The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 610 Moore: Seeing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom so corrupt, I feel relieved (Requesting subscription, requesting votes)
The Xiaguan Wharf in Tianjing, the eighth day of the eleventh month in the seventh year of the Tianli calendar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

When a "Jianghai" class passenger ship with a displacement of more than 1000 tons approached the Shangxiaguan Wharf and lowered its anchor chain, Friedrich adjusted his glasses and looked at the crowd kneeling on the stone steps of the pier with a bit of disbelief.

They were kneeling before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Minister of War, King of the West Xiao Chaogui, and his wife, Victoria's "soul sister", Hong Xuanjiao, the reincarnation of Salome, the sister of Jesus.

Moore and Friedrich had only seen this scene in the Korean Heavenly Kingdom under the rule of Yang Xiuqing, but they did not expect to see it also in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was known for its "progressive" rule!
All that could be seen under the yellow silk umbrella was Xiao Chaogui, wearing a dragon robe and jade belt, sitting astride a horse. Behind him, sixteen red-robed porters were carrying a large sedan chair carved with dragons and phoenixes. Hong Xuanjiao's phoenix crown decorated with pearls was vaguely visible through the gap in the sedan curtain.

The honor guard, carrying rifles with bayonets, stood in two rows, with more than 300 people. The four words "Western Palace Guards" on their red battle jackets were particularly eye-catching in the sun.

"This is the majesty of the gods in heaven," Bai Siwen took a puff of his cigar and winked at Moore, "Emperor Xianfeng back then was not as extravagant and glorious as them!"

Moore clenched his notebook tightly, the pen in his hand hovering over the paper. He glimpsed that behind Hong Xuan's sedan chair were more than 20 blue-wool sedan chairs, and when the curtains of each sedan chair were lifted, a flash of golden hairpins and cloud-like hair flashed - who were these women?
Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to Tianjing, introduced in Oxford English: "Those sitting in the blue sedan chairs are the concubines of King Xiaoxi."

"What?" Friedrich was surprised. "So many? I thought King Luo Wu, who had three wives, was already very corrupt."

Elgin took a puff of cigarette, glanced at Luo Yaoguo who had already disembarked with Maria, and whispered, "King Wu can be considered a rare talent among the kings of the Heavenly Kingdom. He has four wives, one of whom is his fiancée. The king with the most wives among the kings of the Heavenly Kingdom is the King of the East, who is said to have eighty-eight wives."

"Eighty-eight." Friedrich was surprised. "That's too many!"

"This is a freak mixture of capitalism and feudal monarchy." Moore sneered.

Bai Siwen interrupted, "Moore, please don't slander us feudal nobles. I have always had only one wife! When Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty was alive, he only had a few concubines, and they were all mediocre in appearance."

At this time, the river wind suddenly changed, bringing the sound of stringed instruments and orchestras. Wei Changhui's sixteen-man sedan chair also arrived!
When the King of Weibei went to Kaiping Mining Bureau to welcome "Master Karl" before, he was still very "hardworking and simple" - at that time, he was guilty and did not dare to be too ostentatious in front of the "Master". But now he has been released!
Beside the sedan chair of King Weibei, ten Japanese female warriors in kimono followed closely, with swords and wakizashi on their waists. On their exposed wrists were tattoos of the words "Blessings from Heavenly Father".

When Wei Changhui's sedan chair came down, ten Japanese female warriors knelt down in unison. One of them even knelt beside the sedan chair and acted as a human ladder, allowing Wei Changhui to step on her body to walk to the ground.

"Look at the one in the red skirt!" Bai Siwen suddenly poked Moore's elbow. Su Sanniang was walking down the steps of a red lacquered painted boat owned by the Wu Wang Mansion. Her pomegranate red wide-sleeved skirt was blown by the river wind like a sail, and there were "three knives" stuck in her bun - this female general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom always had a bit of evil aura wherever she went.

Zhou Xiuying followed closely behind, her slender figure wrapped in a red jacket and skirt, a Colt revolver tucked into her belt. Maria Clementina, who had already got off the boat with Luo Yaoguo, saw her two sisters coming and immediately went up to them with a smile and bowed.

Bai Siwen looked at him and smacked his lips: "King Luo Wu's taste ranges from blonde foreign girls to gangsters. He doesn't care about meat or vegetables, and each one of them is top-notch!"

Before he finished speaking, Wanzhen was the last one to get off the pleasure boat of the Wu Wang Mansion. The "Fourth Wife" of Wu Wang Luo Yaoguo had finally grown up and reached the age to officially enter Wu Wang's bedroom. Her eyebrows were frowning, as if she was worried about something. Her white fingertips pinched the embroidered handkerchief and her pearly teeth bit her red lips from time to time. When she saw Luo Yaoguo coming towards her, she knelt down and kowtowed respectfully to her fiancé.

"That girl is..." Moore frowned.

"It should be the fourth wife of the King of Wu, Wanzhen." Erjin said, "She is the sister of the Queen Mother of the Later Jin Dynasty. She should also be a hostage in Luo Yaoguo's hands. Now the Later Jin Dynasty has raised the banner of the Qing Dynasty. This is a rebellion in the eyes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

"Will she be executed?" Moore asked worriedly.

