The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 534: Xianfeng worships God, and the Eight Banners leave Beijing (Request for subscription, request for tickets)
The cold sweat on the back of Xianfeng's neck soaked the stone cloth, and the edges of the Tianhuang stone almost pierced the cloth. The lecturer's thousand-layer shoes rolled over the gravel on the ground, and the clacking sound seemed to be stepping on his tense nerves. "Going into the city to sell medicinal materials," he answered in a hoarse voice, and when his Adam's apple rolled, he saw Linshu stuffing silver dollars into the sleeves of the garrison, but the latter pushed him away!

"Bullshit!" the lecturer suddenly shouted, and the Taiping sword hanging on his belt was already three inches out of its sheath: "I see that you have a smoke-ridden face, are you a tobacco dealer?" The lecturer walked behind Xianfeng, unsheathed the Taiping sword, and cut open the linen package. The Tianhuang stone glowed as warm as beeswax in the morning light - this was a tribute presented by the Governor of Fujian on the occasion of Emperor Qianlong's 60th birthday, and it was once placed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony as the temple stone.

"Gold? No, it's stone?" The lecturer was also stunned. "Are you sick? You carry a broken stone from Beijing and don't think it's too heavy?"

Xianfeng was relieved to see that the other party didn't recognize the treasure at all. He untied the package of Tian Huang Stone and held the stone in his hand. "My lord, this is called Tian Huang Stone, which can be used to carve the statue of the Heavenly King. I know that a certain lord in Beijing has this stone at home, so I took advantage of the chaos to enter the inner city and picked up this treasure. I will find a stonemason to carve a statue of the Heavenly King so that we can worship it day and night."

After hearing what Xianfeng said, the expression on the lecturer's face suddenly softened. He thought that this heavy smoker might work in a mansion, so he knew about the stone and stole it last night during the chaos. Not to mention, the stone looked pretty good.

The lecturer sheathed his sword and was about to wave his hand to let them go when he heard the sound of a conch shell in the distance. A sedan chair carried by sixteen people, surrounded by three hundred Taiping soldiers, came in a mighty procession. The red-turbaned soldier in the lead suddenly shouted, "The four thousand year old King Gan has arrived!" The crowd fell to their knees. Xianfeng took the opportunity to stuff the Tianhuang stone back into the bag and held it tightly in his arms.

Hong Rengan's sixteen-man sedan stopped in the shadow of the doorway. The lecturer left Xianfeng alone and ran to the sedan to kowtow and call him "Master". Then he told Hong Rengan in the sedan that someone had found a strange stone and wanted to carve a statue of the Heavenly King. The curtain of the sedan suddenly opened, revealing half of his round, fat face, and frowned slightly: "What strange stone? Bring it out for us to see."

The lecturer waved to Xianfeng and said, "Come here quickly and show the strange stone to His Royal Highness Prince Gan!"

Xianfeng was so distressed that he had to hold the bundle, kneel down and walk two steps, then kowtowed repeatedly: "I am willing to donate this stone to carve a holy image for the Heavenly King!"

"It is this man. He is holding the strange stone in his hand." The lecturer pointed at Xianfeng. "This man can even recite the True Testament. He is a believer in Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother."

Hong Rengan was going into the inner city to discuss with Luo Yaoguo the arrangements for the "ascension" of the Heavenly King. He was feeling sad when he heard from one of his disciples that someone had obtained a rare stone and wanted to carve a statue of the Heavenly King. He immediately felt a sense of mystery in his heart. He also heard from his disciples that the man could recite the True Covenant, and he immediately wanted to recruit him. He nodded and said, "Okay, this man has a connection with the Heavenly Father. Let's accept him into the lecture class!"

The lecturer bowed to Hong Rengan, then turned to Xianfeng, took the Tianhuang stone from Xianfeng, and said with a smile while Xianfeng was stunned: "King Gan knows that you are devoted to heaven and are familiar with the True Covenant, so he accepted you into the lecturer class of King Gan's palace to learn the principles of the Heavenly King. From now on, you are my new brother of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

Xianfeng was so desperate that he wanted to cry but had no tears. He had thought that he could sell the stone in Tianjin and exchange it for some silver so that he could become a rich man in the concession. But now the stone was gone in the blink of an eye, and he was gone in the blink of an eye too - he was taken into the palace of the prince Gan to be a long-haired lecturer! What should he do?
Just when he was wondering what to do, Sushun's subordinate De Ling came out from the crowd on his knees, kowtowed, and said in a loud voice: "General, please excuse me! My cousin is a cripple and has difficulty in moving. It is difficult for him to join the army to fight."

The lecturer did not dare to make the decision, and turned back to look at Hong Rengan, who waved his hand and said, "No problem." He pointed at De Ling and said, "Take that big-faced guy as well."

Okay, another one is thrown in!
When Xianfeng was thinking about how to get out of this situation, he suddenly heard the sound of gongs, followed by someone shouting, "His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu has arrived!"

It turned out that King Wu Luo Yaoguo heard that Hong Rengan had entered the city and came out to greet him in person.

Xianfeng didn't dare kneel at the gate of Chongwenmen now. If he was seen by Wu Wang Luo Yaoguo, he might figure out his true identity, and that would be the end of him. So he could only invite De Ling to go with him and follow the lecturer. When he left, he looked back at the stunned Linshu and Sushun reluctantly - after this separation, he didn't know when they would meet again!

At the beginning of the Wei hour, at Prince Yu's palace.

