Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 213 We only care about one thing. If I cut off my braids, can I become an official?

"Lue the snake out of its hole."

Agui had already thought about it on the ship, cleaning up the interior before the battle.

The generals in charge of city defense received orders one by one.

If you see a fight and a fire in the city, don't panic and don't mobilize your troops. They are killing the White Lotus cult bandits.

On the 4th watch, a fire suddenly broke out near Wushengmen.

The cry of killing is everywhere!

A group of people dressed like ordinary people shouted Bailian slogans and attacked the officers and soldiers.

I also clicked on the surrounding houses to create momentum.

1 mile away, in the backyard of a shop.

Dozens of men stood there, listening.

"Lord, do we need support?"

"Wait a minute, it's obviously been arranged in advance, how could anyone act in advance?"

"Perhaps other lurking brothers were exposed and were forced to launch a hasty revolt?"

……

There are nine gates in Wuchang City, 3 in the west, 2 in the east, 3 in the south, 1 in the north and in the north.

Wushengmen is the only gate on the northern city wall.

Agui is also betting that the bandits will rob Wu Shengmen.

Seeing that there was no movement, the guard at Wushengmen ordered the artillery fire outside the city.

He also imitated Bai Lian's previous attacks on the city and fired a few fireworks to increase credibility.

The owner of the account is old man Bai Lian, standing on the wall of the courtyard to observe the battle.

His palms were sweaty because once he made a wrong decision, it would ruin everything.

There are nearly 300 believers who sneaked into Wuchang City.

There is no belonging between them.

The agreed signal is that once the outside of the city shouts "Long Live" and sends out flares, they will all rush out.

Grab Wu Shengmen!

……

Agui was worthy of being the all-round military expert of the Qianlong Dynasty, and his guesses were very accurate.

Hong Dachang's little military skills were as childish as a primary school student in front of him.

After a while, tough men wearing white towels appeared one after another in the city's houses, shops, Town God's Temple, and large car shops.

They held sharp swords and remained silent.

He set fires along the way and killed everyone he saw.

He rushed straight to Wu Sheng's door before bursting into roars.

"The city of Wuchang is broken. Bai Lian enters the city. Surrender without killing."

Follow the steps and attack the wall.

Agui, who was watching the battle from Snake Mountain, the commanding heights of the city, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He smiled and said:

"Now you can have a good sleep. My lords, I will leave the rest to you."

After that, he went down the mountain to rest.

This kind of famous general's demeanor makes everyone admire him.

……

Agui was really tired. In addition to fatigue, she was also mentally nervous.

He fell into a deep sleep, and the sound of fighting in the city did not affect him in the slightest.

Veterans on the battlefield all have this ability.

Rest and fall asleep anytime and anywhere.

Only by conserving your physical strength can you live longer than others.

People who cannot eat well or sleep well will die of disease or overwork, even if they do not die from fighting.

On the north wall, the Qing soldiers resisted for a while and saw more and more religious bandits rushing up the steps.

A thousand generals shouted: "Withdraw."

The Qing soldiers threw away their swords and spears and fled back.

The White Lotus cultists were overjoyed and thought they had succeeded.

Rushing to the city gate building, they were suddenly met with uniform musket fire.

The three-story city gate tower was filled with shotgunners.

There were people standing behind every window.

And after firing one shot, the person behind handed over the loaded second shotgun, and the gunfire was intensive and continuous.

The believers were caught off guard and fell down row after row, with blood mist filling the sky.

"Fell into a trap."

Some were confused, while others threw away their swords and jumped into the moat.

There are also people who are frantically hacking at the lifting and lowering devices of the suspension bridge.

This was a one-sided massacre.

In the early morning, more than 200 corpses were moved to Hanyang Gate in the west by the Qing army and thrown down the city wall one by one.

Plop, plop, fell into the Yangtze River.

He shouted loudly: "Good Bailian, come and collect the body."

After struggling for half an hour, corpses were floating on the river.

The White Lotus Sect pioneers saw fire in their eyes, while the Wuchang defenders were greatly boosted in morale.

Morale is important.

It is especially important in the era of cold weapons.

Agui is worthy of being a famous general. He stabilized the morale of the army within one day after entering the city.

……

He didn't get up until noon the next day.

