Chapter 133: The Expedition of the King of the West
After leaving the East Palace, Xiao Yungui went to see Yao Yuan, Li Zuoche and other soldiers of the West Palace, who were still recuperating from their injuries in the city's life-saving hall. In the last battle of Xiangyin, more than 100 old brothers of the West Palace, including Yao Yuan and Li Zuoche, were seriously injured and stayed in Changsha to recuperate, and did not participate in the subsequent southern expedition.
When I arrived at the medical hall, it was divided into two sides, one side was dedicated to the soldiers in the army, and the other side was specially set up for the common people, both sides did not need money to see a doctor, and all the expenses in the museum were paid by the Holy Treasury.
In the days when he was not there, in addition to the construction of the medical hall for medical treatment, there were also many more museums in the city, such as the separate women's hall and the combat women's battalion, led by Hu Jiumei, and the pavilion was full of women, old and young, Xiao Yungui could see that it was preparing for the implementation of the city's men's and women's separate camp control in the future war. Xiao Yungui couldn't figure it out, why Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing had to bring the men and women in the army to the people, it was very unethical to do so, didn't they understand? After thinking about it, Xiao Yungui still planned to persuade the Heavenly King to see if he could take back his fate, and the male and female battalions should be implemented in the army, not to be promoted among the people, otherwise it would cause a commotion.
The women's pavilion takes in the helpless refugee women and provides them with food and clothing, while the women of the women's pavilion do some laundry, carry food, cook and mend clothes, and even catch mice. The sanitation in the city is dirty, the Taiping Army once issued an edict, it is strictly forbidden to litter, open defecation, and regularly organize people to clean the streets, the sanitation of Changsha City is much better, but there are still a lot of rats, the women's hall organizes women to catch mice, each person is limited to five mice per day. Xiao Yungui thinks this is very fresh, aren't women the most afraid of mice? The Taiping army also asked women to arrest, if it was known by the literati of the Qing court, once the literary ornament was repaired, it would become a crime against the evil of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In addition to the women's hall, there is also the opening of the capable museum, which is not a building to recruit capable people, but a place to adopt those disabled Taiping soldiers, perhaps for fear of breaking the hearts of the soldiers, so named the capable museum, which is much more humane than the special words for the disabled that can be seen everywhere in later generations. The disabled soldiers in the museum do not want to be idle, they do some work within their ability, all their expenses are paid by San Cuzchina, and there are many reasonable people in the museum who take care of these disabled soldiers full-time. This is much better than the Qing court, and it is not far behind the security system of later generations.
After entering Changsha City, the Taiping Army's code system was more complete, and its medical system was subdivided into three major systems: "Celestial Empire, Army, and Local". The DPRK and the central government, each army (about 13,000 people in each army), and the localities all have superintendent generals in charge of medical affairs, and there are internal medicine (internal medicine), chief medicine (surgery), emergency (first aider, equivalent to emergency department), rational person (nursing staff, responsible for caring for the wounded, managing tea, rice, decoction), and horse doctors.
In addition, there is also a children's hall for the elderly, which specializes in adopting lonely elderly and helpless young children, as well as some disabled people who have no one to take care of them. To Xiao Yungui's surprise, the work done by the old people and young children in this museum was actually the work of the later generations of urban management, patrolling the streets every day, regularly organizing the people to clean the streets, teaching people who defecate and throw garbage everywhere, and sending those who did not listen to them to the government for disposal, so as to keep the city clean and tidy. Xiao Yungui appreciates the Taiping Army's approach, an old man and a child teach you to defecate anywhere, I'm afraid you will blush. The elderly, children and the disabled were doing what they could, also in St. Couchina, and there were no beggars to be seen in the city.
But there are also some restaurants that have disappeared, such as smoke houses, brothels, etc., and the most puzzling thing for Xiao Yungui is that the taverns have also disappeared a lot, and the winemaking industry has even become a forbidden business in the city. Although it is said that smoking and alcohol are prohibited in the doctrine, Xiao Yungui feels that people who do not believe in the doctrine should not have to abide by the prohibition of alcohol, after all, alcohol is not a particularly harmful thing, and the disappearance of this profession will cause a lot less commercial taxes.
