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In the darkness of the night, on the city walls of Tianjing City, a few military officers, whose positions were not low, were gathered together. A rope was tied tightly to the entrance of the crater, and a man wearing the skin color of an ordinary soldier was surrounded by a few high-ranking officers. The officers spoke in a tone full of affection.
"Wing King, you must come back!"
"We're waiting for you, Wing Monarch!"
Shi Dakai patted the shoulders of the officers and said firmly, "I will be back! Take care of yourselves, everyone! "Then he reached out his hand and climbed the top of the mound, and slid down the rope.
After meeting Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan and North King Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai realized that he had been wrong about the situation. Hong Xiuquan was quite astute. Up until now, he had not publicly expressed his final stance and attitude. Wei Changhui, on the other hand, was confident that he had killed the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing. He had killed nearly 20,000 of Yang Xiuqing's henchmen. The brothers of Heavenly State did not bow down and worship Wei Changhui or sing his praises loudly. That was their fault.
When Yang Xiuqing was in power, Shi Dakai was less suppressed, so he was able to look at the situation objectively. Since Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan didn't care about the Taiping Rebellion, the people in Tianjing City were Yang Xiuqing's trusted aides. The people outside Tianjing City were also people arranged by Yang Xiuqing. No matter what kind of conflicts these people had with Yang Xiuqing, they did not think that Wei Changhui killing Yang Xiuqing was something worth celebrating. Between Wei Changhui and Yang Xiuqing, they were undoubtedly inclined towards Yang Xiuqing.
Under such circumstances, Wei Changhui indiscriminately killed his brothers of the lower ranks. The families of these brothers were not all in Tianjing City. Many of their families were fighting in other units and were not in Tianjing City. Just this group of people outside was enough to create a huge wave of opposition. These people probably knew that Yang Xiuqing wanted to usurp the throne, but they might not dare to directly oppose Hong Xiuquan, the nominal Heavenly King. But to oppose Wei Changhui was what everyone expected.
Thus, Shi Dakai quickly made a decision. He needed to leave Tianjing City immediately and cut all ties with Wei Changhui.
How weak Wei Changhui's foundation was was clearly exposed at this moment. On the night that Shi Da entered Tianjing City, he easily found the troops that he had previously commanded. When they found out that Shi Dakai wanted to leave Tianjing City, they immediately took action to support him.
These people didn't do it themselves. Instead, they introduced Shi Dakai to the other brothers on duty. The other brothers brought Shi Dakai out of Tianjing City. The North King, Wei Changhui, was not alerted by this chain of people at all.
When he reached the bottom of the city, Shi Dakai let go of the rope in his hand. He was secretly relieved. Wei Changhui was determined to become the Left Assistant Military Advisor. If he really imprisoned Shi Dakai, Shi Dakai would have no choice but to sign in order to live. Once he was forced to be with Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai's future would be over.
The few officers who were looking forward to Shi Dakai's return were not acquaintances. They didn't even look familiar to Shi Dakai. Their actions showed that they were in a hurry to leave North King Wei Changhui's ship. Even Wei Changhui's subordinates had such an attitude. There was no need to consider the thoughts of others.
Shi Dakai didn't dare to bring all his guards when he escaped, much less the people from the Yi Residence. He only brought one of his personal guards and tried to escape. At this time, the personal guard had already reached the bottom of the city. Seeing that Shi Dakai had also arrived, he immediately brought Shi Dakai to the camp.
Shi Dakai rushed to his own camp with the confidence that the factions in Tianjing City didn't have any chance. Luo Dagang didn't expect Shi Dakai to rush to the camp under the cover of night. "Are we leaving now?" Luo Dagang asked.
"Let's go now!" Shi Dakai's reply was resolute. It wasn't just North King Wei Changhui. Shi Dakai was actually most worried about Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan's pursuit. Wei Changhui was already finished. Outside of Tianjing City, no one was completely loyal to Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. From Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan's point of view, Shi Dakai's escape meant that he had completely split from Hong Xiuquan. The possibility of being pursued by Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan wasn't small.
In Luo Dagang's plan, they couldn't escape by water at night. The ships were all being watched, and they might be caught before they could leave. He and Shi Dakai immediately led the troops from the camp and headed west. The next morning, Shi Dakai's troops finally started to rest. Shi Dakai finally heaved a sigh of relief when he didn't receive any news of pursuit. Thinking of his future path, all kinds of ideas rose in the heart of this talented and ambitious young man.
