The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 536 Goodbye, Heavenly King! Goodbye, Xianfeng! (Please subscribe, please vote)

September 15th, the fifth year of Tianli.

The sound of the clappers at the fifth watch cuts through the autumn chill.

The glazed tiles of the Circular Mound Altar of the Temple of Heaven were flowing with golden morning light. A huge blood-red cross hot air balloon was suspended above the steps. On the hanging basket covered with golden nanmu leather, a pattern of nine flying dragons painted with pigeon blood cinnabar exuded a dark red luster.

Three thousand yellow turbans and red jackets broke through the morning mist.

The Zhengyang Gate Wengcheng swallowed up the female soldiers who were lined up in battle array. The foreign rifles and bayonets glowed coldly as they sang "Ode to the Heavenly Father": "The Heavenly Father sent down an edict to the Forbidden City, and the nine layers of evil spirits turned into green smoke. The golden dragon coiled around the pillar to receive the new destiny, and the fire phoenix held a letter to abolish the old year. One hundred thousand heavenly soldiers beat the drums on the ground, and eight thousand cloud horses trampled the barbarian sky. The blood of Yanshan stained the red scarf road, and made the Qing demons cry to the holy face."

The chestnut warhorse at the front was emitting white steam, and the apricot-yellow headscarf on its back was rustling in the wind - the veins on the back of Bian Sanniang's hands that were gripping the reins were bulging, the cross saber at her waist was knocking against the silver-studded scabbard, and broken tears were condensed in her eyes.

Sixty-four Taiping soldiers marched forward carrying the Heavenly King's dragon sedan chair.

Behind the bright yellow curtain of the sedan chair embroidered with Taiping runes, Zhang Jigen wore a heavy golden crown. The substitute king's neck was sweating, but he had to straighten his back to imitate Hong Xiuquan's attitude of looking down on the world. In the shadow of the sedan stood the red-robed guards, and Daozi kept his hands on the handles of the two Taiping swords, as if he was going to draw the swords and cut them down in the next second - one sword to kill the others, and one sword to kill himself. Yang Xiuqing had already said that from today on, he could be himself again, no, he could be Ye Zhifa again, which was the alias he used when he infiltrated the Taiping Army to gather intelligence for the Qing Dynasty.

Emperor Xianfeng was dragged out of the prison van with iron chains.

Jin Aduo wore the ochre yellow imperial robe of Emperor Xianfeng, and the golden threads on his dragon robe were cracking like dying earthworms. He had sobs rolling in his throat, but he swallowed them down when he met the sinister eyes of Hou Qianfang, who was escorting the car. The head of the Luosha Hall of the East Palace also said yesterday that when he came back from heaven, he would no longer be Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty, but Jin Aduo of the Taiping Army.

Outside Zhengyang Gate, women and children of the Eight Banners were kneeling in a sea of ​​people, and an old nanny covered her grandson's mouth tightly with her sleeve - two thousand flintlock rifles were mounted on the battlements of the city wall, and a jungle of bayonets stretched from Zhengyang Gate to Yongding Gate.

The Eastern King, the Wu King, and the Gan King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have issued an edict that all the people of the Eight Banners in Beijing must leave their homes and go far away after seeing Emperor Xianfeng off to heaven - the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty, who is stationed in the Western Hills, has submitted a surrender letter to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. From now on, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty will be called the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, the Empress Dowager will be called the Khan Empress Dowager, and all the people of the Eight Banners will follow their masters of the Later Jin Dynasty to the west.
Go west! You can never come back! And what will they be after they reach the west? After several wars and internal friction in Beijing, the Eight Banners have been almost depleted, and it is impossible for them to support the military force of the Later Jin. Can the Hunan Army, Huai Army, and Lu Army under the command of Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Du Han and other masters accommodate these outdated nobles to take up positions? When they reach Xi'an, will there be another "trampling of nobles on the streets"?

The frosty autumn wind swept across the Zhengyangmen Arrow Tower.

