The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 757 "The Third America" ​​- From "Xian Zicheng" to "Xian Taiji"

Spring of the thirteenth year of Tianli.

When Chen Yucheng was awakened by the whistle of the steam locomotive, the outline of Tianjing City was already looming on the horizon. He wiped the mist off the car window and looked at the towering city wall in the distance - the blue-gray bricks were embedded with railroad tracks, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's round dragon flag was flying on the city tower, and the flag was fluttering in the river breeze. Four years ago, when he left Tianjing for North America, Tianjing City was still similar to when the Zhu family emperor sat on the dragon throne. Now, rows of cast iron lamps have been erected outside the wall, and the lamp poles are wrapped with coiled dragon patterns. Outside Taiping Gate, a Tianjing Railway Station, a combination of Chinese and Western styles, has also been built.

"General, we have arrived at Xuanwu Lake Station." the accompanying guard reminded.

Chen Yucheng's military rank was major general, which could not be compared with the "His Royal Highness the King of England" in history, but he had a long way to go in the future!
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was on the verge of achieving "peaceful unification" and was also on the track of industrialization, joining the ranks of great powers. As a founding major general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and a young man from the Boy Scouts, he had studied in the Army School and the Army University, and had followed Shi Dakai to fight the Russians in the Crimean Peninsula. In recent years, he has made great achievements in America. His achievements are so great that it will only take one or two years for him to be promoted to lieutenant general, and in the future it is possible that he will be promoted to general or even major general.

Chen Yucheng tightened the collar of his military uniform and picked up his patent leather briefcase. The corner of the briefcase was inlaid with a copper plate and engraved with the emblem of the "Taiping Army North American Corps".

The platform was crowded with vendors, Anhui merchants in silk robes and foreigners in top hats were shoulder to shoulder. Two Taiping soldiers wearing gray military caps were maintaining order. They were not carrying muzzle-loading guns, but brand new breech-loading rifles, which looked like imitations of American Spencer breech-loading rifles, with longer barrels and bayonets. Chen Yucheng noticed the stamp on the butt of the gun - "Jiangnan Arsenal, Jinling Arsenal, made in the 13th year of the Tianli calendar."

"Excuse me, go to Taiping Gate." He stopped a two-wheeled carriage. The driver was an old man wearing a blue turban. There was a wooden sign hanging on the shaft of the carriage: "Yuan Ji Carriage Company, five cents per mile."

As the carriage rolled over the newly paved asphalt road, Chen Yucheng stared out the window in a daze. When he left Beijing four years ago, this road was still called "Imperial Road Street", and the ground was full of gullies caused by years of vehicle traffic. Now the road has been widened three times, and there are four- or five-story brick buildings on both sides. The first floor is a shop with glass windows, and the second floor and above have overhanging eaves, and various auspicious beasts squat on the tiles.

"This general hasn't been to Tianjing for a long time, right?" the driver suddenly spoke, his voice full of pride, "Have you seen that green-roofed building? The Bank of Communications, which was just completed last month, is five stories high and has a steam elevator inside that can carry four or five people up to the fifth floor!"

Chen Yucheng also showed a proud expression on his face - how many years have passed, and Tianjing City has developed to this point. And he, Chen Yucheng, is one of the participants in this glorious and magnificent cause, and he is also a founding major general of the Heavenly Kingdom!
The guards in front of the Prime Minister's Office saluted Chen Yucheng, who was wearing a general's uniform: "Identity."

Chen Yucheng handed over his officer's certificate wrapped in calfskin. The guard carefully compared the photo - it was a photo taken using the wet plate collodion method. In the Taiping Army, only officers at the rank of colonel or above had such photos on their certificates. Chen Yucheng in the photo looked younger than he does now, seemingly only in his early 20s, but he was already wearing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's officer uniform and had the rank of major general.

Ten years before the Tianli period, he was a major general in his 20s. He was a respected hero of the Heavenly Kingdom!
"Sir, please hand over the Colt revolver. We will keep it for you." The guard returned the officer's ID to Chen Yucheng and saluted respectfully.

When walking through the marble-pillared vestibule, Chen Yucheng smelled a faint smell of gunpowder. Many officers in military uniforms were sitting on chairs in the hall, and he heard sporadic conversations: "Zeng Yaotou finally died in time, otherwise he would have become the king of a fallen country."

"You are General Chen, right? I am Fu Shanxiang." Fu Shanxiang came down the spiral staircase quickly. The former top female student of the first college entrance examination of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been working in the Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Office for several years. On the day Chen Yucheng arrived in Shanghai, he sent a telegram to the General Staff Headquarters, and only boarded the train after receiving a reply from the Prime Minister's Office asking him to go to the Prime Minister's Office to meet with Luo Wuwang directly. It was considered an appointment, so as soon as he reported to the registration office of the Prime Minister's Office, someone immediately notified Secretary Fu.

"Prime Minister Luo is in the operations room. He has just finished a meeting on the Western Region war. Please come this way." Fu Shanxiang led Chen Yucheng to the second floor. The moment they pushed open a wooden door, they were overwhelmed by the sound of a heated argument.

"Why does the railway only reach Tianshui?" Luo Yaoguo's voice still sounded full of energy. "What I want is a railway that goes directly to Dingxi! Ji Gao, your progress is too slow!"

Minister of Communications Zuo Zongtang's beard was raised high: "Slow? Your Highness, Prince Wu, please go to Longdong to have a look. The railway is built along the Weihe River valley in a winding way, with mountains on both sides. It's too difficult!"

