Zhang Yingchen's position had always been awkward when it came to the Liberation Army. Neither Lin Fengxiang's nor Shi Dakai's truly considered Zhang Yingchen to be one of their people. During the coup in Tianjing, Zhang Yingchen had gradually become the leader of Hong Xiuquan's imperial guards. In the end, Hong Xiuquan had relied on Zhang Yingchen to settle the North King, Wei Changhui, the King of Yan, Qin Rigang, and the Marquis of Zuotian, Chen Chengxiang.
As a former subordinate of Vézé and a confidant of Hong Xiuquan, Zhang Yingchen's position was very awkward. However, Zhang Yingchen controlled 30,000 imperial guards, which was the largest military force in the capital. Even after Hong Xiuquan's death, Shi Dakai had tried to weaken and restrict Zhang Yingchen, but Zhang Yingchen was deeply trusted by the current Heavenly King, Hong Tianfugui. Moreover, Lin Fengxiang didn't want Shi Dakai to monopolize Chang 'an. Therefore, Zhang Yingchen could be considered to have stabilized his position.
Hong Tianfugui met Zhang Yingchen. After greeting him, Hong Tianfugui chased everyone else out and had Zhang Yingchen sit next to him. He lowered his voice and said, "Brother Zhang, what's the latest news?"
Zhang Yingchen sighed slightly. After Hong Xiuquan's death, Shi Dakai's actions were actually no different from Yang Xiuqing's. They gradually confined the Heavenly King to the palace. Of course, he couldn't completely blame Shi Dakai. When Hong Xiuquan was alive, his methods of educating the "young Heavenly King" were very strange. Hong Xiuquan didn't want any males to enter his harem, so Hong Tianfugui's first teacher wasn't Erudite, but his half-sister, Hong Tianjiao, who was ten years older than him.
As for the content of his studies, Hong Tian Guifu had read the "Ten Great Auspicious Poems", "Three Character Classic", "Childhood Poetry", "Thousand-Character Edict", "Awakening the World", "Taiping World Salvation Edict", "Taiping World Salvation Edict", "Taiping World Salvation Edict", "Taiping World Salvation Edict", "Taiping World Salvation Edict", and "Execution Edict", which were published by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As for the traditional Chinese culture books, Hong Xiuquan denounced them as "demonic books" and forbade Hong Tian Guifu from reading them.
After entering Tianjing City, Hong Xiuquan was filled with satisfaction, frequently saying, "Grandfather, I sat in heaven when I was young, forever illuminating the world." With God and Jesus to protect them, why should they trouble themselves to learn anything else?
Therefore, in this "paradise on earth," Hong Tian Guifu grew up according to Hong Xiuquan's whimsical ideas. At the age of nine, Hong Tian Guifu had four wives that Hong Xiuquan had arranged for him.
Although the Taiping Rebellion later suffered a major setback, it was more daunting than dangerous. Hong Xiuquan was now immersed in perfecting his "doctrine". As for his son's education, Hong Xiuquan only thought about it in 1867, when his health began to deteriorate. But at that time, Hong Tianfugui had already lost the best time to educate him.
After Hong Xiuquan's death, this 19-year-old youth, who knew nothing about politics, was promoted to the throne of the Heavenly King. With such a miraculous education experience, it was impossible to expect him to take on the responsibility of operating the Taiping Rebellion.
No matter what Shi Dakai thought of Hong Tianfugui, no matter what the kings and ministers of the Taiping Rebellion thought of Hong Tianfugui. Zhang Yingchen's evaluation of Hong Tianfugui couldn't be considered bad. This child had a simple temperament, and Hong Tianfugui instinctively disagreed with what his father had taught him. Everyone in the Taiping Rebellion had their own opinions about Hong Tianfugui. Only Zhang Yingchen truly protected this child. Therefore, Hong Tianfugui regarded Zhang Yingchen as his good friend. After he became the Heavenly King, when they were in private, Hong Tianfugui always referred to Zhang Yingchen as his brother.
When they talked about their dreams in private, Hong Tianfugui didn't want to be the Heavenly King at all. His dream was to go to school, read books, and then take the examination to become an official. As for the long-term future, this child had never seen it, so he naturally didn't know.
More interestingly, the person Hong Tianfugui was most interested in, and even admired, was actually Vézé. Vézé was a valiant general who had risen to prominence in the Taiping army at the age of 19. He had fought his way from Guangxi all the way to Hebei and made great contributions. At the age of 21, he had been conferred the title of Prince Of Qi. In a time of crisis, he had also led his troops south, and from then on, he had embarked on an even more glorious path.
This person who had relied on his own strength to soar to his heart's content undoubtedly made Hong Tianfugui, who had been confined in the palace since he was a child, extremely envious. Zhang Yingchen, who had followed Vézé in the past, had also witnessed Vézé's most glorious period in the Taiping army. Naturally, Hong Tianfugui liked to hear stories about Vézé from Zhang Yingchen.
Zhang Yingchen had been frightened at first, but he gradually understood that Hong Tianfugui had no ill intentions. Because of this, he had slowly become "friends" with Hong Tianfugui.
Hearing Hong Tianfugui's words, Zhang Yingchen could only reply, "It's fine outside, nothing much has changed."
Hearing Zhang Yingchen's reply, Hong Tianfugui simply asked directly, "I'm asking you, big brother. Prince Of Qi said that we can let our brothers in the Heavenly State go home. How is this going?"
