The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 459: The Letter of Submission - We All Must Worship God! (Please subscribe and vote)
Guangzhou, Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office.

The scene here is completely different from when Ye Mingchen and Jirhang'a led their troops to battle less than ten days ago.

Less than ten days ago, Ye Mingchen and Jierhanga were so heroic and brave that they led their troops to the battle. At that time, the people in Guangzhou were very excited.

The English Governor of Hong Kong, "Mr. Bao", sent foreign soldiers to help Mr. Ye! As soon as the news spread, the bannermen, Qing officials and gentry in Guangzhou were all so proud! Although they usually shouted "xenophobia" loudly, when they mentioned foreigners entering the city, they gnashed their teeth, as if they had an irreconcilable hatred with foreigners. But in fact, they were scared to death, and fear was revealed in their bones.

Why? It was the Opium War more than ten years ago that left a psychological shadow on the leaders of both the black and white worlds in Guangdong. The English foreigners, with their strong ships and powerful guns, strong soldiers and sophisticated weapons, were simply invincible. Who wouldn't be afraid of them?
With the help of the foreign soldiers, they felt safe. Why were they afraid of not being able to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Tiandihui? As a result, who would have thought that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also had foreign soldiers, and they were even more powerful Roman soldiers, who were specifically designed to defeat the English soldiers. When the English soldiers met the Roman soldiers, they collapsed at the first blow, and they ran away faster than the Qing army. The Qing army was still holding on, but the English soldiers had already run away.

When the news reached Guangzhou, the Thirteen Hong compradors who had quietly opened their eyes to the world dug out the English version of "Tacitus' Chronicles" and "Tacitus' History" from some corner and were stunned. It turned out that the English soldiers were completely powerless when they met the Roman soldiers. Back then, a Roman general named Caesar led the Roman soldiers to the English hometown and annexed them. Now everyone felt that the Roman soldiers were helping the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Qing Dynasty was doomed.

The hearts of the people in Guangzhou changed all of a sudden. Except for a few Han officials and bannermen who were closely tied to the Qing Dynasty, everyone else secretly worshipped "Second Master Hong" and Second Master Guan together. They thought, since they were both Second Masters, it didn't matter who they worshipped. Maybe Second Master Hong would be more effective.

Guangzhou is a place with a unique "state" atmosphere. That is, "out of ten Guangzhou guys, eight are members of the Tiandihui." Even among the bannermen in Guangzhou, there are many Tiandihui disciples. Joining the Tiandihui in other places means being a rebel, but in Guangzhou, it is a daily routine. If you don't want to study and take the imperial examination to become a high-ranking official, or if you can't inherit the Eight Banners army, how can you make a living in Guangzhou without joining the Tiandihui? No way! Even if you become an Eight Banners soldier, if you want to do some corrupt and law-breaking things and make some money, you have to mix with the brothers of the Tiandihui. Who made the officials and Green Camp soldiers in Guangzhou all disciples of the Hongmen? If you don't join, they won't play with you.

If anyone dares to expose them, do you know what "drawing a death lottery" means? Do you know what "killing with a random knife" means? Even if you are drunk from smoking opium, you dare not do this!
However, although there were many Tiandihui disciples in Guangzhou, their hearts were not united. Some people really wanted to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, but some people did not have the courage to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, but they were very bold to make money by rebelling against the Qing Dynasty. This is why Ye Mingchen was able to barely stabilize the situation in Guangzhou after Li Wenmao, Gan Xian, Chen Kai and other Tiandihui leaders raised troops to rebel against the Qing Dynasty in response to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Even with the support of foreigners, he fought back and forth with the Red Army Volunteer Army camped outside Guangzhou City and did not lose the upper hand.

Why did the wealthy people in the Tiandihui support Ye Mingchen? It was not because he was popular, but because the Governor of Hong Kong, Lord Bao, supported the Qing Dynasty. With Lord Bao's support, Lord Ye seemed to have a better chance of winning.

As a result, the foreign soldiers of "Mr. Bao" were beaten to a pulp by the Roman foreign soldiers who supported Mr. Hong. Is there any need to calculate who has a greater chance of winning? Even a fool can see it.

So when Ye Mingchen was taken back to Guangzhou by Zhang Jingxiu, he felt something was wrong. Everything was weird. He stood in front of the corridor of the Governor's Office like a wooden chicken, watching the advisors, personal soldiers, attendants, and family members coming in and out, moving things, and burning manuscripts. The more he watched, the more he felt that this one looked like a member of the Tiandihui, and that one also looked like a member of the Tiandihui. Everyone's eyes and expressions seemed to be hiding secrets.

Obviously, they were facing a disaster and were about to flee to a foreign land, but why didn't these people show any sign of leaving the temple in a hurry? Some of them were even smiling, which was too abnormal. Ye Mingchen was wondering in his heart, are they going to betray me?
"Da Zhang!" Thinking of this, he quickly called the name of his godson Yin Da Zhang. Yin Da Zhang was a powerful man in Xinhui, and he was also quick to seize opportunities. He actually escaped from the pursuit of the Roman soldiers and arrived in Guangzhou one day earlier than Ye Mingchen. When Ye Mingchen ran back, this "god-filial son" had already arranged for Ye Mingchen's concubines to take Ye Mingchen's property to the countryside of Xinhui to hide from the limelight. He was so "filial".

