The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 533: The meeting of the two kings under the Zhengyang Sect, the dragon trapped in the smoke at the end of the imperial street (ask for subscription, request for tickets)
Chen time, Chongwenmen Street.

Xianfeng curled up beside the ruins of a burned silk shop, feeling cold, yawning, and in pain everywhere, especially the Tianhuang stone in his arms, which hurt his ribs. But he still hugged the broken stone tightly - he thought that as long as he arrived in Tianjin, some gullible person would spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to buy this broken stone, and he would have a place to smoke opium for the rest of his life.

That's right, now Xianfeng's mind was full of only one thought, that is, smoking opium! He didn't care about anything else, such as the destruction of the country, sleeping on the streets, and the Taiping Army on the streets trying to catch him. He couldn't find opium!
But the problem is that he can't get the opium now! What was originally a matter of a word is now as difficult as ascending to heaven. Because the inner city of Beijing was under martial law last night, Xianfeng didn't even go out of Chongwenmen and was directly trapped in the city.

Although Sushun, Linshu, and those who followed Sushun all had houses in Beijing, no one dared to go home - they now claimed to be Han people from Beijing's outer city, and Han people generally had no homes in Beijing's inner city.

So Xianfeng had to sleep on the street last night. Now there are only Taiping troops on the streets of Beijing's inner city, no opium! Who dares to sell drugs in front of the Taiping troops on the streets? They will go to hell immediately!

"Open your mouth, fourth brother!" Zeng Jia Linshu came up with a broken ceramic bowl, and the sour smell of soy milk mixed with the aroma of fried cakes rushed straight to his head. Xianfeng's Adam's apple rolled twice, and suddenly heaved by pinching his neck, and the yellow water splashed on Linshu's patched sleeves - this was taken from the body of a Liba who died in the imperial city yesterday.

De Ling bent over and crawled through the broken beam, his wide cheekbones, which were unique to the Manchus, were smeared with stove ash: "The guards at Chongwenmen have changed three times, all of them are Luo's Hunan long-haired people!" He suddenly imitated the Hunan accent: "Those kids said that whether the city gate can be opened depends on the negotiation between Yang and Luo, the two living devils!"

"Shut up!" Sushun's jade ring almost dug into De Ling's flesh. In the distance came the crisp sound of shoes with thousand-layer soles rolling over rubble, and eighteen Taiping soldiers carrying rifles were checking the bodies one by one. The leading sergeant suddenly stopped, and the barrel of the gun lifted up half of the bright yellow satin - it was the inner garment that Xianfeng had discarded last night!

"Let's go!" Linshu pulled Xianfeng up and rolled behind the ruins. The Tianhuang stone scraped across the cracks of the bricks, and sparks flew out. Xianfeng vaguely saw the Panlong Pillar of the Hall of Supreme Harmony swaying in front of him - it was an illusion caused by his addiction to opium. When a piece of tattered tarpaulin picked up from somewhere covered the three people, three cannon shots suddenly exploded from the direction of Zhengyang Gate, startling the birds in the city.

At the same time, outside Zhengyang Gate.

Yang Xiuqing's eyes passed over Luo Yaoguo's head through the gilded telescope, and the lens reflected the flintlock rifles of the third year of the Tianli calendar standing on the city wall. "King Wu is very cunning!" King Dong put down the telescope, "It's only been half a day, and you have taken the job of the Nine Gates Commander?"

"Dongdian, you are too kind." Luo Yaoguo stroked the screen of the "Tongtian Mirror". Ji Du's holy image appeared and disappeared, which frightened Yang Xiuqing. "Now Beijing has been returned to our Taiping Army. The Northern Expedition has basically been accomplished. I have asked people to clean up the Forbidden City. It will be cleaned up and welcome the new master tomorrow at the latest. You see, when can the Heavenly King move into the Forbidden City to rule the country? Speaking of which, I haven't seen my second brother for some time."

Hou Qianfang suddenly pointed in the direction of the west gate and exclaimed: "Look, your highnesses!" Then he saw ten hot air balloons hanging with yellow banners with the words "Flying Heavenly King" hanging on them. They were pulled by ropes below and floated towards the Old Summer Palace in the west of the city. In the front hanging basket, the fake golden crown of Hong Xiuquan was shining in the morning light.