After a good sleep, I feel full of energy.

"Report, there is a secret purpose."

"Bring it here."

Make sure the paint is intact, open the wax-sealed bamboo tube, take it out and read it carefully.

A Guina was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and her hands shook invisibly.

The captain of the personal guard who had followed him for more than ten years was surprised.

But if the master doesn’t tell, the slave shouldn’t ask.

The secret decree was put away, and Agui didn't mention a word.

Including the Governor of Huguang and the Governor of Hubei, they inquired several times but were rejected.

At the military meeting,

Agui told everyone that he would immediately order the green battalions in Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces to mobilize half of the green battalion troops to destroy Bailian.

Everyone was ecstatic, saying that the situation in Hubei could be saved.

600 miles to rush, count the days, and wait for another half month before the flood of reinforcements will arrive.

Kill all the religious bandits and everyone can happily serve as officials again.

Before the smile lasted for a while, the soldiers from Wenchangmen hurriedly came to report:

"The army of religious bandits has begun to attack Guishan."

Agui put away her smile:

"Everyone, why don't you go up to the city wall to watch the battle together?"

……

Wenchangmen faces west.

It is the southernmost gate among the three city gates in the west.

There are many officials around, including the Governor's Office, Jiangxia County Office, and Green Camp Office.

During the rural examination, the examiner enters the city through this gate.

When a new official takes office, he must go through this door.

Otherwise, the name is auspicious.

According to metaphysics, the higher you go, the more awe you get.

After all, how can we use general scientific principles to deduce the mysteries hidden between heaven and earth?

Wenchangmen, city gate tower.

Agui took the telescope and observed the appearance of the White Lotus Army on the west bank.

The first impression is boundless.

The second impression is full of energy.

Third impression, lack of firearms, especially artillery.

"I think it's Hong Ni who comes under that bright yellow umbrella."

"It is said that this thief is still a civil servant. He is really hateful and will destroy his own future."

The green camp soldier next to him thought to himself that the future of Juren was not that great.

Everyone is now an emperor!

He is still the Holy Emperor, which sounds bigger than the Emperor.

Guishan Fort, white smoke rises from the shelling.

The white lotus army that was attacking the mountain immediately burst into blood mist.

The new guard Zhang Jiulao realized that every gift in life has a price.

From flood soldiers, he was promoted to fifth-level garrison in one go.

The price is your life!

If you cannot defend Guishan Fort, you will have to repay the capital with interest.

……

Zhang Jiulao gritted his back molars and encouraged loudly.

"Brothers, guard the Guishan Fort. I have 10 generals in my hands and 20 foreign delegates to control the generals. Let's see who can survive to the end."

"Defense, there are too many bandits, right?"

Everyone looked around and saw that all the boats floating in the Han River were civilian ships flying the White Lotus flag.

The believers who are climbing up the mountain are even more like ants, which makes people dizzy.

Zhang Jiulao felt sour in his heart and decided to gamble his life.

He just didn't want to be a craftsman all his life, so he came out to serve as a soldier to feed himself.

Maybe dad is right, don't have so many grand ideas.

How many bowls of rice you will eat in your life is decided the moment you are born.

……

As for Chun Shou, the groom who was guarding the army by Bai Lian, he didn't have so many grand ideas.

Before the war broke out in Hubei, his only ideal was that the whole family could be together and have enough to eat.

After he was the only one left in the whole family to die,

The idea is even simpler, stay alive!

Fortunately, he was recognized as his adopted son by Zheng Jiuling, the tenth commander of the protective army, and he served the war horses in the stables.

Two meals a day is enough to basically fill you up.

On this trip, he followed his adoptive father out to collect food, and dozens of people left the city of Wuchang.

There were more than 20 large carts driven by Protestants.

4 cavalry and 3 infantry escort.

After walking 60 miles, we got 4 carts of grain.

This made everyone anxious and couldn't go back to do business.

In the villages along the way, nine out of ten were empty. Due to famine and war, this area has been combed many times by officers and soldiers and Bailian like a tug of war.

The dogs don’t even dare to bark!

……

"Wow~"

But in Gujia Village, Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture, the dogs barked very loudly.

The roaring Li Jiajun light cavalry posted two notices at the entrance of the village.