Prince Wu's Mansion.

Eight glass lamps burning whale oil illuminated the White Tiger Hall as if it were daytime.

Maria Clementina, with her blonde hair tied up in a Chinese-style bun, sat to Luo Yaoguo's right, smiling as she picked fish bones for Luo Wu Wang. Su Sanniang sat to Luo Yaoguo's right, chatting with Zhou Xiuying who stood behind her. Wanzhen didn't look like she was going to be executed, but was holding a wine pot and serving behind Luo Yaoguo. Moore wrote in his "Red Star Over China": "Although Luo Yaoguo, the Wu Wang of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, always talked about 'equality', he had four wives, and the status of these four wives was unequal. Su Sanniang and Maria's status was obviously higher than the other two."

At this time, twenty-four dancers spun into the hall to the beat of "General's Order". The leading dancer had cinnabar on her forehead and flirted with Luo Yaoguo while dancing, causing Su Sanniang to frown.

"The lead dancer is named Fu Shanxiang," Elgin whispered to Wenxian, Moore, Friedrich and others, "She was the top female student in the first entrance examination of Taiping University. She hasn't graduated yet, but she has already become a secretary in the Prince of Wu's Palace."

"I wonder if you would be able to let us watch your country's national meeting?" Moore seemed to have seen enough of the corruption of the "gods" in heaven, and without waiting for the banquet to be over, he asked to visit the national meeting - this was one of the main purposes of his coming to Tianjing.

If there was any progress made by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom besides industrialization, it was probably this national conference.
"Lingnan!" Luo Yaoguo called out again, and then he heard the sound of a beaded curtain, and a beautiful girl in the navy blue uniform of Taiping University walked in quickly, holding a notebook in her hand, "Your Highness, please give me your orders."

Luo Yaoguo pointed at Moore and Friedrich and said, "These two gentlemen want to visit the National People's Congress. Please check which day is more suitable?"

"She was the runner-up in the first female entrance exam of Taiping University. Her name is Cheng Lingnan. Her brother is the confidant of King Wu Luo and is now the prefect of Shanghai. Like Fu Shanxiang, she is also interning at the King Wu's mansion."

Elgin had a lot of gossip, which contributed a piece of "gossip" to Moore's "Red Star Over China".

"The day after tomorrow," Secretary Cheng flipped through his notebook, "the day after tomorrow the National People's Congress will vote on sending troops to suppress the Western bandits."

The so-called Western bandit is, of course, the "Empress Dowager West" Nara.

Luo Yaoguo nodded: "Then let's arrange it for the day after tomorrow!" He then said to Moore: "Next spring, I will send troops to Xi'an. If you want to see the living Qing Dynasty."

He suddenly pulled Wanzhen behind him. The girl's face was pale, and tears seemed to be in her almond-shaped eyes. "How about letting my fourth wife lead the way? Her sister is the queen mother in Xi'an! Wanzhen, are you willing?"

The girl nodded gently: "I agree. Although my sister deserves death, I still want to go to Xi'an to persuade her one last time, to persuade her to turn back and go to Tianjing to apologize to His Highness!"

Prince Wu's Mansion, late at night.

The sound of the clappers at midnight reached the guest room where Moore and Friedrich lived.

Friedrich was writing in his notebook by the light of the oil lamp: "Four wives, a guard of at least 300 people, a dozen beautiful dancers, hundreds of servants, two beautiful female secretaries, and a luxurious palace. The annual expenses of this Luowu King alone are probably no less than 100,000 Taiping silver dollars, and there are several such kings in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and they are even more corrupt!"

"Obviously, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is just a freak mixture of industrialization from the West and the despotic empire from the East," Moore wrote in his Red Star Over China. "Although the country seems to be developing well at present, its rotten superstructure is doomed to be unable to control the productivity of the industrial age!"

Friedrich put down his pen: "The economic base determines the superstructure. If the superstructure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is similar to that of France and Prussia, then it may really survive the future world war until the end! But at present, the superstructure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not in line with the booming productivity of industrialization. The reason why it can still remain stable now is because the industrialization of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has just started, and the industrial workers are not mature yet. They do not realize how corrupt the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s court is. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s bourgeoisie is too weak and has to rely on this group of corrupt gods in heaven! But in the future, when the devastating war between imperialisms comes in thirty or forty years, there will definitely not be 10 or 20 million workers and peasants willing to fight for this group of corrupt gods. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom may become a workers' state after the war, just like Russia!"

Moore wrote furiously, recording Friedrich's words verbatim on the manuscript of Red Star Over China, then put down his pen and said with a smile: "After we finish watching the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's national conference, let's go to Xi'an to see the last side of the Qing Dynasty, which was even more corrupt than the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" He closed the manuscript, "I am now full of confidence in China's future!"

Friedrich also nodded: "Yes, the revolution will definitely break out in this half-baked capitalist industrial country! I am now looking forward to the war in thirty or forty years that will bury the capitalist system!"

(End of this chapter)