The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 488: Let’s fight against the Qing Dynasty together with Emperor Xianfeng! (Happy New Year and may you make a fortune)

The first year of Tongde in the Qing Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This should have been a good day for family reunion and eating Yuanxiao, but in Jining Prefecture, Shandong, the festive atmosphere was completely blown away by the cold wind and heavy snow. The north wind blew, and the snowflakes fell to the ground like they were free. The whole city of Jining Prefecture seemed to be covered by a layer of gloom, which was so depressing that it made people breathless.

Look inside and outside Jining Prefecture, there are refugees with their families everywhere. These people all fled from Huai'an, Xuzhou, and Haizhou, following the defeated Qing soldiers from the Baoying battlefield.

It was quite pitiful. Many people were middle-class families with houses and land and lived a comfortable life. But when the war came, whether you were rich or poor, you all had to suffer. In order to avoid the legendary Guangdong bandits who specifically targeted the rich, they had to grit their teeth, leave their families behind, and follow the Hunan Army, Huai Army, and Shandong Army under the command of Zeng Jia. Guofan, the "Lord of the State", and flee all the way to this small Jining Prefecture.

The peaceful life they had before is gone. Now they can only suffer from hunger and cold in this snowy and icy place. For a bite to eat, they don’t care about dignity at all.

Although the "Lord of the State" had tried every possible way to help these refugees, there was only so much food, and the number of people was increasing. Even a good cook could not cook without rice! The defeated troops who fled to Jining Prefecture from several prefectures in the south added up to 30,000 to 40,000 people, and he had no way to arrange them. Most of the defeated troops could only squeeze into a temporary camp outside the city, living in a shabby shack with leaks everywhere, eating a few cornmeal steamed buns and a few dry sweet potatoes, and it was good enough if they could barely avoid starvation.

Only Zeng Jia, Guofan's most trusted backbones of the Hunan Army, such as the "Ji Camp", "Ying Camp" and "Yue Camp", and the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners New Army who retreated to Jining Prefecture with Senggelinqin and Shengbao, could find a place with a roof to live in the city and eat a bite of hot rice and noodles.

It was with the help of these people that Zeng Jia Guofan was able to stabilize the situation in Jining Prefecture and prevent this shaky business from completely falling apart. But everyone knew that this stability was only temporary.

Zeng Jia. Guofan stood in front of the map, his fingers gently slid over the word "Haizhou", and the image of Ma Xinyi crying and talking nonsense a few days ago came to his mind. What did Ma Xinyi say, "The old man is the bravest among the three armies, he went into battle bare-chested, bravely climbed the city, and was unstoppable."

Zeng Jia Guofan's family tradition is to farm and study, so how could he have such a fierce father like Zhang Fei? Wait, it seems that there really is a cheap father who is full of muscles and looks hard to mess with. It was Huang Shijie, the good student, who helped to find him! When Zeng Jia Guofan thought of this father, he had a severe headache and felt that his head was about to explode.

Ma Xinyi also said, "It is suspected that Emperor Xianfeng killed a white snake and offered sacrifice to the flag under the city of Haizhou, and made an agreement with the refugees to 'destroy the false emperor, divide the land, and raise the flag', so he was able to gather tens of thousands of people and run rampant in Huaibei." This sounds too outrageous. What kind of monster happened in Haizhou? The Qing Dynasty was in a mess, how could an unknown Emperor Xianfeng appear and raise troops to cause trouble? If it was fake, it would be fine, and troops would be sent to suppress it, but if it was real, Zeng Jia. Guofan didn't dare to think about it anymore, and just felt a chill on his back.

"Sir! There is someone outside the yamen who claims to be an old man from Haizhou." A Goshaha ran in breathlessly to report, and the snow and mud under his feet left a string of dirty footprints on the ground.

Zeng Jia. Guofan's face darkened instantly when he heard this. The "old man" from Haizhou? Who else could it be? It must be that fake father with strong limbs and simple mind! He had helped Xianfeng, whose true or false identity was unknown, to attack Haizhou before, and now he has come to Jiningzhou again. He must be a lobbyist. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but said angrily: "What old man from Haizhou? Fake! Come on, tie up this guy who dares to pretend to be my father and bring him here!"

"Yes!" Several Goshahas who were guarding the door responded and rushed out like a gust of wind, disappearing in the vast snow in the blink of an eye.

……

At the same time, in another government office in Jining Prefecture, Guaerjia Shengbao and Senggelinqin were sitting face to face, each holding a secret decree just sent from Beijing, reading it over and over again, their brows furrowed into the shape of the Chinese character "川".

After looking at it for a long time, Senggelinqin threw the secret decree in his hand on the table with a "pa" sound and sighed: "We are of the same roots, why are we so anxious to hurt each other! We are all from the Aisin-Gioro family, why do we have to make such a fuss?"

Shengbao raised his eyebrows, put down the secret decree, looked at Senggelinqin and said, "Your Highness, what are you talking about? The Xianfeng in Haizhou must be a fake. We must get rid of him for the emperor, otherwise my Qing Dynasty will be divided into two and will be destroyed by the Taiping sooner or later!"

Senggelinqin just shook his head and sighed: "Kezhai, you are the emperor's confidant, it is your duty to eliminate the hidden dangers for him. I am just a Mongolian prince, do you think this will work? I will hand over all the Eight Banners New Army in the city to you, you can do whatever you want."

Shengbao nodded, looking confident: "Okay! I, Shengbao, will completely eliminate this hidden danger for the emperor and the Qing Dynasty!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Sanduo's voice came from outside: "Sir, the refugees and defeated soldiers in the camp outside the city seem to be gathering. I'm afraid they are going to cause trouble."

