The mutiny of Yuan Jiasan, Li Hongzhang and Peng Yulin led to the last western supply line of the Manchu army in the capital was cut off, and the thousand-year-old imperial capital became a lonely city in the true sense.

It is not the same as the scene when the Ming Dynasty collapsed more than 200 years ago, when Emperor Chongzhen took the initiative to defend the capital, and he completed the will of the Son of Heaven to die in the Ming Dynasty, while the Manchu Qing Dynasty was confused by the illusion that the Taiping army was surrounded by three missing and unable to take the initiative to attack. Until the news of the opening of the Shandong Canal with the Taiping Army came from the Northern Expedition, the Manchu nobles always thought that the Taiping Army outside the city was just a lone army, and the enemy would not be able to attack if they were trapped, and it was these people who suppressed the correct construction of Prince Gong and others, and as a result, after the opening of the spring of the month, the shape took a sharp turn, and finally the Manchus were still hesitating, and the rebellion of Yuan Jia and other Hanchen directly cut off the last hope of the Manchus.

Fortunately, although the rebels of Yuan Jia's third division raised their flags, they did not take the initiative to attack the Forbidden City, the inner city of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and other city gates and urban areas, perhaps they were waiting for the main force of the Taiping Army to take over these places.

The capital was in chaos that day, but the court of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was noisy. At present, there are not many roads in front of the Manchus, and there are only three roads to choose from. One of them is to organize the soldiers and horses of the inner city and the rest of the city gates, taking advantage of the fact that the soldiers and horses of Yuan Jia's third division on the west road have just changed flags and the army's morale is unstable, they will protect the two palaces and drive desperately to break through, and then go all the way north to Mongolia or go out of the customs to continue to survive. This method was proposed by some people in the court, most of whom were still some bloody Manchu and Han ministers, but their voices were quickly drowned out by the opposition of those who were greedy for life and afraid of death. Are you kidding? Rely on these weak Eight Banners soldiers in the capital to break through? The Manchu nobles preferred to believe that the sow would go up the tree. Those soldiers who have enjoyed the shadow of their ancestors for hundreds of years are usually qualified to bully ordinary people. But it is impossible for them to fight to the death and break through. The most important thing is that the text of the Northern Expedition did not say that the Manchu bannermen would be wiped out, so the desperate bannermen in the besieged city preferred to believe that these were true. In addition, there are many banner men and banner soldiers among the soldiers of Yuan Jia's third-class army, and they can all surrender, why should the people in the city go to fight hard? These conditions add up to make them lose the fighting spirit to fight to the death. Therefore, this breakthrough was quickly vetoed.

The second is to shrink the troops, hold the inner city and other urban areas of the capital, and wait for the army of King Qin from other places to come and relieve the siege. This was proposed by some ministers of the main battle faction, but unfortunately not too many people responded, for a very simple reason. There is not much food in the capital, and it will not be able to hold on for a long time, and the resistance will be too fierce at that time, and those surrendering factions are afraid that the Taiping army will slaughter the city in anger.

The third is advocated by the capitulation faction, seeking peace talks with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, striving to cede other places in the Guannai in exchange for the Manchus to return to the Guanwai, and then the Manchus can claim to the Taiping, and if necessary, they can also remove the emperor's name and only call him the lord of the country. Imitation of the Korean example is always a vassal of the Han State in the Central Plains.

This third kind of construction is very marketable, and there are many people who support it, such as Prince Su Huafeng, Prince Qing Yixuan, Dingjun Wang Zaiquan and others are even crying blood and supporting this construction. How did they weep and bleed? I saw Prince Qing kneeling on the ground. Kowtow until there was blood on the head, and then tears flowed down his face, and the blood flowed down with the snot and tears. He said sadly: "Queen Mother, say something disrespectful." The disaster of the Great Qing Dynasty has arrived. The death of the slave was small, but it ruined the heirs of the Great Qing Sect. It's a great sin. If you negotiate peace with Taiping at this moment, there may still be a glimmer of life, if there is still a war, then my Qing clan will die, and the people in the world will die. ”

This Qing Prince Yixuan was originally a Baylor when Xianfeng, after Cixi took power, in order to win the heart of the clan, he was promoted to the prince in a few years, looking at him like this, he is also a loyal look, and he keeps saying that it is for the sake of the safety of the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, but also for the sake of the future well-being of the Manchurians in the world, but also has a bit of talent for acting.

Several clan veterans on the side, plus Qingfeng, Zaiquan and others are also crying blood and knocking like this, so that people feel a little sad, maybe this is the sadness of the dynasty when it is strange.

Xingzhen looked at the farce of these clan courtiers, and she was secretly funny in her heart, but she thought that in the history of later generations, she was seventy or eighty years old, and dragged her sick body and Yuan Shikai to force the palace of the Empress Dowager Longyu together, and finally let the foundation of the Manchu Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years be ruined. In fact, according to the history of later generations, the Manchu army in the north was still very strong, and Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army in the six towns was strong in combat, mainly because Yuan Shikai's heart of disobedience swelled, otherwise the reform of Xinhai may not be how long the battle will last. At that time, Yixuan was frightened by Yuan Shikai, who was holding a heavy army, and he still had to obediently do that rebellious act.

In fact, in the secret report of the previous Shang Yu Reserve Office, there was also news that Yi Liang had secretly communicated with Yuan Jiasan and others early, and it seems that Yi Liang still did a move to force the palace with the Yuan family in this life, but this time he still left some leeway, just to negotiate with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and proposed to cede all the land in the pass to negotiate peace with the Taiping, and the Manchus retreated outside the pass.

