The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 519: Huang Long wants to eat monsters, eat Qing monsters! (Please subscribe, please vote)

When the thunder of the Tongwaxiang breach rolled towards the border of Shandong Province, Zeng Guoquan was curled up on a tiger-skin chair in the gate official hall of Zhangqiu Town, Shouzhang County, and took a nap. The "Zizhi Tongjian" given by Zeng Guofan on the desk suddenly flipped, and the "letters of persuasion" from the Hunan Army generals to Zeng Guofan through him between the pages flew like snowflakes. He opened his eyes suddenly and saw the gilded top of the Bali Temple outside the hall twisting in the wind and rain - it was not twisting, it was the ground shaking!

"The dragon is turning over!" The aide had just shouted half a sentence when he was choked by the fishy wind. The copper bells of the stone lions at the gate were banging like crazy, and the water level in the canal was rising wildly. Zeng Guoquan strode to the window, but saw a yellow fog rising from the western sky, covering the sky and the sun, and faintly heard the cries of countless people in the fog - the Qing Dynasty is over!
"It's not an earthquake." He turned around and put away the "Zizhi Tongjian" with many "persuasion letters" inserted in it, and looked at the river director who had been drinking with him all night and was a Jinshi who had passed the imperial examinations twice and called himself his student, and laughed: "The Yellow Dragon has really come, the Yellow River has collapsed, and the Qing Dynasty will perish!"

"Quickly remove the gate! Release the heavy gate!" Wang Mengshan, the river official who was slumped in his chair, suddenly pushed away a prostitute who had accompanied him drinking last night and shouted like crazy: "Huanglong is crossing the border, quickly remove the gate! Release the heavy gate!"

The soldiers guarding the gate seemed to be under a spell and it took them a long time to react.

boom--!
The elm gate of the Qianjin Gate fell with a sound. Zeng Guoquan had already dragged Wang Tongzhi by his pigtail and rushed to the horse road. A row of grain-carrying ships were anchored on the canal. Each ship was piled with wheat forcibly collected from all over Shandong. Behind them came the sound of thundering water, and the whole earth was shaking. Both sides of the canal were crowded with trembling people. They had heard the news that "the Yellow River will collapse, the Qing Dynasty will end, and Shouzhang will be flooded", and they rushed to Zhangqiu Town to avoid the water.

Zeng Guoquan took Wang Mengshan and strode onto a particularly large canal boat. Standing on the high top of the cabin, holding a copper trumpet in his hand, he shouted loudly in a Shandong accent: "I am Zeng Guoquan, a descendant of Zengzi. I am here on the orders of my brother Zeng Zhijun to save the people from the water and fire. From now on, you will follow my family and we will take care of you and beg for a living."

The people immediately fell to the ground, and their shouts of "Mr. Zeng is so kind" actually drowned out the roar of the flood.

Inside the walls of Fengyi Hall in Kaifeng Prefecture, a huge crowd of people were kneeling. The banner of "May Heavenly Father and God Bless Us" was flying high in the wind and rain on the north gate tower of Fengyi Hall. A tall and straight woman in a red scarf, yellow clothes and scarlet cape was none other than Du Jinchan, the wife of Zhang Lexing, the leader of the Nian Army and the second general manager of the East Palace Women's Camp. She had her back to the people and was staring at the vast ocean outside Fengyi Hall.

"Second Chief, has Huang Long retreated?" a voice shouted.

"No!" Du Jinchan turned around and looked at the people below the city wall who were incited by her Nian Army brothers with the prophecy of "On June 19, the Yellow Dragon will pass through the city" and rushed into Fengyiting City to avoid the flood. She shouted loudly: "The Yellow Dragon wants to eat monsters, Qing monsters! Come on, bring those Qing monsters who eat people without leaving any bones to me, tie them to stones, and throw them out of the city to feed the Yellow Dragon!"

