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On March 16, 1852, it was already spring in Beijing. The buds of the willow trees by the roadside had all turned into small willow leaves. After a period of sunny days, the temperature rose rapidly, causing many people to change out of their winter clothes. Some who were afraid of the heat even changed into thin summer clothes. However, suddenly, a heavy snow in late spring covered the city of Beijing in silver, as if it had returned to the coldest winter overnight.
At noon, heavy snow fell from the sky, but the Yangxin Palace Hall of the Forbidden City was as warm as spring. The Earth Dragon heated the kang and the layers of brocade made it impossible for the cold outside to penetrate. At this moment, the eunuchs and palace maids in Yangxin Palace Hall were as silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to make a sound. In the large hall, there was only the "ka ka" sound of the small chiming clock inlaid with gold and jewels, echoing the sound of the golden clock in the small cage made of gold threaded nanmu.
These servants all knew that the emperor was in a bad mood recently. After the morning court, Emperor Xianfeng looked at the feather-like snow outside the large window with a gloomy face and didn't speak for a long time. The dining eunuch who served the meal glanced at the table clock and then at the emperor. It was already past mealtime, but the emperor still had no intention of eating. Having been in the palace for so long, the dining eunuch naturally knew that he shouldn't speak at this time, but he couldn't just stand still like this. He wanted to order someone to quietly serve the imperial food first. But he heard Xianfeng say, "Bring a bowl of porridge!"
The emperor only wanted a bowl of porridge, so it was impossible to serve only one bowl. The emperor's imperial food had a fixed amount. Not to mention one person, even ten people couldn't finish it. The dining eunuch was relieved and ordered the food to be served. Like carrying a dowry, all kinds of dishes were served. The first to enter were the "food watchers", who only watched and didn't eat, although the later ones were the various edible dishes. But the emperor didn't even touch these edible dishes. However, in order to show the supremacy of imperial power, these dishes that were destined to be wasted were always served to make up the number.
The emperor wasn't the first to eat. The dining eunuch first checked whether the poison testing tablet on each dish had changed color, and then he personally tasted it. The emperor could only start eating after the meal tasting. Xian Feng didn't care about the dishes on the table. He pointed at the bowl of porridge and said, "Bring it here!"
The rules in the palace were very strict. The little eunuch serving him didn't know if he should bring the porridge over immediately. The status of eunuchs in the Manchu Qing Dynasty was extremely low. If the Emperor were to execute a eunuch because he was unhappy, it would be as easy as crushing an ant. There was no need for him to give any reason. He could simply say, "Drag him out and beat him to death." He peeked at the old eunuch who was in charge of the Emperor's meal, only to see that the old eunuch was as still as a wooden statue. The little eunuch did not dare to make the emperor wait and could only fearfully carry the bowl of perfectly cooked porridge and place it in front of Xianfeng Emperor.
Xian Feng gulped down a few mouthfuls, then casually picked up a few delicately made salted vegetables and put them into his mouth. Feeling that it was not bad, she ate another mouthful of porridge, only to see that the eunuch had already removed the pickled vegetables that she had eaten three mouthfuls of. This was also the rule of the palace. A dish could only be eaten in three bites. This time, Xian Feng's appetite was ruined. He randomly picked two dishes that looked pleasing to the eye and ate them with his chopsticks. He stood up and left the dining table.
Starting from Yongzheng, the offices of the Manchu Qing Emperors were all located in the West Warm Room of Yangxin Palace. At this time, the room in the West Warm Room was already warm. Xian Feng sat down on the warm cushion of the chair in front of the study table. He saw a pile of memorials already placed on the table. The contents of these memorials were all related to the rebels of the Shangdi Sect in Guangxi.
As a young Emperor, Xian Feng did not expect to encounter a rebellion as soon as he ascended the throne. Of course, he did not know that the intelligence gathering ability of the Manchu Qing Imperial Court was so terrible that they could even get the name "God Worshipping Sect" wrong. Through these memorials, Xian Feng learned that more than half a year had passed and that there had been several "great news" regarding the extermination of the rebels in Guangxi. From Jintian Village to Sanli Dike, from Mount Redbud to Xindike, the rebels had repeatedly fought with the imperial army and were always able to escape after defeating them. More than five months ago, the rebels had captured Yongan City. Based on the map, it was even possible that they would attack Guilin.
