The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 483: Xianfeng: I have also read the Anti-Scripture, and I will also rebel! (New Year greetings, subscription, and ticket request)

Seeing Zeng Linshu holding a knife in one hand, he wanted to attack the city alone. The officers and soldiers of the Shanzi Camp on the top of the city wall saw this scene and burst into laughter. Hey, isn't this rushing to die! Immediately, someone raised a foreign gun, the sight was already aimed, and just a light pull of the trigger was ready to send Zeng Guofan's nominal father to see the King of Hell. Fortunately, before the man opened fire, he heard a roar: "Don't shoot, no one is allowed to shoot. That's Mr. Zeng's father!" The person who spoke was Ma Xinyi.

Although the Hunan Army under Zeng Guofan suffered repeated defeats on the battlefield, their ability to escape was outstanding, much better than the bannermen and new recruits in the Eight Banners New Army. Among the 30,000 to 40,000 defeated soldiers who fled from the Baoying battlefield that day, at least 7,000 to 8,000 were from the Hunan Army.

In addition, many Hunan troops were stationed in Huai'an Prefecture City and Xuzhou and Haizhou in the rear. As soon as Zeng Guofan crossed the Huai River, he immediately ordered Yuan Jiasan and Ma Xinyi to take over Xuzhou and Haizhou, and he gathered the Hunan troops and withdrew to Shandong, and quickly controlled Yanzhou Prefecture City and Qufu County. The banner he raised was to protect Confucius Forest, but in fact he had the Yanshenggong Mansion firmly in his hands. This Yanshenggong Mansion is not simple, it is the richest man in Shandong! The Kong family is the largest landlord and grain merchant in Shandong. There are also money houses and pawnshops in the family, with more than one million taels of silver in deposits and hundreds of thousands of stones of grain. After taking over the Yanshenggong Mansion, Zeng Guofan can recruit soldiers on the spot in Shandong and expand his Hunan Army. As long as the Hunan Army can regain its glory, this Shandong land will be under his control!
Even if Ma Xinyi had a hundred courages, he would never dare to shoot the father of Zeng Guofan, the "King of Shandong"!

Ma Xinyi did not dare to take action, but Zeng Linshu was even more daring. He ran straight to the outside of the moat of Haizhou and shouted at the top of his voice: "Everyone on the city, listen up! I am the father of Zeng Guofan, the governor of the Grand Canal! Today I will die in Haizhou and become a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty. If anyone kills me, it will be Ma Xinyi's fault! My son is a filial son. He will definitely avenge me. My death is worthy!"

After hearing this, Ma Xinyi almost rolled his eyes in anger. My goodness, this is obviously a rogue act!

"Pass the order down, no one is allowed to shoot, and you must not hurt Zeng's father!" Although Ma Xinyi was extremely helpless, he still did not dare to kill Zeng Guofan's father. In order to prevent his men from shooting recklessly in the heat of the moment, he emphasized the order he had just issued.

The personal soldiers standing behind him responded in unison, and then rushed like a gust of wind to convey the order.

Before the soldiers could get back with their orders, a fat man with a cane and holding a sword came to "attack the city" and shouted, "I am Duke Yansheng Kong Fanhao. I will die at the hands of Ma Xinyi today! Ma Xinyi, I know that your family believes in Islam. Ma Xinyi from Islam wants to kill Duke Yansheng of my orthodox religion. Great! The Confucian scholars of the world will avenge me!"

Ma Xinyi almost choked when he heard this and passed out. Zeng Guofan's father couldn't be killed, and the Duke of Yansheng couldn't be killed either!

Nowadays, the Confucianism has already had the shadow of "Taiping Dao", which is organized and armed! Zeng Guofan is the chief priest of the Confucianism in Shandong, and the same is true for other provinces, where the chief priests are the warlords of the Confucianism. As a believer of the Tian Fang Sect, if Ma Xinyi really kills the Yansheng Duke of the Confucianism, he can't imagine what kind of huge waves it will cause!
"Pass the order down, no shooting, and no killing of Duke Yansheng. Absolutely no killing!" Ma Xinyi hurriedly gave the order again.