Several Qing officials who were tied up and gagged were immediately dragged out by several Taiping soldiers - they were all local officials of Yifong Hall, who were captured when the Nian Army led the people to attack the city. Now they were dragged onto the city wall amid cheers of "Kill the monster and feed the yellow dragon". They were already pale and knelt on the ground one by one. Their mouths were gagged, so they could not beg for mercy and could only whimper.

"Tie them up with stones and throw them out to feed the Yellow Dragon!" Du Jinchan was not one to show mercy. He waved his hand and ordered people to put ropes with big stones tied to them around their necks. Then he lifted his head and threw them out. After they struggled for a few times in the Yellow Water, they disappeared.

However, the yellow water is still surging, with no sign of receding.

Du Jinchan withdrew his gaze from outside the city and turned to the people under the city wall: "Huang Long is leaving. Huang Long is going to Shandong to eat Xianfeng! The world will soon belong to my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

"Worship God, kill the Qing monsters!" The people in the city shouted frantically, and the rumbling sound of water outside the city seemed to have really subsided for a moment.

The floor heating in the Dongchang Palace was crackling. Xianfeng stepped barefoot on the hot bricks, his ten fingers digging deep into the "Huangyu Quanlan Tu". An Dehai held the memorials submitted by the various banners and battalions of the "Begging Army", and his throat felt like a ball of cotton wool was stuffed: "Your Majesty, the 'Eight Banners of Begging Army' have gathered 130,000 disaster victims, in just three days..."

"Not enough!" Xianfeng suddenly jumped up, and his fingernails dug holes into the old course of the Yellow River on the map. "I need a million strong troops!" His crazy eyes swept over Zeng Jia Linshu, who stood up with his hand on the hilt of the knife. "Linshu, tell your people to dress up as long-haired people to rob and kill the victims. Remember, kill only scholars!"

Zeng Jia Linshu was stunned, looking at the young man in front of him with a confused look, who seemed to have had his soul eaten by Huang Long.

Xianfeng just muttered to himself: "Scholars are the softest, the softest. If we don't kill some of them, how can we know that the Taiping Rebellion will not tolerate them and how can they be willing to follow the Qing Dynasty wholeheartedly? If they don't follow, how can the people follow?"

Zeng Jia Linshu's eyes showed a trace of pity, and then all turned into ferocity. He clasped his fists and said "Yes".

Outside a newly built shack outside Dongchangfu City to shelter the victims from wind and rain, several porridge stalls emanated tempting aromas, attracting large crowds of people.

When Zeng Guofan lifted the curtain of the relief porridge tent, he saw several Hunan soldiers throwing Guanyin soil into the pot. The unkempt victims held the pottery bowl, unaware of the yellow mud dripping from the corners of their mouths. "General." A scholar commander of the Hunan Army knelt on the ground and choked with sobs, "There are too many victims, and the food allocated by the higher authorities is not enough to eat."

"Add 30%." Zeng Guofan grabbed a handful of barnyard grass brought by his personal soldiers and crushed it in his palm. "Order all begging camps to give two taels of porridge to those who can recite the "Memorial on Revitalizing Confucianism and the Law to Defend against the Rebellious Bandits in Guangdong"." He turned around and looked at the victims who were kneeling before him. Suddenly, he shook out a yellow silk imperial edict from his sleeve and held it high: "The emperor has ordered! The rebels Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing dug the Yellow River!" "Lord Zeng is kind and virtuous. The rebels Hong and Yang deserve to die."

The victims immediately cheered, but the cheers sounded more like howling.

Zeng Guohua squeezed the enamel tobacco box in his sleeve pocket, walked quickly to Zeng Guofan, and whispered, "The emperor seems to be crazy. He asked Zeng Jia to send people to kill the Confucian scholars among the disaster victims!"

Zeng Guofan snorted coldly: "Kill them if you want. Those who join my religion will be protected by others. What are those who do not join my religion doing here?"

"I have heard that in this prosperous era, the civil and military virtues complement each other."

Faintly, it seemed as if someone was reading aloud the "Memorial to Revitalize Confucianism and the Teachings to Resist the Guangdong Bandits".

