In the early spring of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the northeast land that was frozen by ice and snow for a winter began to recover, the snow on the Tashan Mountain began to melt, the snow water merged into a stream gurgling down, and merged into the Liaoxi River that passed through the mountain, the trees and flowers on the mountain also glowed with spirit, pulled out new shoots, grew green leaves, individual unknown plants, anxious to wait for the warm weather, has bloomed bright flowers. The birds and beasts of the forest are also active, running freely in the treetops of the forest, looking everywhere for everything that can be filled with food, and compensating for the loss of their bodies for the winter.

In the courtyard of the house in the east of Tacheng, Wang Qiang sat alone on the stone bench in the courtyard, enjoying the breath of spring. It's been one year and three months since he cheated and injured, and he hasn't stepped out of this small courtyard for more than a year!

The secret of his deception is still well guarded, and no one knows his true situation or what he is doing except for a few people in the core. When outsiders come to visit, he usually doesn't see it, and if he can't hide, he lies on the kang and pretends to cry and complain, pretending to be very like, but no one can see the flaws. With the passage of time, he is slowly being forgotten, and Emperor Chongzhen has been so anxious about the domestic situation all day long ago that he has already forgotten Wang Qiang, and he has no time to pay attention to that bullshit military academy. The ministers of the DPRK and China were busy making money for themselves, and they forgot about Wang Qiang, who was lying alone in Tacheng. But Concubine Li quietly scolded Zhu'er out of the palace to visit Tacheng, Zhu'er and Wang Qiang are good friends, like to listen to him tell stories, in his heart as his own brother general, now see his humorous and clever little brother lying on the kang with his eyes closed, without saying a word, can't help but break his liver and intestines, crying very miserably, Cai Ling'er and Zhu'er are good sisters, seeing her so sad, I have the heart to tell her the truth, but after thinking about it, this matter is very important, and Zhu'er is a heartless person, I don't know if it will be passed out, so I didn't say it. Afterwards, the two sisters chatted about the private room, Zhu'er said that Concubine Li was very concerned about Wang Qiang, and secretly cried a few times after hearing the news that Wang Qiang was unconscious.

For more than a year, Wang Qiang hid in the mansion as if he was confined, only Cai Ling'er was by his side, taking care of his life, Leng Feng, Gu Yanwu and others were busy with school affairs and did not come to him often. After the monk Fakong taught Wang Qiang the martial arts of the master, he went out to travel, and Li Gang, Shang Dayong, Tian Jingming and others couldn't help themselves and couldn't come to see him. In addition to dealing with some poor official duties every day, Wang Qiang spent the rest of his time reading books and sorting out his knowledge, and more often sat alone on the stone bench like now, looking at the four sides of the sky and thinking silently.

"Being lonely is a man", today's Wang Qiang has gone through hardships and is becoming more and more like a mature man.

Although Wang Qiang does not leave home, the power he has developed has spread all over the country. In addition to the original Shang Dayong, Li Gang, Leng Feng, Tian Jingming, and Xiaoshanzi, the members of his personal inner circle also added Gu Yanwu, who not only knew Wang Qiang's plan to secretly accumulate power, but also knew Wang Qiang's identity as a fake eunuch, and they all had the heart to follow Wang Qiang to do some business. On the periphery of these core members, they also secretly developed more than 70 backbone personnel among the trainees through investigation and screening, and participated in all aspects of work, these people were either originally in the militia to follow Wang Qiang, or they were born poor, dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty, hated the Manchus, and at the same time had a strong desire to enrich the country and the people.

Xiaoshanzi has built more than 40 farms in various places, and basically all provinces have them, in order not to show the dew of the mountains, they generally choose remote villages to build farms, and they are not in a hurry to form large-scale militias, but they have hoarded a lot of food and various materials.

The trading firm jointly run by Cai Ling'er and Zhang Xiaoping prospered under the care of the military, and Tian Jingming also used this firm to secretly allocate funds to Wang Qiang, not only did the cost of the military academy worry-free, but also accumulated some expenses for the next step of development. Of course, Zhang Xiaoping also made a lot of money with the light. Zhang Xiaoping has been aware of Wang Qiang's situation and what he has done, but neither of them has pierced this layer of window paper, Wang Qiang considers, Zhang Xiaoping is a businessman, his family is honest, his brother Zhang Xiaodong is still an official of the Ming Court, and now the Ming Court is still there, it is too early to pull him in. Zhang Xiaoping also teaches seriously, works hard, and is also very diligent in the business of the commercial bank, and Cai Linger trusts him very much.