Although he knew that Hong Tianfugui had no ill intentions, Zhang Yingchen felt that Hong Tianfugui was really touching a sore spot. Surrounding this matter, the upper echelons of the Heavenly State had already used very aggressive methods to deal with it. Zhang Yingchen advised, "Heavenly King, when you go to court, you can't mention this matter no matter what!"
Hong Tianfugui nodded. "I know!" It was not that he hadn't mentioned this before, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was stopped by Shi Dakai. Hong Tianfugui was not the kind of person with a strong character. If Shi Dakai's attitude was firm, he would choose to give in. For a Heavenly King, this character was too weak. However, for a puppet Heavenly King who had no authority, this was the best way to save his life.
This made Zhang Yingchen sometimes wonder if Hong Tianfugui was smart or not.
"Big brother, I want to go home!" Hong Tianfugui suddenly said after a moment of silence. After saying that, he was afraid that Zhang Yingchen did not understand, so he quickly added, "I want to go back to my hometown in Guangxi."
Zhang Yingchen's expression changed drastically. He quickly advised, "Heavenly King, you must not say this to others!"
"I know. That's why I only dare to say this to you, big brother. I really want to go back to my hometown in Guangxi, "Hong Tianfugui said seriously.
Zhang Yingchen felt that he really shouldn't have come. However, Zhang Yingchen was someone who had experienced so many things, so all kinds of thoughts immediately rolled through his mind. He had long lost confidence in the Taiping Rebellion. However, the world was so big, and he had nowhere to go.
When Yang Xiuqing deprived Zhang Yingchen of his military power, it was Zhang Yingchen's own stupidity that gave Yang Xiuqing an excuse. Yang Xiuqing was ruthless enough to use Zhang Yingchen's disrespect to Vézé as an excuse to deprive Zhang Yingchen of his military power. This way, Zhang Yingchen's possibility of finding a way to return to Vézé was cut off. In fact, Zhang Yingchen's future was equivalent to a death sentence. If not for this, Zhang Yingchen would not have been easily defeated by Marquis Zuotian. He had easily pulled Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan over to his side.
Until now, Zhang Yingchen had actually thought about whether he should simply abandon everything in the Taiping Rebellion and return to his hometown in Yongan to become a farmer or a businessman. However, he had done many things. Whether Vézé would let him off was Zhang Yingchen's biggest concern.
After hearing Hong Tianfugui's words, Zhang Yingchen really had to consider too many things.
At this time, in Yi Palace, Shi Dakai, Yang Fuqing, and Li Xiucheng were listening to the defeated soldiers' narration of what had happened. The three of them did not believe their subordinate's words. However, they also understood that Vézé had an extremely powerful new weapon in his hands. This kind of weapon was not something the Taiping army could fight against.
The Liberation Army was already very powerful, so powerful that the Taiping army could not fight against it at all. Even if the Liberation Army had this new weapon, there would not be any fundamental change in the situation.
After letting the defeated soldiers leave, Li Xiucheng said, "Prime Minister, since things have already come to this, do you think the Liberation Army will attack Tianjing City?"
"I don't think so within a month," Shi Dakai said.
"That means we only have a month to prepare?" Li Xiucheng tried to confirm.
Yang Fuqing said, "A month should be enough to defend Tianjing City."
Li Xiucheng looked at this Taiping Rebellion veteran in his forties and said slowly, "I'm afraid Tianjing City will not be able to defend. This month is the time to move the capital. "
"Move the capital?" Yang Fuqing was stunned.
Li Xiucheng answered, "First, we have to get our brothers to agree to the move. Then, we will let the Heavenly King go first and move the other things one by one."
"The Liberation Army has not moved yet, and we are moving the capital?" Yang Fuqing did not care about Li Xiucheng's proposed steps at all. He used a strong tone to question Li Xiucheng's proposal to move the capital.
Li Xiucheng replied calmly, "When the Liberation Army comes, no one can leave. If we don't move the capital now, everyone will be in chaos. The Liberation Army will not have to waste any effort at all. They will chase us, and we will not be able to leave at all! "
Shi Dakai did not wait for Yang Fuqing to object again. He said decisively, "Let's first tell the kings that the Liberation Army has attacked our army. We need the kings to know about this. "
Li Xiucheng did not say anything else. The most important thing now was to get the kings to reach an agreement and completely separate from the Liberation Army. Li Xiucheng had long thought that the kings were too afraid of Vézé and the Liberation Army. This completely tied the hands and feet of the Taiping army. Back then, Hong Xiuquan had once proposed a very crazy plan, which was to fight all the way west to Rome and make the Pope recognize Hong Xiuquan as the second son of God.
This plan was so outrageous that all the kings and ministers of the Taiping Rebellion unanimously opposed it. Li Xiucheng had naturally opposed it at the time, but now that he thought about it, if the Taiping Rebellion had really focused on advancing west at that time, they might have already fought their way to the west. For the Taiping Rebellion, difficulties and obstacles were actually nothing. The current situation of living in the northwest and not making progress was the most fatal.
Shi Dakai continued, "I will get Zhang Yingchen to strengthen the defenses of Tianjing City. This matter will be discussed as soon as possible."
Zhang Yingchen quickly received Shi Dakai's orders. He paced back and forth in the room for a while. Finally, he gritted his teeth and prepared a small package. Zhang Yingchen went to see Heavenly King Hong Tianfugui. "Heavenly King, do you want to go back to your hometown in Guangxi to take a look?"
"Of course I do!" Hong Tianfugui replied in surprise.
"In that case, please listen to my arrangements, Heavenly King. Don't say a word! "Zhang Yingchen said nervously.
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