Yao Yuan, Li Zuoche and others recovered well, and they were already able to get out of bed and act on their own, although they couldn't go into battle to fight, but at least there was no problem with the march. Xiao Yungui planned to take them all with him, after all, he was an old brother who was born and died with him, and he didn't want to leave them in Changsha.
On the same day, Xiao Yungui took Yao Yuan, Li Zuoche and others back to the governor's yamen, and continued to recuperate while waiting for the arrival of the army in the West Palace.
The next day, Xiao Yungui went to the prison to visit Deng Yi, Li Shourong, Wang Minyun, Guo Songtao and others. Xiao Yungui knew that Li Shourong and Wang Minyun were far less determined than Deng Yi, the son of the official eunuch, and Guo Songtao, an active Qing court official, so he persuaded the two of them for a day.
After coaxing and scareping, Xiao Yungui said that Zuo Zongtang also followed him, and the two of them were somewhat unconvinced, but Xiao Yungui could see that the two of them had already moved, and after Zuo Zongtang arrived, he persuaded the two of them, and they should be able to accept the two of them.
And Deng Yi and Guo Songtao are stones in the pit, smelly and hard, no matter how Xiao Yungui coerces and tempts, they refuse to surrender, Xiao Yungui was angry, ordered someone to cut the braids of the two and drove them out of the city. Although Xiao Yungui let the two go, Deng Yi and Guo Songtao were cut into braids and almost gave their lives for it. The two escaped from the Liuyang River and were held by the Qing army, seeing that the two had no braids, they were long-haired spies, and they were arrested and tortured. No matter what the two of them say, the fierce soldiers of the Qing army just don't listen, the ten tortures of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are not a joke, after a toss, the two almost died, zuihou or Peng Yulin accidentally interrogated and captured the long-haired spies, only to recognize the two from a large group of captured people, rescued, but the two of them were raised in bed for three months before they could get out of bed. In contrast, the two felt that the Taiping Army was really a god compared to the torture methods of the Qing army.
Xiao Yungui was not afraid that after Guo Songtao went back, he would pick Zeng Guofan out of the mountains to set up the Hunan army, he wrote a letter to Wei Changhui, wanting Wei Changhui to raise troops to capture Xiangxiang, because Wei Changhui's troops were stationed in Ningxiang, which was the closest to Xiangxiang, and the remnants of the Qing army on the West Road were hiding in Xiangxiang, just in order to go out to attack, and at the same time Xiao Yungui asked Wei Changhui to search and kill Zeng Guofan and other Qing court officials, wanting to prevent future troubles.
After Wei Changhui received the letter, he didn't dare to be careless, he originally wanted to continue to exterminate the Qing army in Xiangxiang, so he sent Wei Jun as a general to lead 4,000 troops to attack Xiangxiang, the Qing army's Phoenix Hall with Jia Hengjin and Yongsui Association deputy general Qu Tenglong commanded the troops to resist, and was broken by the Taiping army in the suburbs of Xiangxiang, Jia Hengjin and Qu Tenglong were killed on the spot, killing more than 2,000 Qing troops, and the rest of the people scattered and fled. Wei Changhui ordered Wei Jun to kill them all, chasing the deserters around Xiangxiang. The Hunan army was driven to take off their coats and hide home, the Taiping army searched everywhere, the entire Xiangxiang soldiers were in trouble, and the people were miserable.
Xiao Yungui didn't expect that the plan he had planned to cut the grass and eradicate the roots was not done well, Wei Changhui was a ruthless person, he just did what the king of the West ordered, and he didn't consider the people's will, and as a result, he messed things up. He should also think about who Wei Changhui is, and later Hong Xiuquan asked him to hunt and kill Yang Xiuqing, and he killed more than 20,000 people, which shows that Wei Changhui is ruthless.
In this way, the people of Xiangxiang hated the Taiping Army even more, and Zeng Guofan and others also received the news early in the morning and avoided their hometown in the countryside, but they were not harmed, but made Zeng Guofan and others firm up the idea of holding a group to practice revenge.
