On December 1, 1866, the Eight Banners Army left Beijing and went straight to Texas. In the records of later generations, it is narrated that "Beijing's cry shook the sky".

In contrast, a few months ago, when the Liberation Army sent troops to recover Luzon, the East China Sea and South China Sea fleets were mobilized, and there were marches in Guangzhou, Fujian, Taiwan, and other places, and at that time, the workers and citizens in the cities also invited representatives of the countryside, and more than 800,000 soldiers and civilians in the big cities participated in the marches. The people beat gongs and drums and shouted the slogan "Repay the blood debt". The speeches of the family representatives were impassioned and generous, encouraging their relatives to bravely kill the enemy and make contributions to the country.

Almost at the same time that the Guangfu Army sent troops to recover Luzon, it was learned that more than 100,000 people in Wuyang had been slaughtered, and the Twist Army decided to repay the blood debt from the Qing army. Before the fierce battle between tens of thousands of people and the Qing army, everyone knelt down to the sky and swore not to slaughter all the people.

Whether it was the jubilation of the Liberation Army or the grief and indignation of the Twist Army, the two armed forces did not despair, and they bravely walked into the battlefield. When the Eight Banners finally attacked, the children of the Eight Banners and their parents felt nothing but despair. The mother held her son's hand and cried hoarsely, and the wife hugged her husband and cried heartbreakingly. The young child tugged at his father's clothes and cried out not to let him go. This army, made of hardcore crops and the Manchu system, was already in decay, and it was only when they faced war that they remembered their duty to fight for their masters. This obligation fell to the other Manchu lackeys a hundred and fifty years ago.

Of course, this tragic situation before the dispatch of troops was reported by the Manchu ministers to the two queen mothers, and Ci'an just said lightly, "Since this is the case, then we should work harder to fight." When the time comes, he will return victoriously and be knighted. Aren't the family happy? ”

This sentence blocked those subsequent statements. Yes, since the purpose of establishing the Eight Banners was for war, the imperial court also spent a huge amount of money to buy a large number of weapons from the "foreign devils" at sea. The dispatch of troops by the Eight Banners is not suddenly proposed now, and the Queen Mother urges the high-ranking officials of the Banner people almost all day long to pay close attention to training and make preparations before the war.

"Queen Mother, you have to rebuild the green camp quickly!" The prince shouted from the bottom of his heart.

Cixi can understand the thoughts of this prince, the green camp is the lackey of the Eight Banners, and the more lackeys the better. Cixi was only puzzled by the shame of these high-ranking officials. It took a great deal of effort for Cixi to maintain the solemnity of her empress dowager and not let a mocking expression appear on her face.

It was only when a large number of Han Chinese were willing to serve the Manchus that the Manchus were qualified to consider such extravagant ideas as suppressing the Hanchens. Only when the power in the hands of the Manchus was still attractive to Han officials, the Manchus were qualified to say that thunder, rain and dew were all Jun'en.

When the Hanchen Jingguan and the local officials began to hang up a large number of seals and left, quite a number of high-ranking officials of the banner people shouted the slogan of killing all the Han officials. Now less than one percent of the high-ranking officials standing in the court are Han Chen, and the claim of killing all Han officials is becoming less and less among these banner officials. When Ci'an forced the Eight Banners to fight, and these high-ranking officials of the bannermen had the opportunity to lead the "invincible" Eight Banners athletes to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, the words of extreme distrust of the Han officials basically disappeared.

Now that the prince has even come out to rebuild the green camp, but at this time, it is still useful to talk about this. The Manchu court couldn't even release the silver for the Eight Banners, let alone pay the green camp.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an was not as excited as Cixi, at least Ci'an didn't seem to be excited at all. She said calmly: "Instead of rebuilding the green camp, it is better to give more rewards to the Hunan army and the Huai army......

As soon as these words came out, the court first quieted down, and then the prince who asked to rebuild the green camp kowtowed like pounding garlic, "Queen Mother, this is not good!" Now that the treasury is so empty, where is the salary and silver to be paid to the Hunan army and the Huai army? ”

Ci'an said: "If you can't pay the silver, at least you have to give Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan some rewards." I am going to make Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan dukes, and the subordinates of the Hunan army and the Huai army should also have knighthoods. Let them know that the court knows their loyalty. ”

The important ministers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty looked at each other one by one, and no one dared to support or oppose them.

