Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

The French strategic bombardment ended at dusk. The initial twenty-four hours of bombardment only lasted for twelve hours before Gong Cheng's goal was reached, and that was fear.

An entire day of indiscriminate bombardment did not dare say that it was enough to make the Ryukyu's family feel filial piety. In this bombardment, more than ten thousand houses were destroyed, and the number of casualties was no less than fifty thousand.

Shang Tai stood at the entrance of the deep valley, looking at the citizens who were fleeing. The women and children were crying, the adults were sighing, the injured were crying and the ones who had lost their loved ones were suffering, everyone's faces were filled with deep fear.

Many military doctors and nurses wearing white coats were walking back and forth in the crowd. Many of them were already exhausted, but they were still persisting. The families of the wounded were looking at them as if they were gods.

Most of them were in military uniforms. Some of them were giving out rations, some were taking care of the wounded, and some were cleaning the corpses. It was currently a scorching heat, so all the dead had to be buried in time.

Every time a corpse was carried out of the crowd, his friends and relatives would all cry like wolves. Every time Shang Tai heard such miserable cries, his heart would break.

"Your Majesty, you should drink some water …" Jin Changsen brought a broken porcelain bowl over. Before His Majesty could take it, he spoke in a low voice, "Your Majesty, I was watching from the hillside, the French have not fired a shot at Shouli City today. The palace is safe, but it's almost dark now.

Shang Tai shook his head: "The citizens are bleeding, do I have to be happy in the palace? I don't have the ability to kill the enemy. Can't I accompany the common people in suffering? "

With that, Shang Tai took the water from Jin Changsen's hands, and turned to hand it to the wounded man beside him.

"Your Majesty …" The injured and the surrounding commoners subconsciously wanted to kowtow, but they did not expect that Shang Tai would hold them back, "Don't, don't, don't … Don't move, none of you move... "I am the incompetent one. If I can't protect this country, I will be the one to blame!"

"Wuwuwu …" The crowd cried, "Your Majesty, don't say that. In the hundreds of years of the Ryukyu's history, we have never heard of an emperor who goes through hardships with ordinary people. We have never heard of a king who goes through military disaster with his people. You are a Saint Lord! "

Shang Tai laughed bitterly. Ignoring the dirt on the ground, he sat down on his butt, "Don't kneel, what kind of saint am I? Seeing that my people are bleeding and I am unable to do anything, what kind of saint am I? "

Wang Mo shook his head and sighed, "I have already made up my mind. If we are able to survive this time in Ryukyu, we will be able to safely get through this calamity … "I've decided to join the army. I'm going to military academy as well. I'm going to start with a soldier with a big head. I won't be a useless emperor anymore …"

"No way!" Jin Changsen and the surrounding civil servants kneeled down. They looked at Shang Tai in fear, as they could hear clearly that he was speaking about them, not them.

Heavens, what exactly was thinking? He actually wants to join the army and become a soldier with a large head? Was he going to abandon his literature and join the army? Is he abandoning our Gui Chen?

It had to be said that ever since the Song Dynasty, the difference between martial arts and martial arts had always been a problem in the hearts of the Confucian disciples.

The Emperor wants to join the army? ~ This is impressive, the tradition of East Asia since ancient times is to use literature to control martial arts, isn't this what Shang Tai is going to do? Although Xiao Letian was holding the title of Prime Minister when he led the troops, these old officials still talked a lot about him.

"Wuwuwu …" Your Majesty, the son of a thousand gold does not sit still. You are the hope of a nation in Ryukyu. Countless people smashed their heads into the ground, causing blood to flow all over their faces.

He smiled faintly and helped all of the Gui Chen s who were kowtowing to him up: "Don't say it like that, the Saints have long said that it is better for the people to respect the Lord, am I not strictly abiding by the words of the Saints?"

"What is the foundation of the Ryukyu? It depends on whether or not the people recognize this nation. As long as there is a Ryukyu in the hearts of tens of thousands of people, even if the nation is destroyed, the people's hearts can still be restored to their country … "

"This is the country and people that the prime minister spoke of. Before, I only vaguely understood them, but today, I finally understand them all …"

Just as these Gui Chen were about to bitterly persuade him, a loud voice came out from outside the valley, "Your majesty is right, what is the martial arts path? Those were the words of the corrupt scholars who were in trouble with the country and its people. They were all great men who stood between heaven and earth. Why couldn't they be civil and military talents? What's the use of distinguishing between the two? If the country is broken, everyone is a slave! "

Everyone looked up. The one who spoke was General Liang Kun, who was injured. His forehead was bandaged with white cloth, and two soldiers were lying on top of it with a stretcher. There was a bullet wound in his left leg.