At the same time that Shi Dakai escaped from Tianjing City, a group of Vézé's troops arrived in Anqing. This was the starting point of Vézé's campaign in Anhui, and it was also the place that Vézé had invested a lot of effort into.
The one who led the troops to Anqing was Levis. Through his friendship with Vézé, and especially after he risked his life to meet Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, Levis finally gained Vézé's trust. If it was in the past, Levis wouldn't have been able to take charge.
Of course, Vézé was determined to leave. While in Tianjing City, Vézé had managed to bring along his relatives in the troops. These relatives were surprised and overjoyed when they met up with the troops. They held onto their relatives tightly and cried their eyes out.
Most of the soldiers in Vézé's troops were from Anhui. A large number of them had chosen to follow Vézé after he had implemented the tax system. They wanted to be treated like family members and had chosen to follow Vézé. From the looks of it, the Taiping army wouldn't be able to defend Anhui and Huainan. Vézé wouldn't be back for a few years after he left. If the family members of Vézé's subordinates were massacred, Vézé would feel guilty. If he could bring the family members of the troops with him to the south, he would naturally be able to stabilize the morale of the troops.
Of course, other than roping in the soldiers' families, Levis's other objective was to recruit the civil officials and scholars who were willing to follow Vézé. Up until now, Levis didn't care if he made the Taiping Rebellion public. Soon, a new notice appeared on the streets of Anqing.
It was a declaration by Vézé. The content was to inform the intellectuals why Manchu Qing was a Tatar, and why Vézé was a Chinese.
In the beginning, Vézé told the soldiers and civilians of Anhui that the Taiping Rebellion was an internal conflict. Hong Xiuquan, whose goal was to establish a theocracy, had a falling out with Yang Xiuqing, whose goal was to unify the world after the rebellion against the Qing. Hong Xiuquan killed Yang Xiuqing.
Then, Vézé explained that Vézé's purpose in joining the Taiping army was to overthrow Manchu Qing and restore China. Under such circumstances, Vézé chose to break away from the Taiping Rebellion and continue the rebellion against the Qing. Because the target was a scholar, Vézé explained the process and relationship in a simple but unambiguous manner. Scholars could naturally understand what was written by a scholar.
As for why Manchu Qing was a Tatar, Vézé analyzed it from three aspects: politics, economy, and culture.
In politics, Bannermen had great privileges. They were few in number, but the system gave them half of the official quota. Wei Zele counted the number of Manchurian civil and military officials he had killed and arrested along the way, as well as the number of Manchurian civil and military high-ranking officials he had fought until now who were still alive. Half of them were Bannermen.
Apart from secretly boasting about his illustrious martial arts, Vézé asked a question. Could a regime that was constantly on guard against the Han and constantly used Bannermen to suppress the Han be considered a Han regime? What reason did a non-Han regime have for Han people to work for it?
After talking about politics, the next topic was the economy. Vézé's evaluation of the landlords and gentry was actually lower than his evaluation of the Manchu Qing government. Thus, he did not write this part himself. Instead, he had his father-in-law and a group of scholars write it, while Vézé picked out the key points and organized them. Even so, the various plunder, exorbitant taxes, and other issues of the Manchu Qing system were also very interesting.
After talking about the economy, the last topic was culture. Vézé's criticism of the Manchu Qing culture was naturally very reliable. From the money rat tail, to the clothes, to the abuse of kneeling, to the distortion of the word 'adult'.
There was no need for Vézé to fabricate this. The history books boasted about the nobility of the Han officials and the Manchu Qing's slave culture formed a sharp contrast. During the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, the monarch and the scholars sat together on their knees. During the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister and the emperor sat together on a stool.
In the end, Vézé called on the Chinese people who wanted to be liberated to follow Vézé. Not only did Vézé want to overthrow the rotten and degenerate Manchu Qing, but he also wanted to build a fresh, lively, and noble new China.
After the Anhui Daily was transferred to Luzhou, the Anqing gentry felt that the newspaper was a good thing. Thus, they obtained Vézé's permission and founded their own weekly called Anqing News. The weekly also published Vézé's declaration. With this publication, which had a great influence among the intellectuals, Vézé's declaration immediately spread throughout Anqing.