When he got Wei Changhui's reply, saying that Xiangxiang had been pacified, but Zeng Guofan and others were not found, only Jia Hengjin, Qu Tenglong and others were killed, and the Qing army and Hunan army entrenched in Xiangxiang were strangled and killed. Xiao Yungui sighed a little that Zeng Guofan was really fateful, but Wei Changhui didn't say that he sent troops to search and kill the Hunan army in Xiangxiang, and Xiao Yungui didn't think that Wei Changhui would go so far, but when the Hunan army came out in the back, Xiao Yungui also wondered about the boss for a while.
Xiao Yungui has no time to pay attention to the affairs of the West Road at the moment, Zuo Zongtang, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and other generals have arrived in Changsha with the brigade and the Xiangtan Water Battalion, and the generals of the West Hall have all gathered except Zeng Tianyang and He Zhenchuan. Seventy percent of the artillery, red powder, lead, muskets, and other firearms obtained in Hengzhou were brought over. Each soldier carried a bamboo tube of red medicine and a bag of lead, some soldiers carried two muskets by themselves, the baggage of the army was full of 500 pack horses, the hundreds of boats in the water camp were also loaded with a lot of baggage, and the materials from Hengzhou were transported to Changsha almost seven or eight out of ten.
Xiao Yungui didn't intend to swallow these things alone, first, it was still a holy treasury system, and all the ministries of the heavenly kingdom relied on the holy treasury to maintain it, but he was not embarrassed to interfere with public and private affairs. Second, he wants to go on an expedition to the north, and he also hopes to reassure the king of heaven and the king of the east. Although there are a lot of these things in Hengzhou, Xiao Yungui knows that if you don't give up these, you won't get more in the future, Yuezhou, Hankou, and Wuchang are much richer than Hengzhou, and there are many good things there.
Therefore, after the materials arrived, the West Temple handed over all the materials that could not be taken away to the Holy Treasury, and the Holy Treasury of Changsha City was suddenly filled again, making Yang Xiuqing, a cold-faced god, show a rare smile, and the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan praised Xiao Yungui a lot, and the whole Kingdom of Heaven expected that the Western King could send troops again and fight more victories like this.
Regarding the separation of men and women and the prohibition of alcohol, under Xiao Yungui's efforts, the King of Heaven and the King of the East temporarily gave up the plan to promote it among the people, Xiao Yungui's opinion is very simple, now that the war situation is unclear, forcing the people to camp for men and women will provoke civil revolt. The Heavenly King and the Eastern King now relied on Xiao Yungui to win the battle, so they agreed to this request, and the opposition from the people these days is also very high, the Heavenly King and the Eastern King can only put this matter on hold for the time being, but the military camp is still strictly enforced by the separation of men and women and the prohibition of alcohol. At present, Xiao Yungui can only do this for the people of Changsha, but this matter still spreads, and everyone praises the benevolence and righteousness of the king of the west.
After Zuo Zongtang arrived in Changsha, he persuaded Li Shourong and Wang Minyun to join the West Palace, the two of them were a little moved, and they did not serve as officials in the Qing court, so they agreed, Xiao Yungui sent a fine work to pretend to be a refugee to bring the two families to Changsha, and the two became Zuo Zongtang's left and right hands. Zhu Changlin and Wei Helin also entered the West Hall to make the West Hall book, Xiao Yungui plans to take all the team members out of the West Hall this time, and he will not let go of all talents.
On this day, after the armies were ready to stop, the pontoon bridge on Orange Island opened a gap, hundreds of boats in the water camp went north along the Xiangjiang River, and the West Hall Brigade was assembled on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, and after swearing to the Heavenly Father, Xiao Yungui, Hong Yun'er, Zuo Zongtang, and the generals of the West Temple, the newly attached literati, etc., and 12,000 soldiers and generals of the West Hall and 3,000 soldiers and horses of the Luo Outline Water Battalion, went north with great fanfare, so far Xiao Yungui began the journey of his life. Later historians called this expedition the expedition of the Western King or the division of the East and the West.