"General, are you hurt?" Shang Tai and the group of officials immediately rushed over.

"I am ashamed that I was unable to complete my mission … When they met the French artillery on the northern road, the Guotou Village still did not manage to take it down. " Liang Kun lowered her head in regret.

How could Shang Tai blame the army of Ryukyu for this? "General, please don't be upset, this is not a war crime, the French people can't really resist it … But rest assured General, as long as we are willing, I believe that we can protect this Ryukyu! "

It was as if this was the first time Liang Kun had met this young man and he couldn't help but raise up his big thumb, thinking that this Shang Tai was really taught by the Prime Minister.

To say the least, under the crazy bombardment by the French today, the order of the refugees did not crumble, and he had contributed more than half of it.

Night had fallen and the stars were beginning to blink overhead, and when the last of the western sunset disappeared over the horizon, the French bombing was over.

When the gunfire stopped and peace returned to the people, all the survivors were still not used to it. It was only after a good half an hour did they recall the dinner that they had had today.

Shang Tai, General Liang Kun and the Wen Chen sat on the large limestone as they chatted. The bonfire in the Asylum Valley started to light up, and not long later, the fragrance of porridge started to spread.

Just as dinner was about to be cooked, the sound of messy footsteps came from outside the valley, followed by the flickering light of a torch.

"It's General Cai Mao … The general is out of the turret! " A large number of soldiers surrounded him in an instant.

At this time, Cai Mao was so tired that he could not speak. It was unknown if it was due to the smoke or the fire in the next two days, but his voice was incomparably hoarse and his face was ashen black.

"Your Majesty … And General Liang, Minister Jin, Minister Lin … "Let's just talk for a bit …" With a wave of his hand, a group of soldiers came over and surrounded the place in a perimeter, surrounding all of the powerful sects in the Ryukyu Kingdom.

"Your Majesty, this subject will make the long story short. Just now, Seven Stars Mountain met a Chinese who claims to be an emissary from the beach. He is holding a white flag and said that he wants to negotiate with us …"

"Hmm, negotiations? The French are going to negotiate with us? " Lin Yuanmiao shook his head on the spot. "Impossible, it's not as if the French have not suffered any casualties in the past four days, let alone over a thousand. How could they negotiate? Even the negotiation conditions will be very harsh. "

Liang Kun was born in the Heavenly Kingdom Army, so it was normal for him to not trust foreigners. However, Cai Mao, Jin Changsen and the others were born and bred in the Ryukyu, so hearing that they would like to negotiate with the French, they felt better.

Shang Tai frowned: "Since the envoys have come, then there is no reason for us not to see them. Whether we succeed or not, we have to listen to their conditions … General Cai, don't you have a clue about this Chinese envoy? "

King Shang Tai's question made Cai Mao let out a long sigh, "Your Majesty, I am really confused now … The messenger said his boss is... " Cai Mao hesitated for a moment before spitting out a name.

"Gong Cheng... Gong Banlun! "

"AHH!" Is it him? " Everyone present were all dumbstruck. If it was before, they might not be clear about who Gong Cheng was, but in this past year of Xiao Letian's small lessons, they had definitely taken this fellow as their bad example.

"The one who brought British and French combined forces to burn Yuan Ming Yuan? The one who bickered with the Prince Kung and said that his father didn't become Han Lin and wanted to take revenge? The one who went inside the Pentecost and got only half of it? The one who took the British commission and was free in the Shanghai tenancy? "

"The one that Prime Minister Xiao said was inferior to animals with no bottom lines in life?"

Everyone present looked at each other, not saying a word. If it was Gong Cheng who had come forward to negotiate, then this negotiation would be difficult.

On the other hand, Xiao Letian had revealed his disgust towards this traitor more than once. If everyone agreed to negotiate with this kind of people alone without going through the Prime Minister's approval, how would they be able to meet with the Prime Minister in the future?

Liang Kun lay on the stretcher so angry that he almost sat up, "No, absolutely not! "This is the enemy of the entire world's Chinese people. Don't stand in front of me, if he dares to show his face, I will hack him to death with my blade …"

Seeing that Liang Kun was so excited that blood was flowing out of his forehead, Jin Changsen immediately supported him and explained, "Calm down, General! Calm down! Gong Cheng did not come ashore because he was only a subordinate who delivered the message. We just wanted to listen to it, this is definitely not a negotiation, please be at ease and take good care of your injuries … "

After saying that, Jin Changsen shot a meaningful glance at Shang Tai, who hurriedly crouched beside the general and said in an amiable tone, "I view the prime minister as Shang Fu, how can I go against the prime minister's wishes? "General, please don't be angry. We just want to hear what this messenger has to say. Can we just listen to what he has to say?"