The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 574: Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Southern King Feng Yunshan Answers Reporter Moore's Questions
"Go to China." Bai Siwen felt a little homesick after hearing Friedrich's words, and said softly, "Then go! I'll go to Moore with you, will you go too?"

Bai Siwen looked at Moore, the short bearded man. Moore showed a somewhat embarrassed expression, as he was not as well-off as Friedrich and Bai Siwen. Friedrich was a capitalist, and Bai Siwen was an expert on China, a best-selling author, a translator, and an advisor to Prince Albert, so he was also a man with plenty of money. Although he had not received an official salary from the Qing court for a long time, he had achieved financial freedom by writing books for himself to introduce the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, translating the works of Luo Yaoguo and Hong Xiuquan, and consulting for British officials and capitalists. He recently bought a house in South Kensington and lived a very comfortable life.

"Moore," Bai Siwen knew that this short bearded man was devoted to academics and didn't care much about making money, so he smiled and said, "I'll talk to the prince later and set up a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom magic investigation project to swindle some funds from the Magic Committee. Wouldn't that give us enough money for the trip to China?"

"I'm going to China to study magic?" Moore frowned, "I'm an atheist!"

"Then let's expose the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's scam!" Bai Siwen said with a smile, "We can use the Magic Committee's money to prove that magic doesn't exist at all!"

Moore nodded and said with a smile, "That makes sense! Svenson (Bai Sven's foreign name), then I will go to China with you."

Bai Siwen smiled and took out two invitations from his dress pocket and handed one to Moore: "Moore, before we go to China, we have to go to Buckingham Palace first." Then he handed the other invitation to Friedrich, "Friedrich, this is yours."

Moore took the invitation and looked at it. "Press conference? Southern King Feng Yunshan is going to answer questions from reporters?"

Bai Siwen smiled and said, "I think readers of the Mercury must be very curious about how Feng Yunshan would explain his Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the True Covenant Sect, right?" He also took out an invitation letter and said, "I have one too. I'm going in the name of a reporter from the Times."

Friedrich put away his invitation letter: "Buckingham Palace. I have never been inside!"

"Then let's go back and change our clothes. The press conference will be this afternoon." Bai Siwen said and then he reached out to stop a horse-drawn carriage.

Buckingham Palace, Blue Drawing Room, a press conference is underway.

The overly gorgeous crystal chandelier cast a pale golden glow on the Persian carpet covered with various patterns. Feng Yunshan, the Southern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, stood behind a gilded podium inlaid with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's yellow dragon flag. His "daughter" Rinzi and Wang Libin, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's ambassador to Britain, France, Austria and Prussia, stood on both sides acting as interpreters.

Prince Albert stood in an inconspicuous corner, leaning against the carved pillars. He also wanted to know how his wife's "soul brother" Feng Yunshan would explain the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution that swept across China in a very short time?
Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has not yet unified China, everyone knows that the overall situation of Taiping unification has been determined.

In today's China, there is no other central government that can compete with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. There is only the Later Jin Dynasty, which nominally submits to the Heavenly Kingdom but is actually used as a signboard by a group of warlords.

The secret of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's success is very attractive to ambitious people or revolutionaries in other parts of the world. Today's press conference is a good opportunity to uncover the "revolutionary" mask of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!
Thinking of this, Prince Albert's gaze swept across the press seats and then stayed on his Chinese friend Bai Siwen.

"Your Highness, the Southern King!" Bai Siwen suddenly stood up from the Times reporter's seat and spoke in fluent Chinese. "I am Swenson White, a reporter from the Times. May I ask what the religious policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is? Is the True Covenant Church the state religion? Have other beliefs, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc., been banned or restricted?"

The first question was explosive enough, and it was asked by an Asian-looking person. This press conference reached its climax right from the start!
"You asked three questions in total," Feng Yunshan picked up the Jingdezhen Doucai teacup and sipped his tea, "but I can still answer them one by one. First, the religious policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is free. As long as the religion does not violate the law and does not threaten the national security of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, people can believe freely. Secondly, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom does not have a so-called state religion. There are not many True Covenant followers in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

As for Confucianism and Taoism, they actually believe in the God of Heaven just like us, and regard the God of Heaven as the source of all things in the universe! In fact, the God worshipped by other Christian sects in China is also the God of Heaven! Therefore, Confucianism, Taoism, and True Testament are actually brother sects, and there is no difference between them. We Chinese have always been tolerant of religions, and we will not attack any religious organization just because the name of God is slightly different. As for Buddhism, they do not have a clear supreme god, but there is no problem, and they can be believed in in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

If any of you doubt what I said, you can go to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and take a look! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is open to tourists from all over the world! "

When Feng Yunshan's answer was translated into English, there was a sensation in the Blue Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace.