"Brother-in-law, send a telegram to call King Yi back!" Luo Yaoguo sighed and stopped arguing with Zuo Zongtang. "Although the railway was not completed as planned, the battle to recover the northwest must still be carried out as scheduled!"

When Zuo Zongtang heard that they were going to attack the northwest, he immediately became excited: "King Wu, you can't do without me in the northwest. This is agreed. I will no longer be the Minister of Communications. I will go and join forces with King Shi Yi to recover the northwest!"

"Okay, okay," Luo Yaoguo nodded repeatedly, "You are indispensable to the recovery of the Western Regions!"

Chen Yucheng stood at the door holding his breath. The small red flags on the sand table were densely packed all over the northwest, like a burning wasteland. He suddenly remembered the Rocky Mountain sand table he and Zhao Si had made together - it was filled with small flags of black, red, yellow and white.

"Tell me, what does Zhao Si want?" The blinds in Luo Yaoguo's office were half open. The setting sun in Jinling cast a slender grating on the sandalwood desk. Chen Yucheng unfolded a three-meter-long parchment map in front of Prime Minister Luo.

"These are the six major passes in the Rocky Mountains." He traced the undulating mountain range with his fingertips. "Wind River Pass, Yellowstone Pass, Great Divide, San Juan Canyon." Each pass was marked with fortifications painted in cinnabar.

Luo Yaoguo suddenly sneered: "He wants to be the king of the mountain?"

"Yes, Zhao Taiji." Chen Yucheng took out a notebook from his briefcase and handed it to Luo Yaoguo.

"Zhao Taiji?" Luo Yaoguo frowned, "He wants to emulate Huang Taiji?"

"Prime Minister, Zhao Si said that the Eight Banners system created by the Manchus was very suitable for the American West. So he borrowed it and used it - two black flags for blacks, two red flags for Indians, two white flags for whites, and two yellow flags for Chinese."

Luo Yaoguo frowned even more tightly: "Will the white people listen to him?"

"There are large gold and silver mines in Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada," Chen Yucheng explained. "Zhao Si promised the white 'two white flags' exclusive mining rights, and also allocated the Utah Territory to the two white flags as their own private land."

Luo Yaoguo suddenly stood up, his boots stomping on the floor. He grabbed a magnifying glass and looked at the railway lines on the map: "What are these dotted lines?"

"This is a mountain railway. Zhao Si wants to ask the Celestial Empire to help build a narrow-gauge railway. He said that the railway that crosses the Rocky Mountains to connect the east and west of the United States cannot be built, but the railway that connects Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and the three Chinese states on the west coast must be built!" Chen Yucheng took out another document, "This is the 'Regulations on the Administration of the Eight Banners of the United States'' that he drafted - in the territory of the Western Third United States outside the Chinese private land of the three states on the west coast and the white private land of Utah, blacks farm, Indians graze, Chinese do business, and whites mine. The banners are not allowed to cross the border and live together without permission. Violators will be sent to the railway construction site."

"What he wants is not the American Eight Banners system," Luo Yaoguo slowly took off his glasses, "but the American caste system."

When Fu Shanxiang came in with a tea tray, she saw the two men bent over the map. Luo Yaoguo circled the three states on the west coast with a red pencil: "The three states on the west coast are not under his jurisdiction. They are the territory of the True Contract Cult."

"Of course. His purpose in occupying the Rocky Mountains is to serve as a barrier for the three states on the west coast." Chen Yucheng pointed to the Rocky Mountains on the map. "The Rocky Mountains are not a natural barrier. If no one guards them, once the two eastern states have fought, the whites can easily build a railway to Nevada. By then, the three states on the west coast will not be able to be defended!"

"Can he really keep what he has done?" Luo Yaoguo was a little skeptical. "The United States is the world's second largest industrial country!"

"It won't be a big problem in the short term," Chen Yucheng said. "The American Civil War will have to continue for a few more years. After the war, there will be a few more years of recuperation. Ten years later, the Americans may be able to march into the West. If Zhao Si manages well, it is possible that he can maintain independence for another ten years."

"Ten years from now will be 10," Luo Yaoguo muttered, "and another ten years will be 1873. Well, that day is almost here."

"Your Highness, the day you are talking about is..."

Luo Yaoguo did not answer Chen Yucheng's words, but nodded and said: "Yucheng, I have approved your and Zhao Si's plan, so go ahead and do it!"

When he walked out of the Prime Minister's Office, the whole city was already lit up. Chen Yucheng retrieved his revolver from the gatehouse, thinking about "that day" mentioned by Luo Yaoguo. What would happen on that day?
Fu Shanxiang chased him out and stuffed an unsealed envelope into his hand: "General Chen, this is a letter from the King of Wu to the Prince Consort Nanyi Jin."

Chen Yucheng returned to the guesthouse of the General Staff Headquarters and unfolded Luo Yaoguo's letter in the light of his room: "To the Nanyi Jinfu Matai: It is deep spring in Tianjing, but the river breeze is still cold. I am very relieved to hear from Yucheng that you are planning a century-long plan in the Rocky Mountains. In the past, Western Xia occupied Helan to resist Song and Liao, and Later Jin held Baishan to spy on the Central Plains. They all relied on the rugged mountains and rivers and the inclusion of various ethnic groups as their base. Now that the United States and the southeast are fighting in the north and south, it is time for heroes to show their strength. Black slaves have suffered from chains for a long time, and Indians have lost their homeland. They can all be taken as their heart and muscle. It is advisable to follow the old system of the Eight Banners to facilitate the division of the people."

(End of this chapter)