The military academy's practical course is coming to an end, and through nearly two years of meticulous training, the overall quality and ability of these more than 300 cadets have improved very quickly, and they can already come in handy. What's more, through continuous education and indoctrination, the concept of "strengthening the country and enriching the people" advocated by Wang Qiang has been deeply implanted in the hearts of everyone, laying an ideological foundation for Wang Qiang's next use of them.

While Wang Qiang is working hard to develop his own power, he is also paying attention to the changes in the domestic situation. In this year, the Ming court took advantage of the stability of the northeast and mobilized a large number of officers and troops from the northeast and south to fight against Li Zicheng's peasant army in the northwest. Li Zicheng preserved his strength, waved his army south, entered Hubei, Hunan, further expanded his sphere of influence, and greatly increased his military strength; at the same time, he also unswervingly implemented the political policy of "free grain in all fields", strictly enforced military discipline, and was warmly supported by the common people everywhere he went. Although the official army recovered some areas of Shanxi and Shaanxi, it also lost a large number of elite troops, and was no longer able to fight against the rebel army, and the official army and military discipline were lax, and they often burned and looted everywhere in the name of searching and suppressing the remnants of bandits, and harmed the common people, and the common people hated them to the core, and they rose up and resisted one after another, refused to pay the field dues, evaded military service, and some even gathered in the mountains and forests to attack and harass the Ming army.

After Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion, he took advantage of the opportunity of the official army to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng, occupied most of Hubei and Anhui, and the army grew rapidly, and then marched into Sichuan, preparing to use Sichuan as a base to consolidate the foundation and pacify the whole country.

After the Manchu Qing Dynasty negotiated peace with the Ming court, on the one hand, they stepped up their training and salaries to prepare for the march into the Central Plains, and on the other hand, they sent troops to force Korea to submit to pay tribute and stabilize their own backyard.

The saddest thing is the Ming Court. The power of the peasant army has spread throughout most of China, the Ming court has reduced the number of soldiers, the tax base has been reduced, in order to maintain the operation of the government and the expenditure of the army, it has to repeatedly increase the land tax in the southern provinces, but "the salary is increased and the land is becoming scarce, and the people are being levied in an urgent situation and the people are becoming few", more and more peasants are forced to give up their land by high taxes and join the ranks of the displaced people, and the fields are barren everywhere in the country, the people are not able to make a living, the displaced people are everywhere, and bandits are rampant. Officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty also saw the signs of the development of the situation, and began to find a way back for themselves, some of them blatantly looted people's wealth, preparing to hide and become rich men; Some support their own troops, as their own capital, and are ready to bargain with various forces; Some began to make secret contact with the rebel army and secretly took refuge, and the imperial court has basically lost its ability to control the overall situation. The Great Tomorrow is crumbling, and the chaos in the world has begun to emerge.

Wang Qiang felt that the time had come for him to expand his power on a large scale, but there were still some questions that made him nervous, first of all, in what capacity should he establish an organization, develop his power, and rule over his subordinates? Now that the Ming court is still alive, he is still an official of the Ming Dynasty in name, if he comes back in this name, I am afraid that he will be restrained by Chongzhen, and if he doesn't do well, he will make wedding clothes for others, and most of his subordinates are people who are unwilling to do things for the Ming court; If you directly play your own banner and set yourself up as the king, it is tantamount to rebellion, your wings are not yet full, the risk is very great, you are a eunuch, everyone will not necessarily follow loyally, and it is too much to do so.

In the past, he commanded the people, relying on the identity of an official, taking advantage of the prestige of the imperial court, but now he wants to be self-contained, and expand his power on a large scale, and there must be more people involved in it, and how to make everyone follow him loyally is also a problem. Among the existing few people, Li Gang, Shang Dayong, Tian Jingming, and Xiaoshanzi are all their former subordinates, and they have the grace to save their lives or carry each other, and there should be no problem with mutual trust. But Leng Feng and Gu Yanwu only came to help him because of their reputation for resisting the Qing Dynasty, and it is difficult to decide whether they can be willing to follow him. Those military cadets even have their own plans, why should they let everyone sell their lives and be loyal to themselves. It is also inappropriate to be the principal of the Tashan Military Academy, it is not binding on everyone, and the appeal is not enough.

It is also a question of what name they recruit people in, it can be said that the imperial court is a militia group, that is to deal with Emperor Chongzhen and the courtiers, but other people and ordinary people can not also use this name, now the Ming court is completely lost, and everyone will not be willing to work for the Ming court to fight against the rebels. Gathering people in the name of resisting the Qing Dynasty, the appeal is also insufficient nowadays, and now the Ming court and the Qing court have negotiated peace, and the Qing army has not invaded, so how can we talk about resisting the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, the southern provinces were not directly disturbed by the Manchus, and the people did not necessarily support it, so it was unknown to mention this name.