How can we fight this war? We can't kill this person, we can't kill that person, how can we fight this war?

Ma Xinyi's three sworn brothers also realized that this battle could not be fought any longer - if they were killed by the enemy, they would lose their own lives; but if they killed the enemy, their entire family would suffer as well, it would be a dead end either way!

"Brother, this won't do! We can't kill this one, we can't kill that one, the morale of the brothers will be gone!"

"Yes, why don't we retreat? Even if we risk the lives of our entire family today and kill Lord Zeng's father and Duke Yansheng, we still won't be able to defend Haizhou when the Taiping rebels attack us. We might as well run away as soon as possible!"

"Yes, let's retreat! Brother, we are all from Anhui. Lord Li and Lord Yuan are also from Anhui. Lord Li has made great contributions in supporting the new emperor and has become a minister of Beiyang. It's a good opportunity for us to join him."

After hearing the analysis of his three brothers, Ma Xinyi knew that Haizhou could not be defended, so he could only sigh and say, "Forget it, let's retreat. He is Zeng's father, the Duke of Yansheng, and the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. I, a small character with only three battalions, can afford to provoke any of them."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xinyi's three brothers all breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly bowed and said "Yes, sir", then each of them went to gather their subordinates and prepare to evacuate.

Ma Xinyi bowed to Zeng Linshu and Kong Fanhao outside the city and said loudly: "Saint Lord, Mr. Zeng, you are powerful. You are all descendants of the saints of the orthodox religion and loyal ministers of Emperor Xianfeng. I, Ma Xinyi, cannot defeat you. I will flee. I will flee from Haizhou now. I cannot defend it!"

When Xianfeng entered Haizhou City and sat in the lobby of the Haizhou Prefecture Government Office, he still felt like he was in a dream, as if he was in an absurd and bizarre dream, and it was difficult for him to come back to his senses.

He relied on Zeng Linshu and Kong Fanhao, two "capable generals", to capture Haizhou City easily without any soldiers or shots, and from then on he had a foothold. With such a record, even the founder of the Qing Dynasty would have to look at him with admiration.

Hey, this was the first time the emperor rebelled, and it was so smooth, it was really unbelievable. If things continued to go smoothly in the future, he could enter Beijing, take back the throne, and catch the traitor Gong Laoliu like a chicken and chop him off with a knife. It seemed not impossible. Just thinking about such a beautiful thing, Xianfeng couldn't help laughing up to the sky, his laughter was so hearty that the beams of the hall seemed to tremble slightly.

His smile frightened the group of ministers who had survived the disaster. Dozens of eyes were directed at him, all full of questions. Zeng Linshu, who had just made a great contribution, was full of curiosity and couldn't help asking, "Ah, why is the emperor laughing?"

Only then did Xianfeng come back to his senses from that wonderful fantasy. He glanced down and saw thirty-four ministers kneeling in the not-so-spacious hall. All of them had solemn expressions, like eggplants hit by frost. It was obvious that they lacked confidence in their emperor's "rebellion" and were full of worries.

"Stand up, all of you," Xianfeng waved his hand at the ministers kneeling below, speaking in a relaxed tone with a warm smile on his face, "From now on, you can stand in the court to discuss matters, no need to kneel. I am now leading you to rebel against Gong Laoliu, we must be one as monarch and minister, without distinction, just like brothers in life and death, fighting side by side!"

One with you? Indistinguishable from each other? When the ministers heard this, most of them felt a thump in their hearts, as if they were hit by a heavy hammer. You know, Emperor Tongde has already ascended the throne in Beijing! The fact that he can sit firmly on the throne shows that he has the support of most of the Eight Banners. In their opinion, it is harder for Xianfeng to turn the tables than to ascend to heaven.

However, there were also those who were loyal to the "Xianfeng faction". Zeng Guofan's "fake father" Zeng Linshu was the first to step forward, like a tiger coming out of the mountains, and roared: "Zeng Linshu is willing to work with the emperor and fight against the rebellion for the emperor!"

