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Perhaps due to psychological reasons, when Vézé saw Tianjing City, Vézé felt that it was much livelier than the last time he saw it.
At this time, the Taiping Rebellion had already seized Tianjing City for more than a year. The Qing Army's Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks had also besieged Tianjing City for more than a year. On the river, one could see the strategic fortresses built outside Tianjing City, as well as the Taiping army's soldiers in the fortresses. Seeing Vézé's fleet, the soldiers waved their hands in greeting. It seemed that after more than a year of fighting, everyone was used to this kind of life.
When the fleet arrived at the shore, there were already people ready to receive the rations. The transportation of rations in Tianjing City was not under Vézé's control, so Vézé was too lazy to interfere. More importantly, as a prince, Vézé needed a prince's attire. To Vézé, there was nothing more satisfactory than a well-ironed marshal's uniform. The costume of a prince of the Taiping Rebellion was too uncomfortable for Vézé.
However, even though he was uncomfortable, Vézé would never be careless about such things. Someone ran up from below the ship and brought three sets of clothes. "Prince Of Qi, I have already reported to the King Of The East. These three sets of clothes are the robes that the King Of The East has given to the three Prime Ministers."
The prince of the Taiping Rebellion and the Prime Minister all wore yellow dragon robes. The style was sleeveless with narrow sleeves. From the Heavenly King to the Commander's yellow magua, there was a dragon embroidered on it. The three Prime Ministers originally had such simple clothing, but they had long since worn out their clothes during the Northern Expedition.
Vézé did not dare to give the Prime Minister his own court clothes, so he sent someone to Yang Xiuqing to apply for them in advance. The three Prime Ministers all changed into brand new court attire and put on their hats.
During the Taiping Rebellion, the crown system was used. During festive and important events, a helmet was worn, called a horn cap. The horned hats of the Heavenly Kings and Kings were also called the Golden Crown. The Zhuguanjiao was also called the Imperial Hat. The golden crown was made of paper bone, carved with dragons and phoenixes, and pasted with gold. In front of the crown was an embroidered crown, like a fan. The flower embroidery was divided into equal parts, and in the middle was the golden character 'King'. The court hats were also made of paper bones and gilded with gold. In the middle of the hat were official titles, and the embroidery was also of different grades.
Be it Vézé or the three Prime Ministers, none of them had participated in the formulation of the clothing system. These clothes were given to them by the King Of The East, so they put them on obediently.
Vézé had worn the same outfit when he was conferred the title of Prince Of Qi only once before he left it in his residence in Luzhou, the Prince Of Qi. This time, when he paid a visit to Yang Xiuqing, Vézé put on the same outfit again. Moreover, in front of Vézé, the guards raised a large flag high. Different from the square flags of the Four Princes of the East, West, South, and North, it was a triangular flag made of yellow silk. It was eight feet long and wide, with red words and a red border. The words "Taiping Rebellion Prince Of Qi Wei" were written on it.
Just this flag alone attracted the attention of the entire dock to Vézé and his party. Vézé himself was not very famous, but the words on the clothes and the crown on his head were really out of the ordinary. From time to time, he heard people asking, "Is that Prince Of Qi Vézé?"
Lin Fengxiang and his party were very famous generals in the Taiping army. From time to time, people on both sides of the road greeted the three of them. Under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, Vézé and his party arrived at the city gate.
The general guarding the city gate seemed to have received the order long ago. He symbolically checked the documents of Vézé and his party and immediately sent people to clear the way. Vézé and his party rode towards the King Of The East's residence. When they arrived at the King Of The East's residence, they were immediately led into the King Of The East's residence. After entering the main hall, they saw Yang Xiuqing sitting behind the dragon table.
Vézé and his party hurriedly knelt down. Because the Taiping Rebellion did not allow kowtowing, they had to kneel with their backs straight. It had been half a year since Vézé had seen the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing. As he was looking at Yang Xiuqing, he heard Li Kaifang suddenly cry. "King Of The East! I'm back! "
Yang Xiuqing also seemed to be very excited. Not long after Tianjing City was conquered, Li Kaifang and his party went north alone. After looking down at Vézé and his party for a while, Yang Xiuqing finally said, "Get up!"
The four of them stood up, and Yang Xiuqing gave them a seat.
Vézé did not like this kind of behavior, but he could not escape. Fortunately, the main people Yang Xiuqing wanted to meet this time were the three Prime Ministers of the Northern Expedition. On the contrary, Vézé was not the main target, so Vézé could think of other things in his heart.
Everyone could see that he was distracted. Just as Vézé was thinking about how to collect food, how to recruit soldiers, and how to attack the Qing Army's Jiangbei Barracks … Vézé suddenly heard Yang Xiuqing shout, "Vézé, what are you thinking about?"
He raised his head and saw that everyone in the King Of The East's residence was looking at him. Yang Xiuqing's bright eyes looked even sharper. Even though he was surrounded by people like this, Vézé did not feel uneasy. He calmly replied, "King Of The East, I'm thinking about how to collect food and send food to Tianjing. And how to attack the Qing Army's Jiangbei Barracks. I just came back from the north a few days ago, and there are many things in Luzhou that I have not finished. "
There were not many people in the Taiping Rebellion who dared to talk to Yang Xiuqing like this. Obviously, the surrounding officials and generals of the King Of The East's residence were a little surprised. But Vézé looked at Yang Xiuqing calmly, without the slightest feeling of stage fright. If Yang Xiuqing asked for the specific details, Vézé could immediately tell him.