Wang Qiang used his brain, searching his memories, hoping to find something to learn from. He muttered to himself: "Or I will also set up a party, the Republican Party, the Kuomintang,, as soon as people here mention the party, they will know that there is a 'eunuch party', and I have a reputation as a eunuch, this is not good!" If you don't set up a sect, I'll also make a head or something? Sizzle! It doesn't seem to be appropriate, how can this head of the family have to be excellent in martial arts to convince the public, I can't do bullshit, I can't control everyone, so it's better to ask for the law. Or set up a sect, eh! Don't say this, it's a bit interesting, I can be the sect leader, it doesn't matter if the sect leader doesn't know martial arts, the main thing is to have a set of theories, so that everyone agrees, what kind of teaching is appropriate? What is the purpose? The purpose is to create a peaceful and prosperous world, Taiping? Taiping heavenly kingdom! Now in troubled times, the people are eager for peace, with this purpose can unite people's hearts, call on the people, and also collect the hearts of heroes. Hey, don't say it, Hong Xiuquan's set of things is powerful enough, and it also accounted for most of China at the beginning, but what theory he put forward at the beginning, I can't remember it at all! ”

Wang Qiang finally found a way out, he sat quietly on the stone bench in a daze, and gradually a general idea of founding the "Taiping Sect" was basically formed. It was already dark, and it was already past dinner time, Cai Ling'er saw Wang Qiang thinking about things there alone, and didn't dare to disturb, so she stood next to him and looked at him quietly, she felt that after this year, her husband had become more and more unfathomable.

In the next few days, Wang Qiang followed the idea of founding the "Taiping Sect" and thought deeply all the way, and gradually formed a preliminary plan for the establishment of the religion. He considered that this matter must first obtain the support of several core personnel, and that Li Gang, Shang Dayong, Tian Jingming, and Xiaoshanzi, who were most loyal to him, were not by his side, and that Tacheng was located in a remote area, which was not conducive to his effective command and control of forces in various places, so he decided to return to the capital and return to the Special Administrative Region.

He wrote a letter to Hong Chengchou in the name of Cai Ling'er, saying that now the Tacheng Military Academy course has been taught, the school is about to be disbanded, and Wang Qiang has not woken up for many years and has no hope of being rescued, so he hopes that Hong Chengchou will help ask Chongzhen for advice, remove Wang Qiang from his vacant position as the commander of the army, and allow him to return to Beijing to raise his glory. Hong Chengchou immediately gave Chongzhen an excerpt, saying that Wang Qiang had no hope of recovery, and the bitter cold place outside the gate was not suitable for survival, so please let him return to Beijing to recuperate. Chongzhen received Hong Chengchou's excerpt, and then remembered that there was an unconscious Wang Qiang lying in the ice and snow outside the gate, thinking of Wang Qiang's various benefits, plus at present, his country is broken, leaking wind everywhere, and there is no one around Zhao Zilong, who can protect the sky, is sad in his heart, and actually shed a few tears, he ordered Wang Qiang to leave office and return to Beijing, and also ordered Wang Qiang to reward 5,000 taels of silver.

Half a month later, the courses of the Tacheng Military Academy were all over, and Wang Qiang, Gu Yanwu and Leng Feng discussed and decided to move the school to the Tongzhou Special Economic Zone, and all the cadets followed back to Beijing and sent them to various places to conduct errands and training according to the situation.

Wang Qiang wrote to Hong Chengchou in the name of Cai Ling'er, saying that he was ready to return to Beijing, but considering the long distance, he was afraid that the bandits would rob and hurt Wang Qiang's life along the way, so he hoped to send a small team of officers and soldiers to escort him along the way, and said that among the officers and troops in the northeast, she only knew Wang Qiang's old department Li Gang. Hong Chengchou considered that Wang Qiang could not make any mistakes along the way back to Beijing, and there was no war at the border pass now, so he ordered Li Gang to come to the Jinzhou base camp and ordered him to bring 200 personal soldiers to escort Wang Qiang back to Beijing.

Here, Wang Qiang had already told Shang Dayong and Tian Jingming the news that he was about to return to the Special Economic Zone, asked them to prepare, and then arranged for the trainees to accompany the men who transported goods in the commercial bank to the Tongzhou Special Economic Zone in batches, and Shang Dayong was responsible for receiving and placing them there. Cai Linger instructed her family to pack up their belongings, and asked someone to build a comfortable and wide carriage as a special car to transport Wang Qiang. Leng Feng selected fifty military cadets who were good at martial arts and believed in them to form a guard, led by the three brothers of the Yan family, to escort Wang Qiang.

