The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 657: Xianfeng: What? Did I really come down from heaven? (Please subscribe, please vote)
Before daybreak the next day, Feng Yunshan's consort Zhao Si was walking in the snowy alley, carrying a piece of paper with the address "No. 3, Xila Hutong" written on it.

Chiyoko, wrapped in a fox fur coat, stood guard under the archway at the entrance of the alley, looking around alertly, her right hand still on the handle of her revolver.

"This seems to be Mu Yin's house, right? I didn't expect it to be given to Ronglu," Xianfeng muttered to himself as he looked up at the bright gate with five rooms and three doors. On the blue brick and gray tile courtyard wall, there were still traces of the plaque "世笃忠贞" bestowed by the emperor in the early years of Xianfeng. The four characters "忠侯传家" on the door pin were chiseled to pieces, and the newly hung iron plaque "天父皇神上帝保佑" swayed in the wind.

The door knocker knocked three times, and a long face covered with powder and rouge appeared through the crack of the door. It was Nala Laner, whose official title was Cixi. Cixi was wearing an apron with greasy twists and holding half a steaming bun in her hand. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty" Before she finished speaking, Xianfeng slipped through the threshold.

Inside the gate is a cracked glazed screen wall. After walking around the screen wall, you can see a spacious courtyard with a large blue and white vase in the middle of the courtyard. There are colorful paintings on the corridors on both sides. Although some of them are mottled and faded, you can still make out that they are depicting stories of the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars. The windows of the main room are inlaid with transparent glass, which is not cheap in China today.

Xianfeng thought: "It seems that Ronglu and Cixi, this pair of dogs and bitches, still have some savings."

"Mother!" At this time, a child of six or seven years old ran out from the east wing, holding a picture book in his hand. Cixi hurriedly hid the child behind her: "Chun'er, stop making trouble. Where is your father?"

"Father went to the incense hall after breakfast." The little boy answered while looking at Xianfeng curiously.

"Zaichun!" Xianfeng's eyes were hot, and he squatted down to hug the child, but was blocked by Cixi with her body: "Please come this way, my dear Prince Consort." She pushed open the hanging flower door, and saw a cross nailed on the pillar of the corridor in the back room, and below the cross were five big characters "Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teacher".

The hinges of the incense hall door creaked, and Xianfeng saw Ronglu kneeling on a flowered futon, muttering something. The incense burner on the altar was filled with three sticks of incense, and behind the curling green smoke was a three-foot silk painting - in the painting, a man wearing a dragon robe in the style of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was stepping on auspicious clouds, kicking a thin man wearing a dragon robe in the style of the Qing Dynasty and with a braid on the back of his head off the clouds, and the city of Beijing below shrunk to the size of a chessboard. The corner of the painting was inscribed with "Painted in the first month of the sixth year of the Tianli calendar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", and the ink had faded to a dark brown - it was obvious that it was not painted by someone at the last minute.

"Your Majesty!" Ronglu had already turned around and looked at Xianfeng steadily, "Your Majesty, it's really Your Majesty."

"What's going on with this painting?" Xianfeng stared at the three-foot silk painting and felt a chill on his back.

"Your Majesty," Cixi said to Xianfeng while wiping her tears, "I asked the painter to draw this picture according to what Sister Ci'an said in her dream. The picture shows that you were judged by God as 'incompetent in governing the country, contributing to the country's destruction, and your life span is not over yet', and then you were kicked down to the mortal world by Hong Tianwang."

"Nonsense!" Xianfeng kicked over the incense burner. "I was rescued from the palace by Linshu! I met Sushun outside the palace, and later became a Taimao by chance, and then was taken to the United States by Lei Laohu."

"But Su Laoliu clearly went to Xi'an with me!" Cixi suddenly interrupted, "and later died in Xi'an when Zeng Guofan attempted to usurp the throne." She looked at Xianfeng with inexplicable surprise: "Your Majesty, did you remember it wrong?"

"Impossible!" Xianfeng stumbled onto the altar and stared at the painting. "I clearly saw Sushun in America." He stopped talking abruptly - was that really Sushun? Could it be a monster in disguise?
Also, will his memory really be given to people, no, to God for redemption?
Ronglu wiped his tears and held up a thread-bound book: "Your Majesty, look, this is Lan'er, no, it was written by the Empress Dowager according to what Empress Dowager Ci'an told her in her dream. Please take a closer look and see if you can remember anything."

Xianfeng took the thread-bound book handed over by Ronglu, opened it and read it carefully. It was indeed written by Cixi - the ink was not wet, but had dried thoroughly, and even the paper was a little yellow.

The above content is about what Ci'an saw in heaven after she died for her country, and how Xianfeng was imprisoned and tried in heaven, and finally was found "not guilty" and released to the lower world. It also records some of Ci'an's experiences in heaven.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible," Xianfeng shook his head repeatedly, "How come this is completely different from what I remember? How is this possible?" He suddenly looked up and glared at Cixi, "You, you bitch must be lying to me, I won't believe you! I still want to take Chun'er away to study at a foreign school in New York."

"Please spare us!" Cixi knelt down, her voice low and helpless, "Do you really think that Prince Luo Wu didn't know that I was hiding in Beijing? Do you know how I escaped during the Xi'an Rebellion? It was all done by Prince Luo Wu. Without Prince Luo Wu's consent, how could you take Zaichun away? Your life span has not yet ended according to the judgment of Heavenly Father, the Emperor. Prince Luo Wu naturally cannot send you to heaven. But the life spans of me, Ronglu and Chun'er are all in the hands of Prince Luo Wu, so please let us stay in Beijing safely! Also, Beijing is now a stage, the actors have to sing well, and the audience have to act well. Your Majesty, do you understand?"

