On December 10, the fourth year of the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, the envoy of Hong Xiuquan, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, arrived in Yingtian from Chang'an with congratulatory gifts to congratulate Zhu Jishi and the lady of the princess.

The gifts are the most famous specialties in the Ganxi area - 10 beauties of rice fat, 20 Helan inkstones, 100 pieces of two furs in Yanchi, more than 2,300 pieces of rubbing, 100 horses in Hequ, 1,000 pounds of Liangdang wolf tooth honey, and 1,000 pounds of Angelica in Minxian County. For Zhu Jishi, these things and people are not valuable, but they also represent Hong Xiuquan's heart.

Following Hong Renji came was a mighty delegation, with more than 1,000 people, and Hong Renji himself sat all the way to Yingtianfu in a large sedan chair carried by 16 people, and I don't know how many eyeballs attracted along the way. Walking slowly, he set off from Chang'an in August and walked for four months to arrive at Yingtianfu, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

"Lord Wang, you are not allowed to sit in a sedan chair in Tianfu City, please change the carriage of the prince." Greeting Hong Renji at the Xiaguan Wharf of Yingtianfu was a young man less than twenty years old, but he was wearing a big red official robe of the Ming Dynasty, and the complement of the official robe was a unicorn. Hong Renji knew that this complement represented the three levels of duke, marquis, and earl of the Ming Dynasty. Obviously, he was sent to greet him with a knight, but judging by his young age, he didn't think he was a prince, at most an earl, right? It's just that this young man with a Guangxi accent looks a little familiar, where should he have seen it.

"Lord Wang, I'm Chen Picheng!" The young man introduced himself with a smile. "By the way, Dongwang changed my name, and now my name is Chen Yucheng."

"You are really Chen Picheng!" Hong Renji hurriedly rubbed his eyes and took a closer look. Isn't it Chen Picheng who led the children's camp that day?

"What are you ......" Hong Renji stared at Chen Yucheng's official uniform.

Chen Yucheng smiled: "Lord Wang." I let the Zhu family catch me in the Battle of Jihuang Town. The emperor remembered that I had the credit of capturing Daoguang when I was fighting Beijing, and instead of killing me, I also made me a hero. ”

Hong Renji smiled: "It seems that you, the marquis, deserve to be moisturized." As he spoke, three more four-wheeled carriages came galloping over, and there was a group of knights in brocade clothes who acted as escorts in front of the carriages.

"Yo, it seems that the emperor is here." Chen Yucheng looked at the carriage and sneered, turned his head to Hong Renji and said, "Although our emperor is rich, he doesn't talk much about pomp and circumstance, and he doesn't sit in a sedan chair carried by dozens of people when he goes out." Just in a Western carriage, the same as my car. It doesn't let people sound gongs to open the way, and it doesn't clean the streets, which is really frugal. ”

Hong Renji looked at Chen Yucheng and said with a smile: "It seems that you are in Cao Ying, and your heart is in Cao." ”

Chen Yucheng said with a smile: "It's in Zhu Ying, and the heart is in Zhu Cai...... The emperor treated me so well, the marquis gave me land, and now there is an annuity of 2400 silver dollars every year to take, and the emperor also let me go to the army military academy to study, prince, do you say I can be disloyal to the emperor? ”

A cold breath rushed from the soles of Hong Xiuquan's feet to the top of his head, even an old brother like Chen Yucheng was born in the boy camp and worshiped God since he was a child, and now he is also loyal to the Ming Dynasty. The future of this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can be imagined.

The three carriages had stopped steadily, and the first one was Zhu Jishi's car. He learned that Hong was inspecting the Army Academy when he arrived. By the way, Chen Yucheng, who was studying in the cavalry section of the Army Military Academy, was assigned to meet him at the Xiaguan Wharf, and then he went back to the palace to call Hong Xuanjiao to go to the Xiaguan Wharf as well.

"Xuanjiao, invite Hong Renji over." Zhu Jishi didn't get off the car, now the business of Xiaguan Wharf is busy, and there are millions of silver dollars of goods every day, and Emperor Zhu is unwilling to blockade and guard because he comes, so that people can't do business.

"It's good, it's good." Zhu Jishi looked at Hong Renji, the little black fat man wearing a dragon robe and a hood, and nodded with a smile, "Don't kneel, get in the car and talk." ”

The rules of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are great, and the subordinates kowtow when they see their superiors. And the biggest in the heavenly system is the five kings of the southeast, south, and northwest of the heavens, plus the heavenly sister Hong Xuanjiao, so when he saw Hong Xuanjiao just now, Hong Renji also knelt down and saluted.

