The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 572: Hong Xiuquan descends to earth, Emperor Xianfeng steals books (ask for subscription, ticket)
November 15th, the sixth year of Tianli.

The morning mist from the Yellow Sea has not yet dissipated, still lingering on Incheon's limestone coastline.

Yang Xiuqing, wearing a golden crown and dragon robe, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, stood on a high place, looking out with one eye at the 64 -pound smoothbore cannons lined up on the beach. These cannons, cast day and night by the Seoul Iron Works, were the source of Yang Xiuqing's confidence today.

"What kind of artillery are Luo Yaoguo's Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and Jingyuan equipped with? How do they compare to our 64-pound cannon?" Yang Xiuqing's words sounded quite proud.

"Reporting to the King of the East," said Hou Qianfang, the head of Luosha Hall, "According to investigation, the largest cannons equipped on the Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and Jingyuan ships are also 64 pounds. Each ship is equipped with 10 guns, arranged on both sides, and only 5 can fire at the same time. If the three ships form an artillery array, there are only 64 15-pound cannons firing at the same time. And our 64-pound cannon is copied from the 64-pound cannon on the three Yuan ships! The imitation drawings and craftsmen were obtained from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai through Nan Shenqi. The people of King Luo Wu also use the same set of drawings to produce coastal defense guns. But their output is not as much as ours!"

Yang Xiuqing laughed and turned around, nodding approvingly at Daozi, who was wearing a red furisode, and said, "You did a great job!"

"Woo."

Before Yang Xiuqing finished speaking, the sound of a steam whistle broke through the mist. The fog on the sea gradually dissipated, and the outlines of the fifteen Taiping Army steam gunboats gradually appeared. The leading iron-ribbed wooden hulled ship "Dingyuan" split the waves, and the 2000-ton "huge" ship crashed into the floating ice. Yang Xiuqing took the monocular telescope from Daozi, and the lens clearly reflected a red flag fluttering in the wind on the main mast of the "Dingyuan", with four eye-catching black words embroidered on it - the meeting of kings!
Yang Xiuqing snorted coldly: "You are so good, Luo Yaoguo, you always hold up the banner of justice, and actually held the meeting of kings on the sea!"

Luo Yaoguo was standing on the flying bridge of Dingyuan, also looking through a telescope at Yang Xiuqing's camp on land. Densely packed tents covered a large area of ​​land, and there seemed to be tens of thousands of troops!

On a high ground three or four miles away from the beach, a flag with the words "Protect the East" fluttered in the wind. It was the new royal flag used by Yang Xiuqing after he "established the capital" in Seoul.

In the gun room of the Dingyuan ship, dozens of gunners were working together to carefully push the oil paper-wrapped shells into the gun barrels - these were picric acid-charged shrapnel shells that had been produced not long ago by the artillery factory of the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

"Loading completed!" Zhang Bao, the captain of the Dingyuan, who was less than 20 years old, ran quickly to Luo Yaoguo and saluted.

Luo Yaoguo glanced at the young man he had brought all the way from Etang Town, Daozhou. The "Taiping Kid" and the little boy among the Twelve Disciples back then has now grown into a captain who graduated from the first class of the Shanghai Naval Academy. Not long ago, he also married Wang Yan's sister Wang Xier (this girl is also one of the Twelve Disciples. After graduating from high school, she was admitted to Taiping University and is now studying at university). He can be said to have a successful life.

"Aim at Yuewei Island and test fire two rounds!" Luo Yaoguo put away the telescope and issued an order - they were all Taiping troops, and he was unwilling to fire the first shot in a fratricide. Even if a war was to start, Yang Xiuqing had to take the lead.

Moreover, the Conference of Kings had just held a meeting on the Dingyuan and dismissed Yang Xiuqing from his posts as Governor-General of the Northeast and member of the Conference of Kings. Now all they had to do was to intimidate Yang Xiuqing and prevent him from ordering the Eastern Palace Army in Liaodong to rebel, and Liaodong would be able to return to the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom court. As for Heilongjiang and Jilin (except Vladivostok), they were still in the hands of the Later Jin Kingdom (the remnant of the Qing Dynasty), and Yang Xiuqing had no time to recover them!