Villagers are in awe of paper with a red mud official seal at the end.

There will never be any bold act of tearing it up privately and using it for the reincarnation of grains.

This is not because of Li Jiajun's good education, but because of the prestige of the Qing court.

After the sound of the cavalry's hooves faded away, the villagers quickly gathered around.

"Mr. Gu, what did the officials say?"

Mr. Gu is a private school teacher and a rare educated person in this village.

He coughed twice and walked in wearing a long gown.

The surrounding crowd immediately parted ways.

"It's a notice from the Marshal's Mansion to adjust the price of official salt."

"The price has increased?" Everyone was immediately nervous.

"No, no." Mr. Gu shook his head and said, "The original price of official salt was 40 Wen per pound, but it has been adjusted to 35 Wen."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, what a good thing.

It's rare to hear one or two good things these days, but all are bad things.

……

"Why are the officials so kind?"

"It says here that Marshal Li commanded the Jiangnan regiment to fight on the front line and achieved an unprecedented victory. In order to celebrate the victory, the price was reduced by 5 cents, and everyone celebrated."

"I see."

There are a lot of rumors circulating recently,

It is said that the imperial soldiers defeated Marshal Li and the Qing Dynasty returned.

It is also said that Marshal Li's army defeated the surrounding officers and soldiers.

Originally, in the eyes of the people in Jiangnan, the first statement was more credible.

They are more optimistic about the Qing Dynasty!

But with such a price reduction, everyone began to believe the second statement.

The logic is also very simple. If Marshal Li loses the war, he will definitely have to raise taxes, increase prices, and recruit troops in anger.

Now that he has dropped 5 articles, it means that Marshal Li has definitely won the battle and is in a good mood.

This has been true since ancient times!

"Mr. Gu, what is the event mentioned in the second picture? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"It's weird. It's weird."

Seeing Mr. Gu, the most educated man in the village, frowning, everyone suddenly became nervous.

Could it be that the price of salt has dropped and the price of briquettes has increased?

If this is the case, everyone should say a few words of greetings to Marshal Li's mother.

"It says that except for those who serve under Marshal Li, no one else can cut off their braids without permission, otherwise they will be fined 1 tael of silver."

"what?"

Everyone was dumbfounded, mainly because they were caught off guard.

An old man asked:

"Mr. Gu, are you seeing it wrong? This braid is a regulation of the Qing Emperor. How could Marshal Li do it~"

……

"I also feel that there is something hidden in this."

Mr. Gu carefully shut up and left with his hands behind his back.

As a scholar, he instinctively felt that this was a topic that he could not delve into.

Express your stance on growing braids?

Marshal Li freed up his hands and would definitely take care of himself.

Express your stance on cutting your braids?

When the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty conquered the lost territory, they would definitely kill their entire clan.

In short, there are some things that you can ponder in your heart but not talk nonsense about.

People who can't keep their mouths shut tend to move their heads easily.

He walked to the private school thoughtfully, only to see a fat man in silk clothes sitting on his recliner enjoying the cool air.

He also held a fan that he regarded as a treasure and fanned himself.

"Oh my, Mr. Lu's visit to my humble abode makes the plum blossoms shine."

"Lao Gu, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Master Lu, the richest man in the village, owns more than 700 acres of paddy fields and 4 shops. His only worry is that there has not been a scholar in his family for three generations.

The nearest Wenquxing to the list is his grandfather, who spared a county magistrate as a judge.

In addition, Mr. Lu also has an identity.

He is the big benefactor of the private school!

Every year during the Xiu Xiu Festival and the New Year Festival, there is always a good deal.

Let's put it this way, he is the one who supports half of his private school.

……

The chubby Mr. Lu didn't bother to wipe his sweat and pulled Lao Gu aside.

"Mr. Lu, what's wrong?"

"Shhh."

Mr. Lu signaled to be silent and looked around cautiously. There was no one there, only a big rooster looking for food.

"Go, go, go~",

As soon as it was driven away, the big rooster flew up to the top of the adobe wall with a roar.

Mr. Lu suddenly happily praised: "Okay, fly up the branch and become a phoenix."

Lao Gu didn't say anything. He knew that this was Mr. Lu's heart problem, and everything could be associated with being promoted.