Suppressing the bandits in Guangxi for more than half a year had cost them nearly ten million taels of silver. This was no longer a burden that the empty national treasury could bear. Not only had the suppression of the bandits in Guangxi not been completed, it seemed to take forever. This couldn't help but make the young Emperor furious.
Under Xian Feng's strict orders, Seishan 'a had already gone to the front lines to supervise the battle, but many memorials from Guangxi stated that Guangxi was currently in the rainy season. The rain was incessant, making it impossible to fight.
The siege of Yongan City did not achieve a complete victory as expected. On the contrary, it had sunk into an even more stalemate. Emperor Xian Feng understood that Seishan 'a had once again disappointed him. But in the current situation, if he did not continue to put Seishan 'a in an important position, there was no one else he could use. The Qing Army's battle-savvy troops were basically all in the north. Sheng Bao and Sengrinchen were responsible for guarding the capital. The Gansu and Shaanxi Green Army could fight, but they had to guard against the northwest. The Qing Army in the south had been mobilized in full force toward Guangxi. Only Seishan 'a and the others could resolve the battle.
As the Emperor, he naturally had to abide by the rules of his ancestors. Most of Xian Feng's head was shaved bald, leaving only a strand of hair the size of a copper coin at the back of his head. This strand of hair was braided as thick as a rat's tail. Xian Feng fiercely flung the long rat's tail behind his head and began to hatefully read through the memorials concerning the Taiping army.
After reading for a while, Xian Feng suddenly slapped the table and stood up. He angrily paced back and forth for a while, then suddenly stopped in front of the table and began to read another letter. Seeing the Emperor fly into a rage, the palace maids and eunuchs who served him lowered their heads, their gazes slanted forward as they held their breaths, not daring to make a sound.
What made Xian Feng so furious was the letter from Imperial Bodyguard Krondo, who had been by Imperial Envoy Seishan 'a's side. The letter detailed the appearance of an army with Han hair buns among the rebels in Guangxi. Not only was this army ferocious, it even had people from the capital. Besides Krondo's letter, the other two bodyguards had also written letters, the contents of which were identical to Krondo's.
Whenever the braids and Han hair buns were mentioned, Xian Feng would be as angry as if someone had set fire to the balls in his pants. In the entire Manchu Qing era, the Emperor never had true confidence. Being a barbarian, the Manchu Qing Emperor was extremely guarded against the Han. Since they considered themselves barbarians, they naturally had a lack of confidence in the Han. The less confident they were, the more the Manchu Qing Emperor wanted to maintain his identity as a barbarian. The rat's tail on his head was undoubtedly the most important.
"These people are really daring!" Xian Feng finally cursed. However, Xian Feng was obviously wrong. The other side had already openly rebelled, why would they care about the rules of the Manchu Qing Emperor?
After cursing, Xian Feng's anger dissipated a little. He then looked at the letter from the three bodyguards. The letter clearly stated that the Taiping army didn't wear their heads and only wore their hair. The army that wore their hair in a bun was quite unique among the Taiping army. Even the bodyguards didn't dare to confirm if that army was considered part of the Taiping army.
Xian Feng immediately began to write an edict, ordering the officials in Guangxi to carefully investigate the identity of the traitors who wore their hair in a bun. Since the Battle of Yongan had become a war of attrition, Xian Feng also knew that he couldn't force Sai Shang 'a and the others to win in a short period of time. He strictly ordered Xu Guangjin to speed up the extermination of Ling Eighteen Troops in Guangdong. After victory, he would quickly reorganize his troops and participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Guangxi rebels.
However, Xian Feng underestimated Sai Shang 'a. When the weather cleared on the 17th of March, Sai Shang' a once again launched an attack on Yongan. Even though he couldn't mobilize the troops, couldn't control the generals, and couldn't come up with a way to conquer Yongan, Sai Shang 'a still exhausted his brain cells and ordered the cannons to bombard the Taiping army's positions, trying to use the advantage of the cannons to finish off the Taiping army. At the very least, it dealt a heavy blow to the Taiping army's morale.