Staring at Vézé for a moment, Yang Xiuqing suddenly laughed, "Wayne Brothers, you are still a child!"
As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere immediately relaxed. Yang Xiuqing smiled a little helplessly, but ordered Vézé and the others to go into the inner hall to talk. There were not that many civil and military officials, and the main people in the conversation were still these five people, but the atmosphere was much more relaxed.
After Yang Xiuqing sat down, he first praised Vézé. "Anhui transported food to Tianjing in a timely manner, and Wayne Brothers contributed a lot. But this time, will Brother Wei be able to collect more grain than last year? "
"From what I can see, the food collected will definitely not be less than last year." Vézé immediately answered, "But King Of The East, I feel that if we really want to ensure there is no shortage of food, it is not enough to rely on Anhui alone. Jiangzhe and Huguang have always been rich in food. There is a saying, 'Huguang is rich, the world is rich.' Compared to Jiangzhe and Huguang, Anhui is really a poor place. "
These words sounded like he was complaining, but in fact, Vézé was explaining the strategic situation to Yang Xiuqing. After listening, Yang Xiuqing stared at Vézé for a moment, and his expression gradually became solemn. "Wayne Brothers, then do you think we should attack Huguang or Jiangzhe first?"
"That depends on whether King Of The East still wants to go on a northern expedition." This was what Vézé was most worried about. If Yang Xiuqing wanted to go on a northern expedition, there was nothing Vézé could do.
"What if I don't go on a northern expedition?" Yang Xiuqing answered.
"King Of The East, if we don't go on a northern expedition for now, the situation will be much better!" Vézé saw that there was a good opportunity to promote his strategy, so he quickly took out a map and handed it to Yang Xiuqing's table.
Guarding the river must guard the Huai River! This was the secret of the Southern Dynasty. When the North and the South confronted each other, the Huaihe River was the focus of both sides. On this point, Vézé was very clear that of the three major battles, it was not Liaoshen or Pingjin, but the Huaihai Campaign with Xuzhou as the center. When the People's Liberation Army crossed the Huaihe River and advanced to the Yangtze River, the Kuomintang's defeat was already certain.
Vézé did not dare to quote from the classics, so he could only say that he had heard this from a scholar who was trying to become an official. In this matter, in order to prove that he actually did not know much and that his cultural knowledge was relatively weak, Vézé even made up a lie. He said that at that time, he felt that those scholars only knew how to brag, so Vézé drove the scholar away. Now that he looked for that person again, he could not find him.
This was originally a lie to avoid arousing suspicion, but he did not expect that this topic would greatly affect Yang Xiuqing. He first asked around about the characteristics of the scholar and whether he could find him. After getting a negative answer, Yang Xiuqing sighed. "Wayne Brothers, I know you are a talent. If you meet such people in the future, don't worry about whether they have real ability or not. Win them over first."
"Oh! I will obey the decree of the King Of The East! "Vézé replied.
At this point, Yang Xiuqing still wanted to continue. He continued, "If the Heavenly King asks you to smash Confucius's memorial tablet and burn books, you must not listen to him. The Heavenly Father has already arrived and will reprimand the Heavenly King. Don't make any mistakes. "
Hearing Yang Xiuqing seriously say that the Heavenly Father had arrived, Vézé almost wanted to laugh. Then, when he heard that the "Heavenly Father" had "reprimanded" the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan for this matter, Vézé's smile immediately disappeared. If Yang Xiuqing was not lying, it meant that Yang Xiuqing could reprimand Hong Xiuquan in the name of the Heavenly Father.
Vézé did not think that there was anything wrong with smashing Confucius's memorial tablet. As a sage, Confucius was indeed worthy of respect. However, those who held Confucius's memorial tablet high were basically nothing good. Smashing Confucius's memorial tablet was, in fact, a blow to the Confucian scoundrel. Vézé still remembered that Yang Xiuqing had told him that when the Western King Xiao Chaogui was still alive, Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui had once performed a double act. The very humorous Western King Xiao Chaogui had saved Hong Xiuquan's face, while at the same time, he had weakened the act of burning books and thoroughly attacking the Confucian faction to the minimum.
Now, it seemed that Yang Xiuqing's ability was probably above that of the Western King Xiao Chaogui. However, Yang Xiuqing was much less tactful than Xiao Chaogui. At the very least, Xiao Chaogui was the "Heavenly Brother Jesus." When he carried out the "Heavenly Brother's Descent," he probably would not have ordered his men to directly press Hong Xiuquan down and then give Hong Xiuquan's butt a beating.
Hong Xiuquan's request to burn books was definitely wrong. However, in Vézé's view, Hong Xiuquan's mistake did not mean that Yang Xiuqing's way of handling things was not wrong. However, this was not something that Vézé could intervene in. Vézé just replied, "As the King Of The East commands."
After Vézé spoke, he waited for a while. To his surprise, the three Prime Ministers did not immediately respond to Vézé. Since the three of them were so insensible, Vézé did not wait any longer. He began to elaborate on his strategy. "King Of The East, I think that, north of the Yangtze River, it is better to break the Jiangbei Camp of Qing Yao as soon as possible. As long as we break the Jiangbei Camp of Qing Yao, our army can follow the Huai River to the east and push to the sea. That will cut off the communication between the north and the south of Qing Yao. "
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