"What a great Heavenly King flying to the sky!" Luo Yaoguo clapped his hands and laughed, "Dongdian, when do you think the Heavenly King will fly up to the sky to report to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother the good news that our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has destroyed the Qing demons, and then never come back?"

Yang Xiuqing's one eye narrowed into a blade as Luo Yaoguo said what he was thinking. He looked at Luo Yaoguo coldly, "Master Wu, I have 200,000 troops around Beijing! How many divisions do you have in the inner city of Beijing? You might as well return to Jiangnan with a triumphant victory. After all, you have served as the governor of the Nine Gates."

Luo Yaoguo's fingers drew a dazzling blue light on the "Tongtian Mirror". The flickering image of Hong Xiuquan on the screen made Yang Xiuqing's eyes twitch. That was a photo of Hong Xiuquan. "Now that the Northern Expedition is complete, it's time to welcome the Heavenly King to Beijing to sit on the Dragon Throne. But..." He suddenly lowered his voice: "I observed the sky the day before yesterday and saw a giant star falling in the northwest."

"Bullshit!" Yang Xiuqing slammed his sword sheath on the stone floor outside Zhengyang Gate, and a fierce gleam flashed in his one eye: "I have 200,000 troops in Zhili! Your Hunan foreign rifle team is not enough to fill the gap in my teeth!"

"Does Dongdian know how many guns and cannons the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau produces per month?" Luo Yaoguo suddenly lifted his cloak, revealing the shiny silver revolver at his waist: "Three thousand rifled guns! Fifty six-jin cannons!" He pulled out the pistol, and the muzzle pointed at the hot air balloon intentionally or unintentionally: "Steamships can send new recruits from Shanghai to Dagukou in three days."

Yang Xiuqing's one eye suddenly opened wide, and the sound of uniform footsteps came from under the city wall - three hundred East Palace soldiers had lined up outside the city wall at some point, and the barrels of their brown bass guns shone black in the sunlight.

On the wall of the Zhengyangmen city wall, Su Sanniang also showed half of her body, and a battalion of Taiping Army were all holding rifled rifles from the third year of the Tianli period!
"How about this." Luo Yaoguo suddenly took out a yellow silk map like a magician and spread it on the table between the two of them: "You will be the governor of the Northeast and take the old brothers to expand the territory outside the Great Wall. The black soil there can produce oil if you grab a handful, which is a hundred times better than the saline-alkali land in Zhili! My people have already established some foundations in the Northeast. Zuo Jigao has taken Vladivostok and Li Shoucheng has occupied Lushunkou. These territories are handed over to you to manage."

"I want the mountains, rivers and four provinces!" Yang Xiuqing's sword swept across the yellow silk, and the sound of tearing silk startled the birds into flight: "And the position of the leader of the Zhenyue Sect!"

"Four provinces?" Luo Yaoguo sneered and unfolded the map. He circled the old course of the Yellow River with a red brush: "This autumn flood broke through Tongwaxiang, and Shandong has become a flood area!" The tip of the pen suddenly pointed to Shanxi: "The defeated armies of Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan are retreating to Shanxi, right?" Finally, he pointed heavily at Zhili: "Half of the granaries in the capital were robbed by Senggelinqin and Du Han's troops, and the remaining grain is not enough to eat until next spring! To solve the problem of food, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's court has to pay for it. Fourth brother, do you have money to pay?"

His tone suddenly became meaningful: "Besides, if Fourth Brother were to take over the four provinces, he would probably want to conquer the world, right? Fourth Brother, do you think Third Brother and your brother-in-law can support you?"

Luo Yaoguo had now made all the ugly words clear. If Yang Xiuqing wanted to take over Shandong, Henan, Zhili, and Shanxi, then the civil war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would be inevitable. If the Northeast was handed over to Yang Xiuqing, then Yang Xiuqing would have to spend his entire life developing the Northeast - the Northeast is good, but the population is too small, only a few million at most. How can it compete for a world with hundreds of millions of people? When the Northeast had tens of millions of people, Yang Xiuqing would have gone to see Hong Xiuquan long ago. "I still have the land north of the Yangtze River!" Yang Xiuqing said coldly, "What about the land north of the Yangtze River?"