After a while, Friedrich suddenly raised his pipe and spoke in English with a slight German accent, overcoming the whispers in the room: "I am Friedrich, a reporter from the Mercury. May I ask, your Taiping Heavenly Kingdom once claimed to establish a country where everyone is equal, but now you have established a feudal dynasty." Friedrich's question was even more pointed!

"But our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not a feudal country, nor is it a hereditary dynasty!" Feng Yunshan's answer was even more shocking.

"Aren't you the Southern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?" Friedrich asked.

"Yes," Feng Yunshan said with a smile, "but I have neither my own kingdom nor my own fiefdom. My 'king' is just a title for receiving salary. This can't be considered feudal, right? I am one of the founders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. I worked hard to build the country. It's fair for me to receive a little more salary, right?"

"But isn't the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a country ruled by a hereditary monarch?" Friedrich asked again.

"Not really!" Feng Yunshan explained, "Our greatest 'king' is no longer alive, and the throne he left behind was not passed on to his son, but was reserved for him forever. So the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom does not have a monarch now."

"Then who is leading the country?" Friedrich asked another question.

Feng Yunshan said: "Of course it is the meeting of kings and the national assembly! Sir, what kind of country do you think our country is?"

Such an answer, of course, once again caused a sensation!

After a long while, it was finally Moore's turn to speak: "I am Moore, a reporter from the Mercury. I would like to ask why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom implemented a fair land policy in rural areas while maintaining or even encouraging private ownership in cities? In addition, in recent years, a large number of poor Chinese have been trafficked by human traffickers to North America, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, the Straits Settlements and the Philippines to do coolie labor. They frequently clashed with local residents and caused diplomatic disputes. Does this mean that there is a problem with the development path of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"

Another bunch of difficult questions!
If it were a European politician, he would probably have to laugh it off and speak in a roundabout way. However, Feng Yunshan was more realistic and answered truthfully: "There are currently more than 1.2 billion people in the world, and how many are there in China? More than 400 million! It accounts for one-third. One out of every three people is Chinese. And how big is our territory? How much arable land do we have? No matter how equally the limited land is divided, it is impossible for so many people to live a life of full food and clothing. Dividing the land equally can only reduce the number of people who die of hunger. If you want so many people to live a more affluent life, you must develop industry and commerce. In China, to vigorously develop industry and commerce, the private sector and the government must work together. The government runs large factories with large investments and slow returns. The private sector runs small factories and businesses.

In addition, the government must work hard to provide education so that all Chinese can be literate and do arithmetic, so that the country's industry can develop better and faster. As for those Chinese who go abroad to work, don't you Europeans travel around the world? Don't you often have misunderstandings with local people? As long as we increase understanding and maintain goodwill towards each other, we can still coexist peacefully and develop together. "

This is a nice statement, but it didn't make sense to Europeans in the 19th century - the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanted to be imperialist! They developed industrialization to become stronger, and a strong country must dominate!
What’s more, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a big country, a country with a population accounting for one-third of the world’s population.

If such a country achieves industrialization, how could it not dominate?
The Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace gradually became quiet.
January 1857, 1, New York Harbor.

Xianfeng, who had just got off the ship, stood in the cold wind of New York Harbor with his sleeves rolled up, watching the dock workers use crowbars to poke open the cargo boxes that were about to freeze into ice.

"Feker"

Suddenly, a curse word was uttered in Irish, and more than thirty strong Irish men wearing red turbans rushed out of the warehouse waving oak sticks. Opposite them, a group of foreigners who came from America from somewhere were holding daggers that gleamed coldly in the fog.

"Squat down!" Lei Laohu pressed Xianfeng's head. A wooden stick soaked in snow water flew by Xianfeng's bishop's crown. Xianfeng lay trembling behind a pile of silk, and in a trance he recalled the life-and-death battle with the Taiping Army in Huai'an Prefecture.

A one-eyed man suddenly jumped out from behind the barricade of cargo boxes, holding a revolver instead of a dagger. The gunshot startled a flock of unknown seabirds on the dock, and the bullets hit the anchor and sparks flew. Xianfeng was terrified - these foreign bandits were no less powerful than the Taiping Army.
(End of this chapter)