Ci'an glanced around at these people, and she continued: "I am going to issue an edict to Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan, if they can break the bandits, I will give them the title of king. ”

The court was silent, and it was almost audible if a needle dropped on the ground. When the ministers regained their ability to breathe, the heavy wheezing sound seemed to set off a storm. The prince who was kneeling on the ground kowtowed to Ci'an in pain, and he cried out sadly: "Queen Mother, this is not good! There was a rebellion of the three feudatories back then, because of the reuse of the Han army. If the Han army is allowed to gain such power now, it will be a big tail in the future! Queen Mother, please think twice! ”

The sound of cooing and cooing continued, and a group of princes and important ministers knelt down one after another, their faces were full of horror, and they kowtowed like garlic and wailed: "Please think twice!" Please think twice! ”

The so-called curtain listening to the government refers to the queen mother sitting behind a beaded curtain or bamboo curtain, and Cixi is now very envious of the ancient queen mother, because she has to work hard to prevent herself from showing obvious expressions on her face. What the hell are these princes! Cixi no longer knew what to do with her anger. If these princes can personally go into battle to kill the enemy, there is no need for Zeng Guofa and Jiang Zhongyuan to contribute, and it is okay for them to oppose it so much. When the Manchu Qing Dynasty was destined to be on the front line and had to rely on the struggle of Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan to maintain it, they couldn't even accept the false name of a king.

What happened to the king? Ci'an took Cixi to launch a coup d'état, and among the eight ministers killed was the prince. Su Shun, who recommended Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi, Guo Songtao and other Han officials to the imperial court, was the minister of military aircraft, and scolded before the beheading of the vegetable market, and the executioner asked him to kneel He didn't kneel, and the two hammers smashed down, and Su Shun's two legs were smashed and the bones and tendons were broken, didn't he still kneel? As long as the Qing Dynasty can be saved, what are Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan? There are ways to get rid of them. The hearts of these princes are so small that they can't even accommodate a needle?

"I've made up my mind!" Ci'an didn't argue with the princes and ministers, she just said this sentence simply, and then announced, "Retire from the dynasty!" ”

After going down to court, Cixi couldn't help but ask Ci'an, "Sister, what will those princes really not do in private?" ”

The queen mother can't compare to the emperor and can't go around. This is a very troublesome thing, although the emperor can't actually go wherever he wants, but the inconvenience of action also affects the control of the court situation.

Ci'an chuckled, "If they really have the ability to move Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan on their own, they will be able to serve the country on the battlefield." But when did the monk Greenqin and other people who went into battle to kill the enemy say that they were going to deal with Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan. Whoever called Huan had nothing to fear, so he sent them to lead the troops into battle. ”

Cixi couldn't help but nod slightly, she found that she was just inferior to Ci'an in this regard. Cixi loves to calculate, although Ci'an is not good at calculating to deal with people, but when Ci'an uses the government to act, the ministers are really powerless to fight.

What happened next was exactly as Ci'an expected, and after the two happiest princes received the news that they were ready to lead their troops to fight, their mouths were closed at that time. Ci'an's reasoning is very simple, when the country is in trouble again, if the banner people can fight like the Hanchen, the imperial court will naturally reuse the banner people. Even if the bannerman is not as capable as Hanchen, the imperial court will never let the bannerman be worse than Hanchen in terms of reward. There is only one rule, the flag man has to go into battle.

The banner people went into battle to fight, and this alone made these princes and nobles feel terrified. The war lasted for 14 years, from 1852 to 1866, and the bannermen who had the courage to go into battle are now basically one in twenty. In all major cities, there are "full cities" inhabited by people, and as the big cities are taken away one by one, the people in the city are gone. Whether it is the Guangfu Army or the Taiping Army, it is the same means of disposal. Fierce enemies, merciless killing. With such a tragic fact in front of them, the Manchu princes would not have thought that there was an option to surrender, but they did not have the courage to enter the battlefield.

Soon, a wonderful news suddenly began to circulate in the capital, and it spread at an alarming speed. "Weser is dead!"

It was in 1853 that Weeser became famous, and in 13 years his fame became more and more famous, and now it is basically known to everyone. In this feudal era, the leader of a regime is often seen as the regime itself, the foundation of the regime. In the eyes of those in the capital, after Wei Ze died, the fierce Guangfu army would collapse.

Too many people want to believe the news, too many people want to believe the news. The news that "Wei Ze is dead" flew over the mountains, across the plains, across the rivers, spread through the Manchu control area, and even reached Chang'an, the capital city of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in January 1867.

Hong Xiuquan was stunned for a moment when he heard the news, and then his face immediately showed joy. In the whole world, among the people who want Wei Ze to die the most, Hong Xiuquan's ranking will not be inferior to anyone. When Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, was still there, Hong Xiuquan had heard too many words about Wei Ze's support for Yang Xiuqing and opposition to Hong Xiuquan. When Yang Xiuqing was about to seal the title of Banzai, although Hong Xiuquan had the support of the other kings, he made a plan to kill Yang Xiuqing. But Hong Xiuquan's greatest fear was not actually the Dongwang subordinates in the city, what he feared most was the tens of thousands of invincible elites in Wei Ze's hands. Even if Shun Lì solved the subordinates of the East King in the city, as long as Wei Ze ordered to march into Tianjing City, Hong Xiuquan would still be a dead end.

I don't know how many times, Hong Xiuquan woke up from the nightmare of Wei Ze's attack on Tianjing City. Now that he learned of Weezer's death, how could he not be excited.

Shi Dakai, who was next to him, looked at the messenger who came to report suspiciously, and he asked calmly, "Where did this news come from?" ”R1058