This "Zeng Dad" of his is not an authentic one! Back then, Zeng Guofan really couldn't give in to his real father, and wanted to gain the trust of Emperor Xianfeng, so he had no choice but to let him be a "proxy father". But now, Zeng Guofan no longer needs his "fake father". What will happen in the future, Zeng Linshu can figure it out with his heels! Therefore, he can only hold on to Emperor Xianfeng's thigh tightly, there is no other way.

"Good!" Xianfeng was overjoyed, with a smile on his face. "Linshu, you have made great contributions in protecting the emperor in Baoying, and today you and Duke Yansheng have taken Haizhou, so that I have a place to settle down. You are really a great contributor to me. I must reward you well. From now on, you are my Minister of the Imperial Guards, the Minister in front of the Emperor, and you are in charge of the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Guards Department!"

"Thank you, my Lord, for your grace!" Zeng Linshu knelt down in front of Emperor Xianfeng again, like pushing down a golden mountain and overturning a jade pillar. He kowtowed heavily several times. The sound was so crisp and loud that it seemed as if it could knock a hole in the floor of the hall.

Xianfeng said with a smile: "Pingshen, Pingshen Linshu, if you work hard, when we conquer Beijing in the future, I will make you a first-class duke!"

He was a first-class duke, a minister in charge of the imperial guards, and in charge of the imperial guards and the imperial guards. This treatment was exactly the same as that of Aobai! Zeng Linshu was secretly delighted, as if he had already seen himself in the court in a majestic manner.

Xianfeng then said to Duke Yansheng: "Duke, you are also my loyal subject. If I can enter Beijing and take power again, I will not treat you unfairly. From now on, Yanzhou, Tai'an and Jining will all belong to Duke Yansheng, and Duke Yansheng will also serve as the Prince of Lu!"

Duke Yansheng already had his own territory, and Qufu County was his territory. Now Emperor Xianfeng offered him a big prize: the title of King of Lu plus two prefectures and one state. Who could resist this temptation?
Kong Fanhao was naturally overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude. The sound of his head hitting the ground was like beating a drum. Xianfeng smiled and asked him to stand up, and then once again asked the ministers in the hall to stand up and talk, as if to say: "We are all in the same boat, there is no need to be so reserved."

The ministers were relieved to see that Zeng Linshu and Kong Fanhao both stood firmly on Xianfeng's side. Zeng Linshu was Zeng Guofan's father, and Kong Fanhao was the biggest local boss in Shandong. If Zeng Guofan also supported Xianfeng, then Xianfeng might have a chance to regain the throne!

Thinking of this, all the ministers got up from the ground, staring at Xianfeng closely, eager to hear what tricks the emperor had up his sleeve.

Xianfeng smiled and said, "I have also read the Anti-Classic, and I will also rebel! Although there is no rebellion of the emperor in the Anti-Classic, the principles are the same. This rebellion, first, raise a big banner; second, draw a big cake; third, recruit people. My big banner is ready-made, I am the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and I am orthodox! As for the big cake, it is to divide the land. There are many poor people in Shandong, and the people live in misery. They work all year round, but even making a living is a problem! I want to recruit them to serve as soldiers for me, so naturally I have to divide the land for them, and also give them a hereditary future!"

"As for the land, I will not divide it into fields in Shandong, but fields outside the Great Wall! There are both virgin land and cultivated land outside the Great Wall. All the land of the Eight Banners nobles who support Gong Laoliu in his attempt to usurp the throne will be confiscated and distributed in the future. Anyone who is willing to follow me in the fight against Gong Laoliu can be divided into lands according to his merits after the success! Not only can they be divided into lands, but they can also be raised into the Eight Banners!"

"Now that we have distributed the land and raised the banner, are you still worried that you won't be able to get enough people? What do you think of my "Anti-Scripture"? " After saying this, he glanced at everyone with a sharp gaze, as if waiting for their applause.

(End of this chapter)