So now Yin Dazhang is one of the three Guangdong people that Ye Mingchen trusts the most. The other two are Wu Chongyao, the richest man in Guangdong, and Zhang Jingxiu, who brought Ye Mingchen back from Xiangshan.

"Godfather, you called me?" Yin Dazhang looked filial and quickly stepped forward.

"Da Zhang, your father discovered that there is a Tiandihui traitor in the yard!" Ye Mingchen gritted his teeth and said in a low voice.

Yin Dazhang shuddered when he heard this, and immediately put his right hand on the hilt of the knife. Ye Mingchen was about to identify the member of the Tiandihui he had identified when he saw a senior official staggering in from outside the door. It turned out to be the Guangdong Governor, Mr. Bai Guibai.

Bai Gui had a look of impending disaster on his face, and Ye Mingchen knew something serious had happened. Just as he was about to ask, Bai Gui cried, "General Ye, Lord Ji's troops are back!"

Although Jierhanga escaped early, he returned to Guangzhou later than Ye Mingchen. To be precise, he had not yet entered the city. Why? Because from the Xiangshan front to Guangzhou City, there were rivers of all sizes along the way. If there was no bridge on the river and no ferry, it would be harder than climbing to the sky to cross the river.

Yin Dazhang and Zhang Jingxiu were both local tyrants in Guangdong. They were high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty and leaders of the Tiandihui. They had extensive connections and were very capable. But Jierhanga was not so good. He was a Beijinger, and most of his bannermen were from Hangzhou and Fuzhou. Even if there were a few from Guangdong, who would dare to help him in the current situation?
In Guangdong today, who among the Tiandihui disciples dared to mess with the Qing Dynasty? So Jierhanga suffered a lot along the way. There were several times when he couldn't get a boat and had no choice but to swim across the river.

Now, he and his less than 1,000 Eight Banners soldiers were blocked on the south bank of the Pearl River in the south of Guangzhou. Want to swim across the Pearl River? That was simply a pipe dream. "What, Lord Ji is still on the south bank of the Pearl River? What's going on?" After listening to Bai Gui's report, Ye Mingchen no longer had the heart to catch the Tiandihui rebels.

"Lord Ji is on the south bank. We can see him even from the top of Guangzhou City Wall, but he can't get through!" Bai Gui was almost crying. "There are only less than a thousand people left out of a team of 6,000. We can't even cross the Pearl River, and we've been surrounded on three sides by the Taiping Rebellion and the Crusaders. Now it's a fight to the death. It's a desperate situation!"

"What? The Taiping rebels are here? And they're already outside Guangzhou? They're even mixing with the Crusaders..." Upon hearing this, Ye Mingchen was so frightened that his whole body shuddered. His words got tangled in his mouth and he spoke haltingly.

Ye Mingchen was in a panic, and before he could recover, Wu Chongyao and Zhang Jingxiu rushed in like a whirlwind. They were dressed neatly, followed by a group of guards, with pistols on their belts, looking very majestic. They strode into the room holding their robes, and when they saw Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui were there, they breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and exchanged glances with Yin Dazhang.

At this time, Zhang Jingxiu's tone was unusually calm, and he said, "Master Ye, Master Bai, Master Ji just died heroically for his country!"

"What? Martyrdom for the country? That's too fast!" Ye Mingchen felt dizzy and his vision went dark. He almost fell to the ground.

Wu Chongyao added, "My goodness! Nearly a thousand people were killed by the Taiping Army and the Crusaders led by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu. They were all wiped out in a quarter of an hour at most. They were like paper and could not withstand a fight!"

"You, what are you talking about!" Ye Mingchen felt something was wrong when he heard it. His eyes widened like copper bells, staring straight at the richest man in Guangdong.

Zhang Jingxiu took over the conversation with a smile and replied: "Jierhang'a has been killed by His Royal Highness the King of Wu's men!"

"You...you two!" Ye Mingchen was so angry that his fingers were shaking. He pointed at Wu Chongyao and Zhang Jingxiu and said, "You two, turned out to be traitors of the Tiandihui!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the advisers, personal soldiers, attendants and family members in the entire courtyard stopped what they were doing, and everyone's eyes were directed over like searchlights.

"Da Zhang, quickly arrest these two traitors!" Ye Mingchen hurriedly gave the order.

With a crisp "clang" sound, Yin Dazhang instantly drew out his sword and placed it directly on Ye Mingchen's thick and short neck.

Ye Mingchen was so frightened that his face turned pale: "Yin Dazhang, you...are you also a member of the Tiandihui?"

Yin Dazhang curled his lips and said with a smile: "Master Ye, let me tell you the truth. In this courtyard, except for you and Master Bai, the others are all members of the Tiandihui!"

Even as he was speaking, two of Ye Mingchen's personal soldiers pounced on Bai Gui like hungry wolves and pinned him down, even though he had collapsed into a puddle of mud due to fear.

However, Ye Mingchen was still quite "tough". Even at this time, he still insisted: "Yin, Zhang, Wu, you are rebelling. The court will never let you go!"

Wu Chongyao sneered: "The imperial court? The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the imperial court now! You have offended King Hong, and it is the new imperial court that will not let you go!"

When Ye Mingchen heard this, he shuddered.
(End of this chapter)