"Humph!" Shengbao slammed the table, his face full of anger, "These guys start making trouble when they are hungry. When they were landowners, why didn't they leave a little food for the tenants?"

Senggelinqin shook his head, took out his token from his bosom and threw it to Shengbao: "Kezhai, with this token, you can mobilize my Mongolian cavalry at will. Bring more cavalry and scare them. Don't make a big deal out of it."

Shengbao took the token and nodded gently: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I know what's going on and I guarantee nothing will go wrong." After that, he bowed to Senggelinqin and took Zhao Sanduo out of the house. The snow was still falling outside, and a thick layer of snow had accumulated on the ground, making it a vast expanse of white. Shengbao took the sword from Zhao Sanduo, hung it on his belt, and strode out of the city, as if he was going to do something very ordinary. ...

In the snow outside the city, Aixinjuelu Yizhu, wearing a simple blue cloth fur coat and a fur hat, stood on a high platform made of several broken eight-immortal tables. He looked at the densely packed refugees below the stage. These people were holding broken bowls in their hands, wearing thin clothes, with pale faces and thin bodies. Their eyes were full of despair, as if they had completely lost hope in life. Looking at this scene, Yizhu felt a sharp pain in his heart, and for a moment, he didn't know where to start.

In front of the high platform where he stood, Yanshenggong Kong Fanhao was shouting and directing dozens of Qufu Kong family members and servants. They quickly set up more than a dozen large pots, and the fragrant rice porridge was gurgling in the pots. The fragrance was like wings, drilling straight into people's noses. For those who were already starving to the point of red eyes and chests sticking to their backs, this fragrance was simply a fatal temptation. The refugees and defeated soldiers, without even saying hello, rushed over like a tide at the smell.

After a while, these people surrounded Emperor Xianfeng in three layers like a group of ants!

If Zeng Jia Linshu had not brought more than 200 guards dressed as Kong family servants to surround Emperor Xianfeng and the dozen or so pots like a human wall, and everyone was holding a foreign rifle, as if they would kill anyone who dared to take a step forward, the rice used to make porridge would have been snatched away by these hungry guys.

At this moment, the aroma of the rice porridge became stronger and stronger, going straight into people's throats, causing the Adam's apples of all the refugees and defeated soldiers who were watching to move up and down uncontrollably. Their eyes were as big as copper bells, staring at the big pots, and the saliva in their mouths was like a flood that broke through the dam and could not be stopped. The scene was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Linshu, it's time to start!" Xianfeng finally gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and shouted at Zeng Jia Linshu who was not far away. That voice seemed to carry endless majesty.

"Yes!" Zeng Jia Linshu answered, and then he opened his throat and shouted in a loud voice: "Listen carefully, fellow villagers, this gentleman on the high platform is not an ordinary person, he is the current emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Xianfeng!"

His shout was like dropping a huge rock into the calm surface of a lake, and the crowd waiting for porridge below immediately exploded in excitement.

"He is Xianfeng? How is that possible? Wasn't Emperor Xianfeng captured by the Taiping rebels on the Baoying battlefield?" A shrill voice came out first.

"That's right, this Xianfeng could be an impostor, trying to take advantage of the situation?" another hoarse voice echoed.

"Who cares? As long as we can drink as much porridge as we want... Damn it, we're going to rebel too!" A tall and sturdy man waved his fists and shouted at the top of his voice.

"Yes, let's rebel!" Everyone responded, and the sound seemed to shake the sky apart.

"This Qing Dynasty... is really terrible. It won't let people survive!" Another burst of sad cries came from the crowd.

This really proves the saying that the poor are looking forward to rebellion! Those poor people who are about to die of starvation are looking forward to rebellion so much that their eyeballs are about to fall out. Someone gives them white rice porridge to drink and can lead them to rebellion... If you say you are the second son of God, then you are the second son of God. If you say you are Emperor Xianfeng, then you are Emperor Xianfeng!

Xianfeng looked at the huge crowd of hungry people in front of him, listened to their noise, and felt a mixture of emotions. Finally, he took a deep breath and shouted to the refugees and the defeated army: "Fellow villagers, soldiers! I am Emperor Xianfeng! Prince Gong, Gong Laoliu, usurped the throne in Beijing, he is a traitor! I am here today to lead an army to fight him and take back my country! All soldiers and civilians who are willing to follow me to fight the rebellion can be raised into the Eight Banners, and each person will be allocated 20 acres of good land outside the Great Wall!"

His voice was not loud, and after he finished shouting, many people still did not hear clearly. Fortunately, Zeng Jia. Linshu helped him repeat it, and now the hungry people below all knew what was going on. Someone wanted to rebel in the name of Emperor Xianfeng, and whoever followed the rebellion could become a member of the Eight Banners after the success, and would be given land outside the Great Wall!

I'm going to starve to death anyway, so I might as well rebel! Maybe I can create a beautiful country through rebellion?

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was on the verge of living a good life, so why couldn’t they?
The people below were immediately in an uproar. Someone took the lead and shouted, "Fuck him! Let's follow Emperor Xianfeng and rebel against the Qing Dynasty!"

"Yes! Let's rebel! This world is so unbearable that even Emperor Xianfeng couldn't survive. If we don't rebel, we'll be damned!"

"Rebellion, rebellion... Protect Xianfeng, and rebel against the Qing Dynasty!"

Outside the city of Jining, there was a cry of rebellion!
(End of this chapter)