"Mr. Gu, what do you think of the notice at the entrance of the village?"

"Which one is Mr. Lu talking about?"

"Of course it's about the braids~"

Mr. Gu's expression suddenly became serious. After careful consideration, he decided to tell the truth.

"I am the most educated and well-educated person in this village, and I have some research on officialdom. This braid is related to the state system and is the most sensitive topic."

"Lao Gu, can you please speak simply? We are not going to write a stereotyped article. We just want to know if it is good to cut off your braids?"

"I can only tell you that it may not be a bad thing."

Mr. Gu put his hands behind his back and analyzed quietly:

"If Marshal Li asks everyone to cut their braids, it must be a bad thing."

"Now he is doing the opposite and fining people for cutting their braids, which shows that he doesn't want everyone to cut their braids. Why? It may be beneficial to cut their braids."

……

The chubby Mr. Lu widened his eyes and asked:

"What's the benefit?"

"I don't know." Mr. Gu continued to explain, "If I have such a lofty vision, why would I bother to live in this small private school?"

"That's right."

Mr. Lu frowned and left.

The next day, I went into the city with my elbows in hand to find a fellow villager who worked in the government office to inquire about the situation.

Knock on the door and hand over the gift.

After a moment of pleasantries, we got down to business.

The fellow countryman was originally a clerk in Wujiang County Government, but now he is semi-employed.

Since the Li Jiajun took control of Jiangnan, the original local officials were detained, but the petty officials were unclear.

Neither caught nor used, nor any explanation.

This group of people were anxious and asked around.

The restaurants and teahouses around Daoqian Street are full of people every day.

As long as someone wearing the uniform of the Li Family Army comes in, they will come up to them and nod and bow their waists.

However, Fan Jing had already set the rules.

If anyone has close contacts with the old yamen, his innocence is at risk and he will be dismissed directly.

Even if you eat a sesame seed cake, you are not innocent.

……

So this scribe has been very worried recently.

The two drank a few glasses of wine and expressed their opinions.

"Old Lu, you still have a good sense of smell. There is a lot in the official document about cutting off braids and fines."

"How to say?"

"We and several colleagues speculated that this was a signal."

"What signal?"

"There is a difference between honor and inferiority. If you have braids, you are humble, if you don't have braids, you are noble."

"what?"

"I'm only telling you for the sake of my fellow countrymen. This braid may be a symbol of identity in the future. It's like the distinction between Manchus and Han people in the Qing Dynasty."

Mr. Lu quickly grabbed the wine bottle, helped fill it carefully, and asked:

"If you have pigtails, you are a commoner; if you don't have pigtails, you are a master. Is this what you mean?"

"Probably."

"Then tell me, can I be an official if I cut off my braids?"

The clerk picked up a piece of goose with chopsticks and said with a soft smile:

"If I knew, why would I still be sitting here chatting with you? I would already have a table at the governor's office on Daoqian Street."

"Yeah yeah."

……

The more Mr. Lu thought about it, the more unwilling he became.

He always felt that he was not far from the truth, but there was just a layer of veil between him.

He gritted his teeth, stamped his feet, and refused to go home.

He hired a carriage to go to the city and went to Suzhou City to find out the news.

The main reason was that the imperial examination was too difficult. His father never became a scholar in his life. He was scolded by his grandfather for half his life and died in depression.

When it comes to him, another half of his life has been wasted.

My son is ten years old and he doesn’t look very smart.

talent,

It has been decided the moment a person is born, if there is something, there is something, and if there is nothing, there is nothing.

Although my grandson has not yet been born, he is probably worried.

Three generations could not produce a single scholar, and Lu's social status was visibly declining.

When you go out, you are already regarded as a rich man.

As we all know, in the Qing Dynasty, people who did not have the halo of gentry but had a little wealth were very dangerous.

It's like a beautiful woman with small feet carrying scissors, walking alone on a mountain road. The slopes on both sides of the road are crowded with big men with ferocious faces.

To put it in later fashionable terms, middle-class Lao Lu gave up on rolling his baby and prepared to roll himself.

Work hard to maintain your class and stop falling.

Since the way of education cannot work, we should take crooked ways.

……

(End of this chapter)