When the gilded self-ringing clock struck the hour of noon, Luo Yaoguo's fingertips happened to hit the text of the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom-Later Jin Treaty". Hong Rengan took out a pair of glasses and put them on, looking at the word "Later Jin" on the treaty text, "Later Jin? Why is it Later Jin?"

Luo Yaoguo slowly unfolded the rolled-up treaty text: "Of course it is the Later Jin? Could it be the Qing Dynasty? Nara Lan'er and Zaichun have already pledged allegiance to our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The name of the Qing Dynasty will be changed back to the Later Jin. Zaichun will be called the Khan of the Later Jin, and Nara will be the Queen Mother of the Khan of the Later Jin. As for the bannermen in Beijing, they will all be sent to the Later Jin army camp in the Western Hills."

Hong Rengan's fat hand stroked the treaty on the table: "Does the King of Wu really want to let the eight banners in the city leave?" He suddenly tapped the word "Later Jin" on the treaty with his pipe, "Aren't you afraid of letting the tiger go back to the mountain?"

"Letting the tigers loose? They are nothing but a group of pigs." Luo Yaoguo pointed to the Western Hills on a map of the capital on the table and said, "Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan and others are gathering the remaining soldiers in the Western Hills. There are still more than 100,000 of them. If the East Palace does not send troops, it will be difficult to drive them away in a month with my limited number of troops." He paused and said, "Since we cannot defeat them, we can only take a shortcut and start with the military supplies. There are still hundreds of thousands of old and weak bannermen in Beijing. These are hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed! Drive them out together and send them to Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan. The rations in the hands of Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan may be able to support their army for a few months, but there are hundreds of thousands of old and weak bannermen who can eat but not fight. Hehe. I am afraid that we can only lead them to move thousands of miles away. And how many of these hundreds of thousands of old and weak people can survive if they move thousands of miles away? And the houses and property they left in Beijing will all belong to us. Is this a better move than Li Zicheng's torture of salary back then? "Hong Rengan nodded slightly, thinking to himself: Yang Xiuqing has miscalculated again! He wanted to use the 100,000 Hunan-Huaihei Allied Forces in Xishan to embarrass Luo Yaoguo, but who would have thought that the Hunan-Huaihei Allied Forces in Xishan would be used by him instead.

If it weren't for the troops of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, it would have seemed inhumane to expel or kill the hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners descendants in Beijing. When the people on the grasslands, plateaus, the old forests in the northeast and the northwest knew about it, they would have been frightened and would have surrendered to Tsarist Russia in order to protect themselves.

Luo Yaoguo's move was a great one. Not only could it clear out all the destabilizing factors in Beijing, but it would also ensure that not many people would die. With the long journey, unfamiliarity with the local climate, plague, or food shortage, only two out of ten people could make it to Shaanxi alive. That would be a sign of mercy from God.

These bannermen left in a hurry and could not take much property with them, and they did not even have time to destroy or bury it. After they left, Luo Yaoguo would send people to search every house, and most of the good things could be found, it would just take a little more time.

This is much smarter than Li Zicheng!
"What about the property in the inner city of Beijing?" Hong Rengan asked.

"Divide it into four," Luo Yaoguo said, "one for me, one for the Eastern King, one for you, and one for the Young Heavenly King. How do you think?"

Hong Rengan clasped his fists and said, "Duke Wu is truly a man of both benevolence and righteousness! I admire you so much!"

Luo Yaoguo patted the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom-Later Jin Treaty again: "And these hundreds of thousands of mouths can't be given away for nothing. Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan must also recognize this treaty. From now on, the Later Jin is a vassal of my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Qing Dynasty's territories in the northeast, northwest, grasslands, and snowy areas are all the territory of my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In the future, only my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can represent China in the world."

Hong Rengan held the Treaty and looked at it for a while: "Why is there no demarcation? How big is the Later Jin Kingdom? Why is it not mentioned in the Treaty?"

Luo Yaoguo sneered, "It's just a stopgap measure. Once the treaty is signed, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will have the entire righteous reputation. The northwest, grasslands, and snow regions will also have someone to watch over them. Don't let Tsarist Russia and Britain take them away. As for the territory of the Later Jin, we will take it later.

We can also slowly nibble away at it, step by step, and it will take us ten or eight years to swallow it all up."

He took out an enamel tobacco box and rubbed it in his hand. "As long as the Later Jin submits to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it will be easy for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to win over the Later Jin's ministers. Not only do we have the Datong Society and the Zhenyue Faction, but we also have the monarch and his subjects. Many territories can be settled without fighting! Gandian, if you think my method is feasible, then ask Dongdian for me. If he has no objection, I will send an envoy to Xishan."

Hong Rengan nodded gently: "I will discuss this matter with the East Palace, it shouldn't be a big problem. But the East Palace also has something that needs your help, Wu Palace."

"Okay, okay." Luo Yaoguo nodded and looked at Hong Rengan.

Hong Rengan smiled bitterly and said, "The East Palace wants two things. The first is that the Heavenly King ascends to heaven. This must be done in a decent manner. You must be the one to do it so that others will believe it. The second is that Emperor Xianfeng surrenders."

"Xianfeng surrendered?" Luo Yaoguo was slightly stunned. "Oh, I remember now, you caught a fake Xianfeng."

Hong Rengan nodded and said, "Dongdian's intention is to let the fake Xianfeng surrender to the fake Heavenly King, and then the fake Heavenly King will take the fake Xianfeng to heaven to report. In this way, the Qing Dynasty will be completely finished, and the Mandate of Heaven will be in the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Wudian, what do you think about this matter?"

"Okay, I'll take care of it!"

(End of this chapter)