"The land north of the Yangtze River." When Luo Yaoguo heard this, he knew that Yang Xiuqing had loosened his tone. He quickly drew a circle around the Korean Peninsula on the map with a red pen and said, "How about adding Korea?"

Yang Xiuqing narrowed his eyes and thought carefully: "Then what about the leader of the Zhenyue sect?"

Luo Yaoguo shook his head and said, "If Fourth Brother is willing to go to Tianjing, not only can he be the leader of the True Pact, but he can also be the Prime Minister. But since you are the Governor-General of Northeast China, I can't give you the position of leader of the True Pact. At most, I can give you the position of deputy leader."

Yang Xiuqing was stroking his sparse beard and thinking carefully when Daozi suddenly walked over quickly, leaned over to Yang Xiuqing's ear, and whispered something in a low voice. Yang Xiuqing's face changed slightly and he cursed, "Fuck that old mother!"

He then looked at Luo Yaoguo and said, "Ninth brother, Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan, Du Han, and Kong Fanhao have gathered at Xishan and announced the establishment of the Xishan Camp. It seems that they are still determined to fight us! If I lead the army to the east, can you stop me with the few people you have?"

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said, "They are just a bunch of defeated generals and stray dogs. I can defeat them in a snap of my fingers."

Yang Xiuqing laughed: "Okay, ninth brother, I won't take action this time, you find a way to repel the enemy! Within a month, as long as they retreat, I will become the King of Northeast. Otherwise, I will have to be the governor of the four provinces!"

"Okay!" Luo Yaoguo slammed the table, "It's a deal!"

At noon, Chongwen Gate was half open.

Xianfeng was hunched over among the refugees, and the Tianhuang stone wrapped in three layers of rags on his back still made his neck tremble. But even so, he refused to give the broken stone to Linshu, Sushun and others.

The city gate was half open, and the bodies of seven or eight Eight Banners soldiers were covered with straw mats, revealing their red, white, yellow and blue armor, which made Xianfeng terrified.

"Are you a bannerman, you opium addict?" A red-turbaned soldier who was in charge of questioning Han Chinese leaving the city stopped Xianfeng, who looked sallow and yawned constantly. Sushun, who was dressed as a merchant, De Ling, who was dressed as a coolie, and Lin Shu, who was dressed as a bodyguard, were all shocked.

"I, I am a Han Chinese! I don't smoke opium, I'm sick," Xianfeng argued in a hoarse voice, his tear glands due to the nicotine addiction forced bloodshot eyes: "And I also believe in Christianity!" He tore open his clothes, and a wooden cross was hung on his chest - this was made by Linshu using a piece of broken wood and a knife last night.

The sergeant refused to believe it and pressed his Adam's apple with the barrel of his gun: "You believe in Christianity. Have you read The True Testament?"

"I've read it! I can even recite some of it!" Xianfeng gritted his teeth.

A lecturer from the Datong Society in the army came over, took out a copy of The True Covenant, opened it, and said to Xianfeng, "Recite a passage from the third chapter of The True Covenant for me to hear!"

“Man has original sin, and Heaven bestows grace upon him,” Xianfeng began to recite hoarsely, digging his fingernails into the cracks of the Tianhuang stone: “Master Hong acts on behalf of Heaven, destroying evil and retaining righteousness.” When he recited to “All believers are brothers,” his back teeth clattered—he had rejected this sentence twelve times with an annotation in red ink as “evil words to confuse the people,” and he would never forget it in his life!
"Good, you recited well." The lecturer nodded. "It seems that you are really our brother of the Catholic Church."

Xianfeng quickly made the sign of the cross on his chest and said, "I am really a believer in the God Worshipping Society!"

"Then what are you doing in the city?" The lecturer stared at Xianfeng, a suspicious expression on his dark face, "Is there a church of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the inner city of Beijing? And what are you carrying? It looks heavy, is it some treasure?"

(End of this chapter)