The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 468: Golden Hoop God-beating Stick vs. Shroud of Christ (Request for subscription and ticket)
At the early morning of the morning, it was still dark in the north of Baoying County. Occasionally, elite cavalry from both sides exchanged fire in the night, firing a few balls of muzzle flames, flashing a ball of bright afterimages, and then erupting with shouts and sounds of fighting, and then quickly returning to calm.

Seven or eight miles north of Baoying City, there was a bright light. The Qing army coming from the north set up a magnificent Ming camp. The light from the lanterns and bonfires dotted the wilderness like a sea of ​​stars on the ground. It seemed to tell the Taiping Army in Baoying City that the Qing Dynasty still had many soldiers and generals!

Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, summoned his generals in his own camp, and finally explained the battle deployment after dawn. Then, under the protection of his personal soldiers, he left the camp in the city and walked towards the frontier position outside the city. As soon as he walked out of the north gate of Baoying, he saw the light of the rocket flashing in the darkness outside the city, and Yang Xiuqing smiled with satisfaction. This kind of rocket was copied from the British by his foreign brother Winster White. The range is about seven or eight miles. Although it is not very accurate, it can be used to harass the Qing army camp, making the Xianfeng demon unable to sleep well, and at the same time it can also create some panic in the Qing demon army. So after Yang Xiuqing successfully copied this kind of rocket in his Guazhou Arsenal, he immediately organized several rocket teams under his own artillery battalions.

As soon as it got dark yesterday, these rocket teams sneaked out of Baoying City like thieves, and under the cover of night, they "swooshed" towards the Qing army camp, deliberately making trouble when people were sleeping. After a while, Xianfeng was irritated and sent out Mongolian cavalry to drive away these guys who were not quiet at night. But Yang Xiuqing was prepared. He spent a lot of money to invite Zhang Lexing from Huaibei with the Nianzi cavalry, just waiting to deal with these Mongolian cavalry. Although the Nianzi cavalry is not as good at riding and shooting as the Mongolian cavalry, Yang Xiuqing is rich. With the "money power", the Nian Army cavalry is equipped with revolvers. Do you think that no matter how good the Mongolian cavalry is at riding and shooting, can they withstand the "crackling" shooting of the revolver? After the bullets are used up, the Nian Army cavalry can still pick up the carbine and "stab people". Those Mongolians under Senggelinqin who usually eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures dare not fight with them. Therefore, even though the Qing army sent out a large number of cavalry, the whistling sound of the rockets still "buzzed" all night long, which made the Qing army very tired.

While the Rockets and the Nianzi Cavalry were "working the night shift", the militia and civilians under Yang Xiuqing, who were "some white-collar workers" who had just been allocated land, were also not idle. It was a cold day, and the temperature in Jiangbei was below freezing on a winter night. However, they were digging trenches in the fields north of Baoying City with shovels and spades, using the light from the scattered lanterns and bonfires. They worked hard, shovel by shovel. This tactic of digging trenches and squatting pits was not exclusive to Luo Yaoguo's "Central Army". Yang Xiuqing's Central Army, Xiao Chaogui's Front Army, and Feng Yunshan's Rear Army had also learned it.

When Yang Xiuqing, escorted by his personal soldiers, arrived at the frontier position in the north of Baoying City, he saw a trench line nearly ten miles long running across the north of Baoying City, less than five miles away from the Qing army camp, like a sleeping dragon lying there. The militiamen and servants who had just finished their work were so tired that they sat in the trenches they dug with their own hands, eating steaming rice porridge with pickled cabbage lumps. Don't underestimate this white porridge and pickled cabbage. For these farmers who had just been allocated one or two acres of land, they could only eat it to their heart's content during the busy farming season.

Some people were sharp-eyed and noticed that Yang Xiuqing had arrived. They quickly put down their bowls and were about to kowtow to the Eastern King. Yang Xiuqing waved his hands quickly, with a gentle smile on his face, and spoke loudly in Guangxi Mandarin, which the people of Yangzhou could not understand: "Everyone has worked hard. Don't be so polite. Eat more. After eating, go down and rest. Get enough energy. There are still tough battles to fight. When we take down Beijing, you will all be great contributors to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When the time comes, you will be rewarded according to your merits. The land outside the Great Wall can be divided freely. Twenty or thirty acres per family is not a big deal!"

