?
"Fourth Uncle, someone in our sect must have leaked a lot of information about us to the King Of The East. Otherwise, how would the King Of The East know how many weapons we have? "Wei Changrong and Vézé were discussing the most confidential topic in the office. Wei Changrong gritted his teeth as he spoke, and his expression was extremely indignant. If he caught the informant now, Wei Changrong would probably kill him with his own hands.
Vézé looked at Wei Changrong's indignant expression and couldn't help but sympathize with the young man's straightforwardness. Moreover, Wei Changrong and Vézé were uncle and nephew in name, but in reality, they were good brothers and close comrades in the trenches. Because of this relationship, Vézé even felt that Wei Changrong's anger was helping Vézé relieve the resentment in his heart when he saw Wei Changrong's angry expression.
With the resentment gone, Vézé's rationality gained the upper hand. He stood up and patted Wei Changrong's shoulder. Vézé let Wei Changrong sit down. Vézé also sat down before saying, "Changrong, don't be anxious. Listen to me slowly."
Wei Changrong saw that Vézé was so calm and felt like he had a pillar of support in his heart. He focused and asked seriously, "Fourth Uncle, what do you want to say?"
"Changrong, why did the two of us join the Taiping army back then?" Vézé asked.
"This …" Wei Changrong muttered to himself. Although the two of them had joined the Taiping army for less than three years, they had experienced so many things and gone through so many changes. Wei Changrong suddenly couldn't remember what happened two years ago. After thinking for a while, Wei Changrong said: "At that time, we had just fought with the Tu Clan, you and I had killed many people. The bounty on our heads is five hundred taels of silver. We feel that the guest Wu Zhanggui might want to harm us, but we can't kill him. It just so happens that the God Worshipping Sect is recruiting soldiers. Let's come to the God Worshipping Sect and mingle with them for a while. "
After saying that, Wei Changrong frowned and thought for a while before adding, "I remember that's the case."
Vézé nodded. "I remember it was more or less the same. After that, we discussed that we were going to rebel, and we couldn't do this anymore. After we overthrow the government, we won't have to suffer anymore. We can do whatever we want. Do you remember? "
Hearing Vézé mention these old stories, Wei Changrong immediately recalled the past. He slapped the table and said, "Fourth Uncle, at that time, you said that we had nothing to fear now that we were officials! Do you remember? "
Vézé also laughed and said, "Of course I remember!"
With a nostalgic expression, Wei Changrong said, "Fourth Uncle, although you are younger than me, you can always say what's on my mind. At that time, we killed too many people and had too many enemies, so we were also afraid! Many people wanted our lives, and many people went to the government to sue us. At that time, you said that it would be good if we were officials, and I felt that you were right! If we are officials, then we don't have to fear anything! "
Seeing that Wei Changrong was on the right track, Vézé continued, "That's right! We joined the Taiping army to rebel, to overthrow Manchu Qing! I don't think the Heavenly King is a man who can accomplish anything. Changrong, do you remember when we broke through Yong 'an, the Heavenly King asked us for hundreds of straw raincoats and bamboo hats, so that we brothers could stand in the rain. His bodyguards, wives, and coachmen didn't have to fight in the rain. Do you remember? "
"Yes! I remember! " Wei Changrong nodded and replied, "Fourth Uncle, I saw that your face was ugly, so I didn't dare to say anything at that time!"
Vézé also nodded and said, "Before that time, I felt that the King Of The East could be relied on. At that time, I was even more convinced that the King Of The East could be relied on. "
After thinking for a while, Wei Changrong said in a low voice, "But now that the King Of The East is treating us like this, to put it bluntly, what's the difference between him and the Heavenly King at that time?"
Seeing that Wei Changrong had also calmed down, Vézé said, "Changrong, don't think that way. Think about it the way I think. Expel the Tartars and restore China! This is my sincere thought. My fundamental goal is to overthrow Manchu Qing. Everything I do is to expel the Tartars and restore China. If it's for this purpose, then do you think I should follow the King Of The East? "
Wei Changrong frowned and thought for a while. After thinking for a while, his eyebrows relaxed. After thinking for a while, the resentful look on Wei Changrong's face disappeared. He sighed and said, "In order to expel the Tartars and restore China, we can only join the Taiping army. We can only join the Taiping Army. After joining the Taiping Army, we can only follow Dong Wang! "
"Yes! That's it! "Vézé said firmly.
In the early days of his transmigration, the reason why Vézé chose to stay in the Taiping Rebellion was because he knew that the Taiping Rebellion had gone from Guangxi to Nanjing. The reason why Vézé chose to join the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, was that Yang Xiuqing had shown the ability to lead the Taiping army to victory. Compared to Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing's understanding and political views were more in line with Vézé's attitude.
It was because of the anti-Qing point that Vézé was loyal to Yang Xiuqing. Now that Vézé had decided to change his way of thinking, it was not because the anti-Qing foundation had been broken, but because of the conflict of interest between Vézé and Yang Xiuqing. Although Vézé did not agree with Yang Xiuqing's method of weakening Vézé's strength, this was a conflict of interest based on the foundation of cooperation. This kind of more superficial conflict of interest could not be used as a reason to deny the foundation of cooperation against the Qing.
Even if he was no longer willing to be loyal to Yang Xiuqing, Vézé still felt that he had to unswervingly cooperate with Yang Xiuqing in the fight against the Qing. At the very least, Yang Xiuqing annexed Vézé's subordinates and deprived Vézé of Anhui. His purpose was still to fight against the Manchu Qing. Vézé was very appreciative of Yang Xiuqing's actions in expelling the Jiangnan Barracks of the Qing Army.
