Huaxian County Magistrate Chongling and his men, and their fathers had also been ground to dust. How come a coffin had appeared now?
Ye Mingchen glanced at Muten with a mad look in his eyes, and said, "Master Mu, Hong Ni is the fake king of the long-haired people. Who is the father of the fake king of the long-haired people?"

"Who...is it?" Muten couldn't remember the name of Hong Xiuquan's father for a moment, and felt a little flustered.

It is said that Hong Xiuquan is the son of God the Father!
"Of course it's the false God!" Ye Mingchen said seriously.

"Ah?" Muttern's eyes widened.

Ye Mingchen continued, "The false Heavenly Father is the incarnation of a demon. How can the demon's coffin be burned in one go?"

While he was talking with Muttern, several standard-bearing soldiers of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi had already grunted and carried a thin-skinned coffin that was about to rot to the north parade ground and placed it heavily on a pile of dry firewood.

Ye Mingchen stood up and walked towards the thin-skinned coffin with big strides. He waved his hand, and a big flag with the characters "Great Sage and Teacher" embroidered on it was immediately raised high by a sturdy standard-bearer. The flag fluttered in the wind, as if cheering for this bloody massacre.

Ye Mingchen's eyes were full of madness. He looked at the people in front of him who were being escorted by the standard-bearers to kneel on the ground and wait for execution, and first burst into crazy laughter.

Then, he suddenly stretched out his finger, pointed at the coffin like a sharp sword, and shouted loudly: "This is the coffin of Hong Ni's father, the false father of heaven. I sent people to dig seven feet deep from the ancestral tomb of the Hong family in Hua County before I found it. Today, I will burn it here to sacrifice to my great master!"

He raised his hand high up to the sky and roared, "Hong Ni claimed to be the son of the Heavenly Father. Today I will burn his father. If his magic is really that powerful, I will send down a torrential rain to put out the fire.

Otherwise, his father will be reduced to ashes! After he is reduced to ashes, I will order people to use cannons to blast the ashes in all directions, so that his soul will be scattered!"

After saying this, Ye Mingchen pointed viciously at the distant relatives of Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan below and shouted loudly: "You should also pray for rain for the traitor Hong... If you can't get it, I will kill you immediately after burning the false Heavenly Father!"

After saying that, he suddenly stretched out his hand and shouted loudly: "Bring a torch!" A torch was quickly handed to him, and Ye Mingchen then shouted to the standard-bearers on the execution ground: "Don't block their mouths anymore, let the relatives of the traitors shout out, the louder the better!"

After saying this, Ye Mingchen showed a ferocious smile on his face, and used a torch to light the dry wood under the thin coffin that was about to decay. The flames jumped up instantly, greedily devouring the coffin, burning more and more vigorously.

Ye Mingchen looked at the blazing fire and laughed wildly again: "I want to see how powerful this Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother is." After that, he clasped his fists towards the fluttering flag and said in a gloomy tone: "Can he defeat my Great Saint Teacher?"

"Spare my life!"

"Ye Qingtian, spare my life!"

"God, please be kind and let it rain!"

“Ahh, there are no clouds in the sky.”

"It's over, it's over, oh my God!"

The cries instantly resounded through the sky, and the clansmen of Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan who were about to be beheaded wailed in despair. The sky was still cloudless, blue without a trace of impurities, and the thin coffin was quickly completely devoured by the raging fire and turned into a pile of ashes.

Ye Mingchen suddenly put away his smile, his eyes as cold as the water in a cold pond. He looked at those people who were crying, desperate, and begging him, and coldly spat out one word: "Kill!"

"twitter!"

Ye Mingchen's standard-bearers shouted in unison, their voices echoing throughout the entire North Parade Ground. They stretched out their hands one after another, like vicious wolves pulling out the beheading signs from the backs of Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan's clansmen, and then the broadswords flashed coldly in the air and fell like lightning.

In an instant, hundreds of heads fell like ripe fruits, and blood splattered like a fountain. The North School Field was littered with corpses, a bloody mess, like hell on earth.

Ye Mingchen's bloodshot eyes turned away from the dead bodies on the ground and turned to the northern sky, muttering in a low voice: "Life and death depend on this battle! Your Majesty, I have tried my best. Now it depends on whether the shroud can offset Luo Yaoguo's prophetic method."

Tianjing, Prime Minister's Office, Small Meeting Hall.

A military advisory meeting is being held here today. The attendees include Luo Yaoguo, Shi Dakai, Qin Rigang, and Hu Yihuang, the four military advisors of the meeting, as well as Xiao Chaofu, the representative of Xiao Chaogui, Yang Yiqing, the representative of Yang Xiuqing, Wei Jun, the representative of Wei Changhui, and Hong Renfa, the representative of Hong Xiuquan.

Wei Changhui was also the military advisor of the military advisors meeting, so his representative Wei Jun had the right to vote. Xiao Chaofu, Yang Yiqing, and Hong Renfa did not have the right to vote in the military advisors meeting. Shi Dakai was also the representative of Feng Yunshan.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was a bit heavy, and everyone present had angry faces, apparently because of something. Hong Xiuquan's elder brother Hong Renfa cried and said, "The Ye family is not a human being! They dug up my biological father, the Heavenly King's 'father in flesh' and burned him again."

"Why is it burning again?" Luo Yaoguo didn't quite understand what Hong Renfa said, so he asked.

Hong Renfa gritted his teeth and said, "It was burned once two years ago. Now it's burning again. What's burned is not my father, but the face of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

Shi Dakai, who returned from the Ganzhou front, added: "We also killed hundreds of Hong and Feng clan members from Jiaying Prefecture! In addition, many brothers from the Guangdong Tiandihui have also been killed by the Ye family in the past month or two!"

Luo Yaoguo snorted coldly: "The man surnamed Ye is looking for death!"

He glanced around the hall and said in a deep voice, "The autumn grain harvest in Huguang should be almost done now. I suggest that we start marching towards Guangdong as planned!"

"Agree!" Shi Dakai nodded.

"I agree too!" Wei Jun followed.

"Agree!" Hu Yihuang of course agreed too!
Finally, Qin Rigang said: "King Wu, I agree too!"

Luo Yaoguo nodded: "Okay, the military advisors' meeting unanimously passed it!" He turned his head and looked at Shi Dakai: "Myna, hit hard! Make sure to take all the land in Guangdong and Guangxi!"

"Understood!" Shi Dakai clasped his fists.

(End of this chapter)