As for the three thousand miles of territory of Korea, let Yang Xiuqing play with it for now. At least we have to leave some territory for his 100,000 East Palace Army to make a living, right?
"Rumble"

Amid a deafening roar, fifteen picric acid shells whistled across the sea. In the blink of an eye, an orange-red ball of fire rose up from a distant deserted island, and the unique yellow smoke of picric acid explosives filled the sea.

The 50,000 Dongdian troops standing on the bank of Incheon watching the battle were suddenly shocked - how could Luo Tianshi's cannon be so powerful? This was no ordinary cannon. If it was fired at everyone's head, it would be terrible!

Just when everyone was feeling terrified, the second round of volleys started again, and more than a dozen orange-red fireballs rose into the sky.
Yang Xiuqing's one eye was bloodshot, and his right hand almost crushed the copper frame of the telescope. After two rounds of volleys, the yellow-green poisonous smoke rising from the deserted island covered half of the sky, and the 50,000 East Palace troops on the Incheon beach had begun to retreat in disorder. These Taiping troops were unwilling to fight against each other in the first place, and now they didn't want to fight even more. If this continued, Yang Xiuqing would be defeated without a fight!
"Load solid bullets!" He suddenly drew out the Seven Star Sword, and the sword tip cut through the wooden railing of the observation platform, "Aim at the Dingyuan ship!"

"King Dong, the Dingyuan is too far away," Kusumoto Inoko on the side hurriedly reminded.

Yang Xiuqing glanced at her and said, "I know we can't hit you, but we must show some momentum!" He raised his voice again, "Order all the cannons to be fully loaded with gunpowder. We must fire at the maximum range!"

"Rumble"

Forty-eight cannons trembled at the same time, and the cast iron barrels groaned under the heavy load during the salvo. Six cannons exploded during the third salvo - these cannons were rushed out of iron materials with excessive sulfur content. It would have been fine if they had less gunpowder, but Yang Xiuqing wanted to fire at the maximum range, and as a result, six cannons exploded at once!

Fragments of the cannon flew everywhere, and one of them tore the "Protect the East Sky" flag into rags.

Hou Qianfang reacted very quickly and knocked Yang Xiuqing to the ground. Half of the gun barrel then fell from the sky and slammed into the limestone where they had just stood!
At this point, the 50,000 Taiping troops on the Incheon beach had completely lost their fighting spirit. Everyone looked towards the high ground where Yang Xiuqing was standing, only to see Yang Dongwang being thrown to the ground, with a cannon barrel stuck in the ground from nowhere. Hong Rengan rushed up in a panic with a group of civil and military officials from the East Hall, and was about to ask Yang Xiuqing what to do next, when Yang Xiuqing suddenly laughed wildly toward the sky, then somersaulted up, with one eye full of bloodshot, and the temperament on his face had become completely different from before, with 70% less fierceness, replaced by a mysterious temperament, just like Hong Xiuquan!
A hoarse voice, as if spoken with a pinched throat, suddenly came out of Yang Xiuqing's mouth: "I am the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. I have broken through the boundary and come down to earth today to eliminate the Hu's actions. You have closed the grain route and refused to save the people. The victims in Jiangnan are suffering. I am relieved of my post as Governor-General of the Northeast and appointed as the General Governor of Korea and Japan. You must obey orders and go to Japan immediately. If you dare to disobey the order again, I will punish you with the Thunder Whip!"

What? Hong Xiuquan is back? Hong Xiuquan actually possessed Yang Xiuqing. Everyone was confused. Although they had heard about Hong Xiuquan's dream to Yang Dongwang before, this was the first time they had encountered Hong Xiuquan possessing them. They didn't react at first.