In fact, Yang Xiuqing's words had been said countless times by the lecturers and speakers sent down from above, and everyone's ears were almost calloused. But now that the East King Jiuqiansui said this himself, everyone was excited again. They thought to themselves: Following the Taiping Army is indeed promising! I don't know who took the lead and shouted: "Long live! Long live the East King!" This shout was like lighting firecrackers, and instantly a chorus of "Long live" echoed one after another.

Hearing the cheers, Yang Xiuqing curled up the corners of his mouth and his smug smile almost reached his ears. The master Ye Zhifa who was following him was laughing so hard that his mouth could not close. It was estimated that his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

At this moment, a familiar singing voice floated from Baoying City: "Proud and laughing at the waves". It turned out that it was the Taiping Army's central army soldiers who were about to go into battle. They sang "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" while marching to the battlefield in a heroic and high-spirited manner. The momentum seemed to shake the sky apart.

Let's look at Hong Xiuquan. He also left the Heavenly King's Hall, holding the golden hoop stick in his hand, and slowly walked towards his three-bedroom, one-living-room "armored sedan chair" surrounded by a group of loyal female officials such as Bian Sanniang and Daozi. This sedan chair is amazing. After being modified and equipped with an "anti-arrow shield", it looks like a small tank. Behind this big sedan chair, there is also a large prison car. In the prison car, two men with disheveled hair and wearing prison uniforms are slumped. They are Ye Mingchen and Chongling.

Speaking of Ye Mingchen, he had previously gone on a hunger strike, but the hunger strike failed and he became a victim of "force-feeding". No, it was "force-feeding". People stuffed mashed food into his esophagus like feeding a duck. Now Ye Mingchen has been fed up and is plump, and he will soon be able to "peel skin".

As soon as Hong Xiuquan came out, Ye Mingchen, whose mouth was blocked, cried out "wuwu", as if he had suffered a great injustice. Hong Xiuquan stopped, turned his head and glared at him fiercely, and said coldly: "Mr. Ye, you will soon meet the evil Xianfeng. When the time comes, you will have a good chat with him about how Guangdong was lost. Once Guangdong is lost, King Luo Wu's army will be free and can take a large ship to the north at any time to attack Tianjin. Hahaha!"

When Ye Mingchen heard what Hong Xiuquan said, he wailed even louder, his eyes filled with despair, and he must have regretted it to the core.

At the same time, Zhao Sanduo had also been dressed and was standing in the middle of the team, carrying a brown bass musket, with his chest puffed out and his eyes shining, as if he was also looking forward to going to the battlefield and fighting the Taiping Army monsters who had surrendered to the foreigners.

His morale is quite high now! After a few months of eating well and receiving military pay, he originally thought he was going to the north to fight the Russians, but when he arrived in Shengjing, he heard that the Russians had realized their mistakes and retreated - the Qing Dynasty won without fighting, and then Emperor Xianfeng issued another reward!
Zhao Sanduo is really excited about winning this time!

Next, Xianfeng announced that he would take them south to attack Yangzhou. Yangzhou was rich. It was rumored that if they took Yangzhou, they would be able to rob for three days, and they would be guaranteed to make a fortune. Not only were the "fake Eight Banners" like Zhao Sanduo very happy, but even many real Eight Banners who had never seen the power of the Taiping Army were also happy - the Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Jiading, those were the honorable things their ancestors had done.

This time it's their turn to get rich!
When 100,000 Qing soldiers arrived outside Baoying County, the morale of the Qing army was already high.

Because there are fewer people on the other side, at most 50,000.

100,000 vs 50,000, the advantage is mine! Although the Taiping Army did not follow the routine last night and kept "setting off fireworks" in the Qing army camp, which made everyone sleepless all night and had dark circles under their eyes, the magical thing is that the morale did not drop much. It must be said that everyone's desire to get rich overcame sleepiness.