After hearing this, Xianfeng stood there as if he was under a spell!

He originally thought he could hide it from anyone, but he didn't expect that he was actually performing on the stage and the people watching the show knew everything.

The reason why Luo Yaoguo and Feng Yunshan did not take his life was not because they did not know his identity, but because they had sentenced him to a life span that was not over yet!
God has made this judgment, can Luo Yaoguo and Feng Yunshan still slap God in the face?
As the sun was setting, Xianfeng trudged into the small courtyard of the Xianliang Temple where he stayed. Luo Bingzhang was sitting under the grape trellis flipping through the Beijing Vernacular Newspaper. There were three envelopes on the stone table. "How is your trip, my dear consort?" The old man stood up and bowed. Xianfeng glanced at the three envelopes and saw that they were all written with "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Zhili Governor Zuo Da Ren Zongtang" and signed by "Senggelinqin, a former Qing Dynasty minister", "Qi Junzao, a former Qing Dynasty minister" and "Xu Jishe, a former Qing Dynasty minister".

Seeing the three "former Qing dynasty officials", Xianfeng sighed in his heart. He knew very well that the Qing dynasty no longer had a place on the East Asian stage. What was still on the stage were the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Zengzhou Heavenly Kingdom, and the Korean Heavenly Kingdom.
Thinking of this, Xianfeng stared at Luo Bingzhang and asked, "Senggelinqin, Qi Junzao, and Xu Jishe are all willing to submit to my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?"

Luo Bingzhang picked up the three envelopes and said with a smile, "Senggelinqin, Xu Mutian, and Qi Xiweng have arrived. Lord Zuo, please leave immediately." He suddenly lowered his voice, "Although the three of them claim to be the remnants of the Qing Dynasty, they still want to bargain with the Heavenly Kingdom. Xu Mutian and Qi Xiweng want to postpone the land reform in Shanxi, and Senggelinqin wants to be the Khan of Mongolia. Lord Zuo hopes that you can persuade them to give up the dark and join the light as soon as possible, and stop going against the will of heaven."

Xianfeng smiled bitterly: "Okay, okay, I'll go and talk to them! Everything is God's will!"

As he spoke, he reached into his bosom and felt around - there was a copy of "The Dreams of the Empress Dowager Ci'an" written by Cixi herself.
The next afternoon, twenty miles outside Huailai County.

Senggelinqin's cowhide tent bulged like a grave in the snow, and the yellow dragon flag on the top of the tent had long been replaced with plain white linen. Qi Junzao's hands trembled as he held Zuo Zongtang's letter: "This, this 'Fourth Prince Consort Zhao' is actually..."

"Bullshit!" Senggelinqin knocked over the charcoal basin with his fist, sparks flew everywhere, "The emperor has already ascended to heaven with the traitor Hong! This is a substitute found by the Taiping rebels!"

Xu Jishe took out another secret report and handed it to Senggelinqin: "Prince Bodolegatai, please be patient. According to the identification of several eunuchs who ran out of Xi'an, there is a banner woman selling fried dough sticks outside Shenwu Gate, who looks like Nara."

Suddenly, there was the sound of urgent horse hooves outside the tent. Goshha rushed in holding a wooden box: "Report! The long-haired messenger shot this thing outside the camp gate!"

Qi Junzao opened the bundle and the wooden box, and inside was a thread-bound book with the words "The Dreams of the Empress Dowager Cixi" written in large letters on the cover - and that note was clearly written by the Empress Dowager Cixi!
"This is the handwriting of the Queen Mother." Qi Junzao suddenly burst into tears, "Queen Mother, Queen Mother!"

Senggelinqin grabbed the thread-bound book and opened it to read. After reading for a while, he said with trembling lips: "Impossible, impossible, Your Majesty, the Emperor has actually come down from heaven!"

Another day passed, and we arrived at Huailai official road.

Zuo Zongtang's carriage rolled over the icy official road, and a new wooden sign flashed through the cracks in the window: "Resolutely implement the Tianchao Land System!"

Several surveyors in blue cloth jackets were driving markers into the snow. The words "He who tills the land shall own it" on the red-painted wooden stakes were particularly eye-catching.

"Please look, Prince Consort." Zuo Zongtang handed over the telescope. "Qi Junzao's Du Biao Battalion is still using bird guns - they are all made by Shanxi Green Camp craftsmen themselves, and they are no match for the rifled guns of the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau."

Xianfeng raised his telescope and saw the Qing soldiers with pigtails carrying muskets and swords lined up on both sides of the official road in the distance. Everyone was wearing white hemp - they must be mourning for the Qing Dynasty. But it seemed that this group of people were no match for the Taiping Army.

Xianfeng put down the telescope and asked in a low voice: "Whose sons are these soldiers?"

"There are tenants of the Qi family, servants of the Xu family, and herdsmen recruited from the grasslands by the monk king." Zuo Zongtang smoked a pipe. "Of course, there are more landlords who hate the Tianchao Tianmu System - they would rather die with the remnants of the previous dynasty than give their land to the peasants."

Xianfeng sighed: "What kind of landlords are these? The Russian Tsar wanted to reform the serfdom system, and the land allotted to the serfs was two or three mu, almost fifty mu! The landlords in Shanxi would not even be worthy of being serfs in Russia!"

(End of this chapter)