In the early morning of this day, it was still dark, Wang Qiang and his entourage quietly set off to leave Tacheng, embarked on the way back to Beijing, and loaded a total of fifteen carriages for the soft belongings and maids and wives, Li Gang personally led 200 personal soldiers to open the road in front, the Yan brothers took the guards composed of students to postpone, Leng Feng and Fakong monks guarded Wang Qiang's car on both sides, and Wang Qiang was the little mountain that had just been ordered to rush back.

Wang Qiang was lying in the spacious and comfortable carriage, Cai Ling'er was sitting on the chair in front of him, the car was very tightly sealed, the windows were also covered by curtains, and the light inside was a little dim. Wang Qiang hasn't been out of the house for more than a year, and now he has finally walked out, he really wants to lift the sedan curtain to take a good look at the outside world, but he is still a "unconscious" person, and even when he gets in the car, he is carried up by his family on a stretcher, so he can't show up yet. The team left Tacheng and walked onto the official road, it was still dark, and the four fields were silent, only the sound of horses' hooves and the squeaking of axles.

Wang Qiang was excited, seeing Cai Ling'er's pair of jade feet stretched out on the side of his face, he couldn't help but think of the situation when he and Cai Ling'er moved to the Special Economic Zone on the way to the Hong Kong Special Economic Zone.

The team arrived at Yingkou that night to settle for accommodation, Wang Qiang and Cai Ling'er lived in a quiet courtyard, and after dinner, the doorman reported that Li Gang had come to visit, and Xiaoshanzi took Li Gang to the inner room to have a secret conversation with Wang Qiang.

Li Gang and Wang Qiang haven't seen each other for more than a year, and after the two met, Li Gang said: "Lord Wang, you have been living in seclusion for more than a year, you are really patient, and you return to the capital this time, I don't know how your lord plans to perform next." ”

Wang Qiang said: "I was just trying to discuss this matter with you. Now that the Ming court is in danger and the world is in chaos, we must hurry up the deployment and expand our power. The world is in turmoil, and the people are determined, so I want to create a 'Taiping Sect', with the purpose of creating a peaceful and prosperous world, calling on the people, recruiting talents, gathering forces, and once the time is ripe, based on this religion, ordering the Quartet, and pacifying the world. Then Wang Qiang put his own consideration into the creation of the plan in detail, Li Gang listened to the more excited, and the more he listened, the more frightened he became, he was excited because Wang Qiang's plan is not only feasible, but also can solve many problems in the development of the force, according to Wang Qiang's vision, what he wants to do is no longer a simple thing to resist the Qing army, but has risen to the level of the world, An Wanmin such a grand goal. What surprised him was Wang Qiang, Wang Qiang rescued him from death row, the two worked together in the militia group, and he admired Wang Qiang's personality and ability very much, but at that time Wang Qiang was just a benefactor and a good friend and capable minister in his eyes. In Tacheng, he knew that Wang Qiang was injured and had his own plan to form a force, so he couldn't help but admire Wang Qiang's scheming and courage, and wanted to help him with all his might, so as to repay the grace of saving his life. And now after listening to Wang Qiang's thoughts, he really realized that this person is definitely not a thing in the pool, and he can have such a mind and realm at a young age, which is the atmosphere of the lord of the man, the demeanor of the king, and he is the foundation of the fake eunuch, it is even more a coincidence, and the talent is created. He felt that in today's troubled times, such a male lord was needed to appear and take on the important task of saving the world, and Wang Qiang was the master of the world arranged by God. He got up excitedly, bowed to Wang Qiang and said: "The adult heart is all the people, the world is in mind, there is this ambition, it is really the luck of the people, and the adult is the body of the great shore, this is the blessing of God to the people, Li Gangcheng rescued the people, there is no way to repay, I am willing to take you as the main, follow you all your life, and help you create a great cause." ”

"Good! General Li, you are the hero of the world, with your help you can achieve great things, you and I will work together to create a peaceful and prosperous world and benefit all the people! Wang Qiang said excitedly, got up and took Li Gang's hand excitedly.

The next day, Li Gang talked to Leng Feng privately about Wang Qiang's idea of creating a religion, that Leng Feng was disheartened because Chongzhen killed Yuan Chonghuan, and he was unwilling to contribute to the Ming Court, so he was disgusted with the world and became a monk, and voted for the Fakong monk, in fact, he has been looking forward to the opportunity to follow the male master to create a career, he has had the idea of following Wang Qiang since that time when he found Wang Qiang's roots, and now he heard Li Gang talk about it, and he readily agreed. Xiaoshanzi was Wang Qiang's sworn friend, and after listening to Wang Qiang's thoughts, he was even more determined to follow Wang Qiang.

Before Wang Qiangren arrived in the capital, he won the recognition and allegiance of Li Gang and several others, and he knew in his heart that the Taiping Sect had made the right move!