On the 17th, the southern barracks of the Qing Army fiercely bombarded the Taiping army's positions at Luoweng Village in the southern part of the city. Xiang Rong in the northern part of the city moved eight or nine cannons to the high ground and opened fire at Yongan City. On the same day, seven or eight cannons hit Yongan City.
Vézé's camp didn't suffer from the cannons, but the rumbling cannons outside the city made Vézé's subordinates rather nervous.
"Even if the Qing Army is firing cannons, they can't delay everyone's studies!" Vézé shouted like an old pedant. Vézé was very happy with the half a month of closed-door training. It was difficult to ban gambling in the armies of various countries. One reason was that soldiers had a lot of leisure time. Sitting around doing nothing would inevitably lead to trouble.
On a rainy day, the Qing Army and the Taiping army were on break. With such a heaven-sent opportunity, Vézé reorganized his troops while conducting cultural and military training for his subordinates.
Ten Arabic numerals and the corresponding simplified Chinese characters — front, back, left, right, up, down, heaven, earth, man, hands, feet, chest, arms, legs, waist, buttocks, casualty, nursing, and so on — these characters that were closely related to daily life and military training were taught first. If there was no way to conduct a comprehensive and detailed education for these soldiers, then he would start with the words that were closely related to everyone.
Basic mathematical knowledge had to be added. He didn't expect everyone to understand immediately, but he first forced knowledge into the minds of the soldiers.
However, the 9 × 9 table turned out to be easier than Vézé had imagined. Through the training of lining up and counting, it was easy for everyone to understand addition and multiplication. From 1 to 1, to 9 by 9, and then to military training, Vézé's subordinates immediately became excited when they heard the cannons outside.
After forcing his subordinates to complete the morning training, a guard came to inform Vézé that he was to attend a military meeting at the King Of The East's residence.
When he arrived at the King Of The East's residence, there were more than 30 people sitting in the hall. Other than the four kings of the East, South, West, and West, the rest were a group of Prime Minister, Army Marshal, Division Marshal, and Brigade Marshal. Vézé's position was the lowest among these people, but at least he had squeezed into the ranks of the middle-level cadres of the Taiping Rebellion.
The fierce artillery fire of the Qing Army had indeed surprised the leaders of the Taiping army. Naturally, the purpose of gathering so many people was to discuss it. These days, Vézé often went to the South King, Feng Yunshan's place for meetings, but this was the first time he had attended such a meeting.
The South King, Feng Yunshan, was a bigwig who worshipped God. When the West King, Xiao Chaogui, was possessed by God, he told Hong Xiuquan that Feng Yunshan had "three stars," while the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, had "two stars." Even so, Yang Xiuqing was the number one figure in the Taiping Rebellion. The South King, Feng Yunshan, was only a general under Yang Xiuqing's command. Overall, he had to obey Yang Xiuqing's orders.
Yang Xiuqing sat down at the head of the table and asked, "Brothers of the Zhu clan, why do you think Qing Yao suddenly launched an artillery attack?"
The kings naturally had a higher-level meeting to attend, so the other four kings didn't say anything. The group of commanders, division marshals, and brigade marshals saw Yang Xiuqing's gaze sweep over them, but no one immediately said anything. Everyone had their own thoughts about Qing Yao's unexpected actions, but no one could guarantee that they knew why Qing Yao would suddenly do such a thing.
In Vézé's opinion, he didn't think that the Qing Army's artillery attack was anything to be afraid of. Compared to the firecrackers of the twenty-first century, which were 5 × 5, 6 × 6, 8 × 8, and even 10 × 10, this artillery attack didn't feel like an itch. Without fireworks, the impact of a few hundred artillery shells was limited. As long as they could set up a defensive position, the Qing Army would only be wasting ammunition.
The Qing Army's commander couldn't possibly be unaware of this. If he knew this and still insisted on doing so, he would only be responding to his superiors. After understanding this point, Vézé naturally had no intention of speaking up. The key issue at hand wasn't what the Qing Army was preparing to do, but what the Taiping army was preparing to do. No matter how useless the Qing Army was, they would still be able to destroy the Taiping army by besieging them. However, this sort of strategic matter wasn't something that Vézé could meddle in.
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