Luo Yaoguo's black cape swept across the moss on the battlements, and the ancient and majestic city wall behind him was reflected in the morning glow with sacred solemnity. The Han women's skirts of the Nara sisters were blown close to their bodies, like two wild orchids trembling in the cracks of history.

Cixi followed Wanzhen into Beijing quietly last night, and went straight to the Prince of Yu's Mansion where Luo Yaoguo lived. No more than ten people knew about her arrival. Her purpose of coming to Beijing was, first, to kowtow to her new master and thank him, and second, to see Emperor Xianfeng off for the last time - how could Cixi feel at ease if she didn't see him ascend to heaven with her own eyes?
"Watch carefully, this is the last journey of your Emperor Xianfeng. After he ascends to heaven, his body and soul will be annihilated, and there will be no possibility of reincarnation."

Luo Yaoguo tapped the arrow slits with his fingers, and the prison cart rolled over the cracks of the bluestone slabs under the city wall. The fake Xianfeng Jin Aduo leaned between the wooden bars of the prison cage, his ochre-yellow court robes stained. Some old and weak people from the Eight Banners staggered south with the prison cart, and the jade rings that fell out of their saddle bags rolled into the gutter - an old woman from the Red Banner was about to bend down when a Taiping Army soldier smashed her shoulder blade with the butt of a gun.

Na Lalan'er's knuckles turned white from twisting the handkerchief, but her face was full of gratitude and smile: "Master, when I get to the west, I will have another chance to meet you again in the future..."

"Hush--" Luo Yaoguo suddenly took out the famous magic weapon "Tongtian Mirror", and the lens behind the Tongtian Mirror swept across the slightly broad forehead of the young Empress Dowager of the Later Jin Dynasty. The 21-year-old Cixi was frozen like a puppet, allowing the sound of the mechanical shutter to leave her figure forever in the Tongtian Mirror.

"If you encounter any difficulties in the west, just discuss it with the Weng family. They have their own channels to send the news to me. You are my man, I will definitely help you if I can." Luo Yaoguo put away the "Tongtian Mirror", "Lan'er, you can rest assured that Zeng Guofan is destined to be a slave. He would not want to be the emperor even if the yellow robe was given to him. Li Hongzhang is hard to say because his fate is entangled with Mathilde. In addition, there may be a big chaos in the northwest in a few years. You should be careful and deal with it together with Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan first."

After saying this, Luo Yaoguo raised his leg and was about to leave. Na Lalan quickly knelt down and said, "Master, please go slowly. Master just said that there will be chaos in the west. Where is the chaos?"

"The chaos is in the hearts of people, and the chaos is in the heavens!" Luo Yaoguo pondered, "And there is also Yakub Beg of Kokand!"

Na Lalan was confused, but she didn't dare to ask more questions, so she just kowtowed again: "Lan'er respectfully sees the master off."

Luo Yaoguo walked a few steps, then stopped and looked back at Cixi who was kowtowing to him, then said to Wanzhen who was about to leave with him: "When Xianfeng ascends to heaven, I will send your sister back to Xishan!"

Inside the Circular Mound of the Temple of Heaven, three hundred Taiping Heavenly Kingdom preachers in red scarves and red robes had just finished singing "Ode to the Heavenly Father" and were now reading the "True Testament" in unison. The real Xianfeng was also standing among the crowd, looking at the huge hot air balloon with doubts in his heart.

He knew that this thing could go up to the sky, but how high could it fly? Could it really fly to heaven and to the Heavenly Father and God? If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom really had such great magical powers, how could they not catch the real Xianfeng himself and have to use the fake Xianfeng of Jin Aduo to make up the numbers? If Luo Yaoguo and others did not have magical powers and had been deceiving the world and stealing reputations, then how did he predict that the Yellow River would collapse on June 20th? Could it be that the Heavenly Father and God was also blessing me? So Luo Yaoguo could not predict that I was actually in the Temple of Heaven?

Just as the real Xianfeng thought of this, the fake Hong Xiuquan's sedan chair and the fake Xianfeng's prison car slowly entered the Temple of Heaven amid the sound of chanting.