Jin Aduo, who "bought" Zhao Sanduo into the Eight Banners New Army, was now standing in front of his own battalion of the Eight Banners New Army, shouting at the top of his voice, which was like a broken gong and could be heard ten miles away: "The emperor said! As long as we capture Yangzhou City, we will allow looting for three days. No matter how much you rob, it's yours. Fight hard!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhao Sanduo, a "temporary flag", was intoxicated as if he had heard the most beautiful music. They dared not even think about raising the flag and getting a position, which was harder than climbing to the sky. But if they could take Yangzhou and make a fortune, they could go home to buy land and marry a wife. Thinking of the wonderful life in the future, Zhao Sanduo instantly became excited and took the lead in shouting: "Protect the Qing and destroy the foreigners!" This shout was like lighting a string of firecrackers, and the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners Army around him also shouted loudly. That scene was really full of high morale!

The thunderous cheers reached the ears of Emperor Xianfeng.

At this time, he was standing on a large watchtower that he had built last night with dark circles under his eyes. He was the emperor, and even if he led the army in person, he could not "go" to the front line. Now it was not the swords and guns that were blind, but the foreign guns and cannons that were blind. If they killed him with a cannon, the Qing Dynasty would be destroyed.

Therefore, he chose to command the battle from this watchtower which was several miles away from the front line and out of reach of the cannons. Those who went upstairs with him were all well-known figures, such as Sushun, Duanhua, Duhan, civil and military officials, Kong Fanhao, Master Zhangjia, the head of Quanzhen Sect, Grand Lama Tupolev, etc. It was simply a gathering of all kinds of gods.

Look at the top of the watchtower, a yellow dragon flag with the Shroud of Turin sewn on it is flying high in the wind! It is said that with the Shroud of Turin on this flag, the Qing army will be like "magic immune". Even if Luo Yaoguo is good at calculating, he can't do anything to the Qing army! Otherwise, why would Luo Yaoguo go to Guangdong to compete with Ye Mingchen for territory? After actual combat verification, this Shroud is really effective, so Emperor Xianfeng's spirit is so good that he is almost shining.

He first looked at the large group of troops below, under the command of Senggelinqin, Shengbao, Zeng Guofan and others, marching out of the camp in high spirits, slowly spreading out in the wilderness, like spreading a pancake, and soon covering a large area. Then, he raised the telescope and observed the Taiping Army opposite with great interest. The Taiping Army took a defensive posture as soon as they came up, with 20,000 to 30,000 people hiding behind two rows of caltrops... There was also a low earth wall, and there seemed to be some people hiding behind the wall. In addition, there was an extremely huge sedan chair. Emperor Xianfeng thought to himself, this must be Hong Xiuquan's sedan chair with 64 people, right?

Emperor Xianfeng couldn't help laughing out loud, thinking: "Haha, if we go to the battlefield in this big sedan chair, we can't even run away if we lose. These long-haired people are really stupid!"

Just as he was thinking about it, Emperor Xianfeng suddenly exclaimed, "That's strange, why is there a prisoner's carriage? What's in it? What's the play that Changmao is playing?"

It turned out that at this time Emperor Xianfeng saw the prison car in which Ye Mingchen and Chongling were sitting. The car was being pushed towards the front by a dozen Taiping soldiers. This confused Emperor Xianfeng, who had no idea what they were up to.

"Yuan Bao!" Emperor Xianfeng shouted at the top of his voice.

"I'm here!" Yuan Bao, who had been promoted to a first-class guard and a regular attendant in front of the emperor, responded immediately like a spring.

Emperor Xianfeng waved his hand and ordered, "Go and show me who is sitting in the prisoner car."

"Yes!" Yuan Bao took the order and left.

At the same time, Hong Xiuquan, holding the "Golden Hoop Divine Stick", also appeared on the platform of the sedan chair. He raised the "Divine Stick" high and announced loudly to the soldiers around the sedan chair: "With the blessing of the Divine Stick, the army of holy angels has avoided the eyes and ears of the salty demon and is sailing north. They will soon land in Tianjin. As long as you hold on, the world will belong to our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

"Long live! Long live! Kill the Qing monsters and go to heaven"

(End of this chapter)