Daozi was the first to fall to the ground, banging his forehead against the limestone: "Heavenly King, you are back?"

As soon as she took the lead, the others also reacted and knelt down towards Yang Xiuqing: "Welcome the Heavenly King to the Earth!"

After they shouted like this, the Taiping Army in the East Palace, which was already in a panic, suddenly seemed to have a backbone. They stopped running and bowed to Yang Xiuqing, shouting together: "Welcome the Heavenly King to the Earth! The Heavenly King has descended to the Earth!"

Yang Xiuqing was relieved to see that people were somewhat relieved. He then turned his gaze to Hong Rengan and said, "My fellow Gan, go to Dingyuan and tell them that I have come down to earth to deal with the Qing people. I have dismissed him as the governor of Northeast China and ordered him to preach in Japan to atone for his sins."

The punishment Yang Xiuqing gave himself came with benefits - preaching to Japan to atone for its sins, wasn't that just to bring Japan into Yang Xiuqing's sphere of influence?
In other words, Yang Xiuqing handed over the Northeast and did not ask for more gold from the West Coast, but he had to chew the bone of Japan.
Hong Rengan shook his head gently: "Heavenly King, this matter."

If Yang Xiuqing had not been so foolish as to close the grain route to the Northeast, there would have been no problem for him to exchange the Northeast for Japan - after all, Japan had not been conquered!

But now
Yang Xiuqing suddenly turned his gaze towards the rice and pointed the Seven-Star Sword at it: "Bitch, it's you who deceived the Qing people. Do you know your crime?"

The rice shuddered, then took a deep breath, kowtowed and said, "I admit my sin!"

"Since you know your guilt." Yang Xiuqing tightly gripped the hilt of his Seven-Star Sword and turned his gaze to Hong Rengan.

"He should be whipped 100 times and tied up on the Dingyuan ship and handed over to the kings for disposal at a meeting." Hong Rengan had no choice but to grit his teeth and throw Xian Daozi out as a scapegoat - but Daozi was not entirely wronged in this matter, this woman did indeed fan the flames!

Yang Xiuqing nodded and said, "That's it! Bian Sanniang, I leave it to you. I'm going back to heaven." Then he rolled his eyes and collapsed.

At the same time, it was still pitch dark at night along the Atlantic coast in the southern hemisphere.

Emperor Xianfeng walked barefoot on the teak floor of the West Coast freighter, and the deafening snoring of Lei Lao Hu and the roar of the steam engine drilled into his ears. Chiyoko, wrapped in a light red silk pajamas, leaned on the edge of the couch. When she saw Xianfeng coming in, she waved to him quickly - this woman was also from Hong Daquan's female warrior group, but she was nothing like Rinko. She was a little silly, and somehow Xianfeng tricked her into becoming his own.

The reason why Xianfeng sneaked into Lei Laohu's cabin tonight was to steal books! It was stealing books, not stealing books!

It was to steal a rare book hidden in Lei Lao Hu's enamel tobacco box!
No matter what, Lei Lao Hu was not trustworthy. After drinking too much, he told the book to Xianfeng, his confidant.

Now the enamel cigarette box was under the pillow under Lei Laohu's head, with a faint light under the kerosene lamp. Xianfeng shook out a thin wire from his sleeve, dipped it in the whale oil that Chiyoko had applied in advance, and probed into the crack of the pillow - swish, smoother than a loach drilling into tofu, he really hooked out the enamel tobacco box.

At the moment when the cigarette box lid popped open, Lei Lao Hu's snoring suddenly stopped, which frightened Xianfeng, who was stealing for the second time (the first time was in the Forbidden City and his own home). Chiyoko, who had been trained as a ninja since childhood, had a good mentality. She just took out the hairpin coated with poison and put it on Lei Lao Hu's neck. She also winked at Xianfeng, asking him to copy it quickly, and he had to give it back after copying it!
(End of this chapter)