After learning that there was an internal strife in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, many scholars were quite delighted to hear about it. However, the news of Vézé's departure made them feel complicated. Vézé's policy of paying taxes had undoubtedly greatly offended the landlords and gentry. However, the Manchu Qing's culture had fallen into a stagnant state. The rise of statecraft was not due to the sudden appearance of a person like Jiang Zhongyuan or a few people. Instead, it was due to a large number of intellectuals who also saw that the social contradictions had intensified to an irreconcilable point, and that intense social conflicts were inevitable.
Although Vézé's policy of paying taxes had greatly offended the landlords and gentry, it was very effective in alleviating the social conflicts. At least, the government led by Vézé no longer plundered after it had a source of income. Not only did the poor have a better life, but the rich also felt a lot less troublesome. Many intellectuals who were not born as landlords and had no personal interests involved in this matter, rather, they quite admired Vézé's administrative ability.
Knowing that Vézé was leaving, many people were naturally full of joy. However, there were also many who were quite disappointed and even panicked.
Soon, the registration office set up by Levis welcomed the first batch of people. Most of them were scholars who worked as temporary workers in the government of Vézé. These people did not make a good living and did not have much power in the local areas. They completely relied on temporary jobs to support their families. The King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, was dead, and Vézé wanted to leave the Taiping Rebellion. They were not optimistic about the future of the Taiping Rebellion. Since Vézé called them to go south together, they were worried that the Manchu Qing would punish them after they regained control of Anqing. Therefore, they simply turned to Vézé for help.
At this time, the school set up by Vézé was officially closed. Wang Mingshan had just finished his third-grade homework. Of course, he had to learn "modern Chinese" for Chinese. Mathematics, geography, nature, art, and physical education were all classes that broadened Wang Mingshan's horizons. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, decimals, fractions, basic geometric figures, and related volume and area algorithms. These all opened up knowledge that could not be learned in traditional culture.
In fact, Wang Mingshan had already made up his mind. After graduation, he would simply go to Luzhou, where Vézé was located, and become an official. He did not expect that Vézé would suddenly leave, and the school immediately closed. After a day of anxiety, Wang Mingshan decided that he would leave with Vézé.
Whether the Manchu Qing was a barbarian or whether Vézé was a Chinese was not important to Wang Mingshan. What was important was that Wang Mingshan had not finished his studies.
After confirming this, Wang Mingshan went to visit his classmate from the private school days, Shen Xin. Shen Xin had been working as a temporary worker in the Anqing government during the Taiping Rebellion. After Vézé left, Qin Rigang was in power in Anqing. He did not change any of Vézé's systems. No matter what Vézé did, Qin Rigang would continue to operate the old system.
When he arrived at Shen Xin's house, he saw people going in and out of Shen Xin's house. Everyone was moving things outside, from furniture to pots and pans.
After seeing Shen Xin, Wang Mingshan hurriedly asked, "What's going on?"
"I've sold everything and brought all the money to join the Prince Of Qi, Vézé!" Shen Xin answered cleanly.
"When are you leaving?" Wang Mingshan continued to ask.
"I'll collect all the money tomorrow and leave the day after tomorrow!" Shen Xin answered.
Wang Mingshan opened his mouth, but did not know what to say. He had originally wanted to leave with Vézé, but in Wang Mingshan's mind, this was something that could be discussed calmly. A few days earlier or a few days later was not a problem. He never expected that Shen Xin would leave with his mother the day after tomorrow. This speed made Wang Mingshan a little bewildered.
"How can it be so fast?" Wang Mingshan finally asked.
Shen Xin had been a temporary worker for two years. Although he was only nineteen years old, he already looked like an adult. Seeing that Wang Mingshan was hesitant to speak, Shen Xin could not help but laugh. "Mingshan, if you really want to leave with us, you might as well make up your mind right now. Don't ask for anything, just go to the registration office and sign up. There will be a group of people leaving tomorrow and the day after. You can set off with tomorrow's group. If you hesitate, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave. As far as I know, this time, the Prince Of Qi's people won't stay in Anhui for too long. By the time you understand, they'll have left! "
"Why?" Wang Mingshan asked in surprise. He was not surprised as to why Vézé would leave immediately. Before Wang Mingshan said anything, Shen Xin could immediately tell that Wang Mingshan wanted to leave with them. This surprised Wang Mingshan from the bottom of his heart.
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