"Changrong! I want you to remember one thing! Right now, some of our brothers are tipping off the King Of The East. In fact, I'm not afraid of these people doing this. As long as the results of these people's actions are helpful in attacking the Manchu Qing. We killed Qing Yao, the King Of The East killed Qing Yao. This is all killing Qing Yao. There's no need to haggle over who kills and who kills. "Vézé said to Wei Changrong.
Although Wei Changrong still could not accept it, after hearing this, he was no longer so conflicted.
Vézé continued, "Many of our brothers are unhappy now, but that's because our hearts are on my side. They feel that I've suffered a loss. When I suffer a loss, they also suffer a loss! That's normal! I'm happy to have such a good brother! That's really considerate! However, it's enough that we know these things. We can't suffer a loss because of us. If we do that, we won't expel the Tartars and restore China! The Tartars must be expelled and China must be restored! We can't stop expelling the Tartars just because we've suffered a loss. Instead, we'll be entangled with our own people. That would be shortsighted! "
Vézé's high profile was actually reasonable. Wei Changrong had already gradually lost his previous anger. It was completely based on grievances, and his foundation was still loyalty to Yang Xiuqing. Wei Changrong believed that he was loyal to Yang Xiuqing, but Yang Xiuqing did not give him enough in return for his loyalty.
That year, after the Chenqiao Mutiny, Zhao Kuangyin said, "You are greedy for riches and honor. You forcefully made me the Son of Heaven. If you can obey my orders, that's fine. Otherwise, I can't be your master!" These words were referring to the issue of subordinates' obedience. Zhao Kuangyin clearly expressed that he wanted his subordinates' absolute obedience. And Yang Xiuqing's request was the same as Zhao Kuangyin's. He wanted his loyal subordinates to take out something from their pockets and fulfill their oath of loyalty to Yang Xiuqing. This was understandable, but then Vézé's subordinates exploded.
This kind of explosion could only mean that Wei Changrong was still subconsciously loyal to the King Of The East. Therefore, according to Wei Changrong's own judgment of the world, he believed that Yang Xiuqing had to give Wei Changrong an equivalent reward. But Vézé was not so childish. After he easily decided to change his previous loyalty to the King Of The East, Vézé no longer had any emotional factors towards Yang Xiuqing. Now, he was able to calmly look at the problem without any emotions.
Of course, from Vézé's point of view, changing his loyalty to the King Of The East didn't mean that he had to go against the King Of The East, and it also didn't mean that he had to start searching for people who were not loyal to Vézé. Vézé's main problem now was the irreconcilable relationship with Manchu Qing. Because of this, Vézé had to solve the current situation from the perspective of a united front.
Just as Vézé was sorting out his emotions, Wei Changrong said with a slight grievance, "Fourth Uncle, we have nothing now. How are we going to fight Qing Yao?"
"Nothing? Hahaha!! "Vézé was amused by Wei Changrong's words and laughed.
Seeing Vézé laughing so happily, Wei Changrong had no idea what was going on. He could only look at Vézé with a doubly wronged expression.
After laughing for a while, Vézé reluctantly stopped. "Chang Rong, you can't lie through your teeth. When we first joined the Taiping army, we only had one gun each. What else did we have? Now we have 30,000 soldiers and horses, and there are still three armies with 15,000 people on the way to Zhenjiang. When those three armies reach Zhenjiang, we have nine armies with 45,000 people. The King Of The East also told me that if we conquer Jiangzhe, he doesn't want us to pay for our rations. We just need to take care of our own rations. We have nine well-trained armies and Zhenjiang as our starting point, and you're telling me that we have nothing! Chang Rong, you … you can't lie through your teeth! "
"But our Anhui …" Wei Changrong tried to explain.
Vézé waved his hand. "Alright, alright! Don't be so stubborn! You really like Anhui? When you arrived at Yangzhou, you kept praising Yangzhou. I think you don't want to go back to Anhui. Now you want to go back to Anhui? "
Wei Changrong had already accepted Vézé's idea, and his resistance was greatly reduced. He knew that Vézé had made up his mind, so he could only helplessly resist. "That's Anhui and Yangzhou. I want them both!"
"Chang Rong, these 40,000 brothers, these tens of thousands of guns …" Vézé said.
"There are 10,000 women among the 40,000 men! We still need 20,000 guns! "Wei Changrong found a reason to refute Vézé and immediately retorted.
Vézé did not argue with him. "Alright, those 30,000 brothers were accumulated by us. As long as we have these brothers, we can find a better place than Anhui! Keep the people and lose the land, gain both. Keep the land and lose the people, lose the land! That's the foundation! "
Wei Changrong sighed after a while. "Fourth Uncle, if we conquer Jiangzhe, the King Of The East will do the same thing again. What should we do? "
Vézé got up and patted Wei Changrong's shoulder. "Chang Rong, don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I won't let us brothers suffer any losses. But in the army, you have to be on my side. If I don't care, you can't either! If you don't, who can I talk to? Who can I find to talk to? That person can say it as soon as he opens his mouth. What else can Wei Changrong do? You have to be on my side first! You have to follow me to expel the Tartars and restore China! Do you understand? "
Wei Changrong saw Vézé's resolute attitude. He scratched his ears and cheeks for a long time. Finally, he got up and said to Vézé in a serious tone. "Fourth Uncle! I'll follow you. You can't let us work so hard without any results! "
Vézé answered with a stern expression. "Don't worry about that! Now, we have more than 40,000 people. Isn't this the result? We'll have more results in the future! We have to broaden our horizons and understand the principle of expelling the Tartars and restoring China! "
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