Wu Wang Luo Yaoguo's unusually loud voice suddenly rang out: "Sing the Song of the Heavenly King's Ascension to Heaven!"

Xianfeng was startled by the sound, and quickly collected his thoughts, and sang loudly with the lecturers around him: "The Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother are sitting on the clouds, the Heavenly King holds the imperial edict to the ninth heaven, the hot air balloon and the fire dragon are spinning, burning the Qing monsters with black smoke. Xianfeng tied his braids with a rope at the end, wet his dragon robe and cried continuously"

Amid the singing of “The Heavenly King Ascending to Heaven”, the dragon sedan chair carried by sixty-four people finally rolled over the white marble dragon patterns and appeared on the steps of the Temple of Heaven.

Bian Sanniang had already dismounted, and led 88 pretty female soldiers to escort the Heavenly King's sedan chair all the way to the hot air balloon. Bian Sanniang shouted, "Please respectfully invite the Heavenly King to dismount!"

"Mr. Ye, don't be afraid, I will accompany you to the sky!" Daozi helped Zhang Jigen, who was already a little exhausted, to get off the sedan chair carried by sixty-four people. Bian Sanniang dragged Jin Aduo, who was already pale, out of the prison car. On the hot air balloon, Winster White was already ready, waiting for Daozi, Bian Sanniang to escort Zhang Jigen and Jin Aduo to "board the balloon" and then they would fly into the sky.

"Ascend to heaven!"

Luo Yaoguo's voice once again rose straight into the sky, and the ascension song of the three hundred lecturers became extremely loud. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the huge ascension hot air balloon slowly rose up, flew higher and higher, and drifted farther and farther. Riding on the northwest wind, it gradually disappeared into the sky.

"The ceremony is over. The ascension is complete!"

Luo Yaoguo's voice penetrated the clouds and echoed throughout the Temple of Heaven Square.

Become!

There is no more Xianfeng in the world!
Singing "The King's Ascension Song" and hearing Luo Yaoguo's announcement, he finally felt at ease. Although he no longer had power and the Tianhuang stone that could be exchanged for the five poisons for the rest of his life, he had a new life. He was now Zhao Si, a lecturer and student of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's God Worshipping Society.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, I am an incompetent servant!"

"Goodbye, Your Majesty."

In the outer city of Beijing, in a dilapidated courtyard belonging to De Ling's lover, Linshu and Sushun were kneeling in the courtyard, wailing to the sky. Although they did not see Emperor Xianfeng ascend to heaven in person at the Temple of Heaven, this courtyard was not far from the Temple of Heaven, so they saw it clearly: the emperor was gone!

The two grown men hugged each other and cried for a while, then Sushun asked Linshu, "Brother Zeng, do you have a place to go?"

Zeng Jia Linshu sighed: "Let's go to Tianjin Concession first. My wife is in Tianjin Concession now."

Sushun nodded and said, "I also have a child raised in Tianjin. But Tianjin is not a place to stay for long. Brother Zeng, do you want to go abroad with me to explore the world?"

"Going abroad?" Zeng Jia Linshu thought for a moment and asked, "Where to?"

"Let's go to Japan!" Sushun said, "Japan has been in chaos for the past two years, and there are signs of a major chaos! The chaos in Japan was also caused by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If we go to Japan, we can help the Tokugawa Shogunate deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Japan, which can also be regarded as revenge at home!"

"Okay! That's it, let's go to Japan together!"

At the same time, America, San Francisco.

A steam-sailed "huge ship" that had sailed around South America was slowly entering the port of San Francisco. In the most luxurious suite of the ship, which belonged to the Wu family and Jardine Matheson (not Jardine Matheson), there were three distinguished guests, two men and one woman. One of the women was Grand Duchess Natalia, one of the two men was Wu Chongyao, and the other was a middle-aged man who was over 1.9 meters tall, with a thin face, prominent cheekbones, deep eye sockets, a thick beard, deep wrinkles, as if carved by a knife, and wearing a wrinkled black tailcoat.

(End of this chapter)