The remarks of the capitulation faction naturally dissatisfied the main battle faction, and the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department, Wen Xiang, Bao Jun, Li Tangjie, Li Hongzao, and others immediately scolded Qingfeng, Yixuan, and others, and the two factions quarreled again in the court.

Where has the little emperor Zaichun of Tongzhi, who was sitting on the throne in front, seen such a scene? When he was only seven or eight years old, he was immediately frightened and cried, Xingzhen hurriedly got up and picked him up, and cried with pretended tears. As soon as the two of them cried, the court suddenly fell silent.

Xingzhen wiped her tears and cried: "Time, geography, people are not in me, under internal and external troubles, my Qing Dynasty has changed color. Those of you who usually eat the king's fortune, you don't think about ideas, you will only quarrel here, what kind of system will you become? All the Manchu and Han ministers in the court knelt on the ground, saying that they would die.

Then Xingzhen sobbed and said: "Since there is no more to fight, let's try to negotiate peace with Taiping, we can't wait for the city to be broken, and we, orphans and widows, will be bullied by those rude soldiers." As soon as these words came out, all the ministers were bright, and it seemed that the Queen Mother was also afraid and wanted to surrender.

Wen Xiang, Bao Jun, Li Tangjie, Li Hongzao and others, the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department, glanced at each other, and they all secretly shook their heads and smiled bitterly, but then they thought about it and were forced to be helpless, Yuan Jiasan, Li Hongzhang and Peng Yulin, the three people who were the most capable of fighting in the capital all surrendered, and Prince Gong and Seng Lingqin were given death before, who else in the capital could lead the troops to resist?

So, after the court discussed, they appointed Qingfeng, Yixuan, Minister of Military Aircraft Wenxiang, Li Tangjie and others to form a negotiation mission to go out of the city again to negotiate with the Taiping Army, and this time in the negotiation, they took Yuan Jiasan and others as the people to recommend, and at the same time, the conditions for negotiation were also lowered a lot.

The next day, in the camp of Nanyuan in the capital, the king of the west read the negotiation edict sent by the Manchu envoys, and after sneering, he threw the edict on the ground and said to Qingfeng, Yixuan, Wenxiang, Li Tangjie and others: "The land of Guannei was originally the land of my Han people, but it was stolen by the Manchu Qing for more than 200 years. ”

As soon as this remark came out, Qingfeng, Yixuan, Wen Xiang, Li Tangjie and others were all surprised, it seems that the appetite of this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not small, and sure enough, King Xi looked at Yuan Jiasan who was sitting on the side and said: "Yuan Gong, you tell them, if you want to stop the army, what are the conditions of our Taiping!" ”

Qingfeng, Yixuan, Wenxiang, Li Tangjie and others looked at Yuan Jiasan, only to see that Yuan Jiasan had cut off his braided hair and changed into a new style of general uniform of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Yuan Jiasan's cultivation of kung fu is very good, ignoring the disdainful gaze of Qingfeng and others, standing up and saying loudly: "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, ordered by heaven, leading all ethnic groups in China, reviving the orthodoxy of the country, now the general trend has been set, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is already the twilight of the West Mountain, but my West King has been thinking about the Manchu people in the world for more than 200 years, and the people living together with all ethnic groups, have been integrated, it is a branch of my Chinese unification of the great family, this retreat outside the customs must not be mentioned!" And the place outside the pass, there is already my Taiping army recovering the lost territory, if it weren't for my heavenly soldiers, those places would have been occupied by the Rakshasa people a long time ago, what face did the Manchus have to retreat outside the pass? ”

After a pause, without waiting for Wen Xiang, Li Tangjie and others to refute, Yuan Jiasan hurriedly said: "Now that the capital has been besieged, the king of the West has the virtue of a good life, and he doesn't want to kill them all, so he will give the Manchu clan a chance, within three days, the Qing emperor issued an edict to the whole country, abdicate and give the country to me the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and ordered the Qing army that is still resisting everywhere to lay down their arms and surrender, the territory of the Qing Kingdom is all owned by my Heavenly Kingdom, and the old generals of the Qing Dynasty will go to Beijing together to listen to the dispatch and fall, otherwise my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will continue to raise troops all over the country, and the recalcitrant people must be destroyed one by one!" The Qing Emperor and you only have three days to consider, and once the three days are over, our Taiping army will fire 10,000 cannons and forcibly attack the capital. ”

Qingfeng, Yixuan, Wenxiang, Li Tangjie and others all changed color on their faces, and they all secretly scolded Yuan Jiasan for being shameless, and they did not hesitate to release such cruel words in order to invite credit in front of the new master. Li Tangjie couldn't help but stand up and said, "Yuan Jiasan, when you say such words without a king and a father, do you forget the grace of the imperial court back then?!" ”

Yuan Jiasan sneered: "The old man has been loyal to Huaishang for several years, and he has worked tirelessly to go to the capital to Qinwang, and has raised troops to fight with the Taiping soldiers several times, and he has returned all his favors. When the soldiers are in the city, you courtiers will only quarrel endlessly, and what actions have you done to protect the country? What qualifications do you have to comment on the old man?! ”

King Xi laughed on the throne and said: "Duke Yuan chooses to live in wood, conforms to the general trend of heaven, and is also an upright man, right and wrong have their own descendants to comment, today's negotiation, there is no need to dwell on these details!" After that, the king of the west stepped forward and said categorically: "You go back to tell the Qing Emperor, the Queen Mother and your other civil and military ministers, and issue an edict to abdicate and give way to the country within three days, otherwise this king will not mind burning the city, anyway, this capital has been stolen by the Manchu Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years, and it just needs a fire to cleanse it, so as to rebuild the old capital of my Han family!" (To be continued......)