"You are making a lot of trouble in Ganshan, and many people have written to me asking for a crusade against you!" Zhu Jishi said lightly.

Hong Renji's face was also as usual, and he said with a smile: "If you want to go to war, the Kingdom of Heaven is not without the strength of a battle. ”

In the past year, Zhu Jishi and the Ming court have done many things, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has not been wasted. Although Hong Xiuquan still nests in the palace all day long to spread the belief of worshipping God to two or three thousand women, Feng Yunshan and Hong Renji, who are in charge of the court, are both talented.

First of all, of course, we still insist on unswervingly worshipping God and the king, and unswervingly adhere to the unity of religion and state. The strength of the Confucian scholars and doctors in Ganshan is not strong, and the literary style there has never been prosperous, but the people are fierce and the swordsmen are rampant. Before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom entered Shaanxi, Mianyu and Seng Lingqin implemented the policy of governing the Han with H, expanding the recruitment of H Eight Banners, and severely suppressing the swordsmen. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom entered Shaanxi, all of these suppressed swordsmen were the first to believe in God, and under their leadership, most of the Han people in Shaanxi converted to worship God. Subsequently, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom forced all the people of Shaanxi and Longdong to believe in God, and the result naturally aroused strong resistance from some people, but they were not at all the opponents of the Taiping army armed with muskets and cannons, and the vast number of people who converted to worship God were still on the side of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom......

While the bloody suppression of various rebellions, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also implemented a policy of equal land distribution in Gansu and Shaanxi, because a part of the upper class of the H people was suppressed, there was a lot more land available for distribution, and the Heavenly Kingdom abandoned the overly advanced system of the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System", so the rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Shaanxi and Gansu was quickly consolidated.

Immediately afterwards, Hong Xiuquan personally passed on God's dictation, ordering Feng Yunshan and Wei Changhui to comprehensively rectify the Taiping Army, dismiss some of the old and weak and the families of the army (mainly the families of the Dongwang system), and place the families of the civil and military officials of the Heavenly Kingdom who were not high in official positions on the "banner land" around Xi'an, and exempt them from taxes and let them cultivate and feed themselves.

After some rectification, the number of the Taiping army dropped to less than 10 armies and less than 160,000. However, they are all foreign guns and artillery, and Western officers have also been hired for strict training, and their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Of course, even if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had 160,000 Western-style troops, it would definitely not be able to defeat the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention how much water the Western-style army of the Heavenly Kingdom has, just because they don't have modern industry, they must not be Zhu Jishi's opponent. The service life of foreign guns and foreign guns in this era is not long, and if there is a loss and no replenishment, it will become a burning stick after a few battles.

That's why Hong Renji came to Yingtianfu with a congratulatory gift. In order to congratulate Emperor Zhu on accepting the princess as a concubine, in fact, let's explore Zhu Jishi's tone and see if it is possible to reach some kind of lasting peace between the Ming Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven.

After showing the determination of the Heavenly Kingdom to fight a war, Hong Renji's words changed sharply, and he said: "However, the plan of the Heavenly King and His Majesty are the same, both for the sake of the Manchu Xinghan, and now although it has succeeded ninety percent, the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty have not been exhausted, and they have also colluded with the Russian State and the Kokand Khanate, and there are very signs of resurgence!" ”

"Yi Xin and Yi Su's ambitions are well known." Zhu Jishi nodded noncommittally.

Hong Renji said: "According to investigation, the Daoguang demon head left a will before he died, asking Yi Xin and Yi Xu to restore the Manchu Qing Dynasty. We don't know about Yixin's situation, but we are clear about Yixin's every move. Just when the Kingdom of Heaven suppressed the Ganshan heretics, Yi Su moved to Xining in the name of attacking Qaidam Mongolia, and then married and allied with the Qaidam Mongol princes, and then sent the monk Grinqin to command the Qaidam Mongol troops and horses to attack Tibet, and took Lhasa at the beginning of the year. What's even more hateful is that Yixu also colluded with Kokand and gave the land of Xinjiang to the lackeys of Kokand and the Zhuo family. Now the army of the Kokand Khanate has reached Hami, and it is eyeing the Hexi Corridor. If the Kingdom of Heaven and the Ming Dynasty started a war at this time, wouldn't they abandon the millions of Han people in Hexi? (To be continued......)