As the crowd burst into tears, Kong Fanhao's carriage was rolling across the muddy official road. His carriage was loaded with pamphlets printed with "A Memorial to Revitalize Confucianism, the Orthodox Teachings and the Laws to Defend against the Rebellious Bandits in Guangdong". Seventy-two members of the Kong family, wearing linen robes, with their hair tied in buns and long swords on their waists, held up a banner of "Promoting the Orthodox Teachings" and recited in unison "A Memorial to Revitalize Confucianism, the Orthodox Teachings and the Laws to Defend against the Rebellious Bandits in Guangdong" as they moved forward.

The Duke of Yansheng lifted the curtain and glanced at the scene of disaster victims everywhere, and knocked the enamel tobacco box heavily against the shaft of the cart. A middle-aged man in blue clothes and a small head came over immediately. The Duke of Yansheng took out a bamboo scroll from his wide robe and handed it to the man, whispering: "Send it to Li Shaoquan." He murmured in a low voice: "I am a descendant of the saint, and Shaoquan is my descendant! I wonder what he is doing now?"

When the twelve animal heads in the Hall of Tranquility in the Old Summer Palace sprayed water at the same time, Emperor Yi Xin of Tongde was scanning the beautiful scenery of West Peak through a telescope. Through the lens, the flags of the Eight Banners Army were faintly visible, and the men under the banners, wearing eight-colored cotton armor, were carrying foreign rifles and training in formation.

"Your Highness, another 8,000 Khorchin cavalry have arrived at Qinghe." The newly appointed Minister of the Internal Affairs Department, Baojun, was holding a letter with shaking hands, "But Senggelinqin wants me to provide 40,000 shi of fine materials first."

"Give it to him!" Emperor Tongde did not move, but only uttered two words, "Where is Li Hongzhang? Has he submitted any memorial?"

"Your Majesty, Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Army vanguard arrived in Tongzhou yesterday. This is the memorial he just sent to the garden, and it is sealed with a top-secret seal." The voice of the head military secretary Qi Junzao was weak.

"Take a look first to see what benefit this arrogant Li wants from me!" Emperor Tongde's tone sounded a little displeased.

"As you wish." Qi Junzao responded, and then remained silent for a long while.

"what happened?"

Before Emperor Tongde finished speaking, Qi Junzao trembled and said, "Your Majesty, the Russians, Russia was defeated, defeated by Zuo Zongtang!"

It turned out that Li Hongzhang's memorial reported the Russian army's disastrous defeat on the Kamchatka Peninsula! This was not good news for Tongde, who was "in touch with Russia".

"How is that possible?" Emperor Tongde turned around and threw the telescope to the Minister in Charge of the Imperial Household Department beside him. Then he reached out and snatched Li Hongzhang's memorial from Qi Junzao's hand, unfolded it and began to read it word by word.

After reading it, Emperor Tongde suddenly grabbed the "Qing-Russia Secret Agreement" on the table and smashed it to the ground: "Good-for-nothing, good-for-nothing. The Russians are also good-for-nothings. They said they would send 8,000 Russian soldiers to help me, but now the traitor Zuo Zongtang has destroyed our impregnable fortress. If I had known Zuo Zongtang was so powerful, I would have ordered Li Hongzhang and Senggelinqin to come to the garden to see me!"

As dusk dyed Beijing red, Concubine Yi, dressed like an ordinary bannerwoman, walked into the Yutai Teahouse outside Zhengyang Gate with the help of a maid. Wang Youli, a waiter at the teahouse, put away the enamel tobacco box and came up to her with a smile on his face. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice from behind: "Nalan Gege, what gust of wind brought you here?"

Imperial Concubine Yi looked up and saw that the person who spoke was Su Shun, Su Lao Liu. She smiled slightly, walked forward, and asked with a smile: "Su Lao Liu, why are you back? You must have made a lot of money outside in the past two years, right?"

(End of this chapter)