Chapter Twenty-Five: Zhen'er Explores the Mystery

  As soon as I finished speaking, Weng Tonghe knelt down on the ground: "I am willing to remember the school rules, follow the emperor's orders, and strive for the dream of China's rise. If my words and actions are not consistent, may heaven and earth destroy me!"

  He had just finished speaking, when Zhang Zhidong, (Yan'er and Fei'er, who were already crying and following the guards who were escorting Baidi away, cursed me as a tyrant without humanity as they walked), Long'an, Zuo Baogui, Wei Rugui, Sheng Yu, Xi Jun, Anping Jun and more than 10,000 soldiers all knelt down, imitating Weng Tonghe's words, and made the oath.

  I taught everyone the song "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention" and made it a disciplinary requirement for the military school that everyone must follow. As I taught, I explained the content of the lyrics, and the majestic song with simple content was quickly accepted by everyone. Then I also taught everyone the People's Liberation Army Military Song, specifying that this is the military anthem of the Chinese Iron Army. Immediately, the two songs were sung loudly on campus.

  Ha, military songs from the 20th century are still cool now!

  It so happened that the five military instructors I had hired from Germany arrived, and Zhang Zhidong, Long An and I went to receive them. Chang Chih-tung was very thoughtful and, fearing we wouldn't have an interpreter, also invited a Sino-German youth named Chen Qi. Since I could speak German myself in university, I didn't need him and started talking with the five instructors directly. After they looked at my teaching outline, they exclaimed: "This is great! Even better than Germany's!"

  I borrowed a white head and rectified the army, strictly disciplined. The soldiers' training became more rigorous. I also followed my promise to crawl, roll, and fight with the soldiers until it was dark before returning home, but was pressed on the kang by two little wives and pinched, saying "Let you fool us again!"

  I know they're mad at me for tricking them into helping me get rid of Chen Cang, but if I hadn't tricked them, would they have been so desperate to persuade and protect him? Would they have been so anxious that they jumped up and down? Would they have cried with snot and tears streaming down their faces? Without their cooperation in this play, wouldn't my plan to use someone else's head to deceive the enemy have fallen apart? Now I'm deliberately shouting loudly: "Quickly save me! The mother tigress is throwing a tantrum!"

  I was wailing non-stop, but suddenly I saw a stunningly beautiful woman standing beside me, smiling at me with her eyes shining brightly. She wore a pale pink gauze dress that accentuated her slender waist, and had a high coiffure adorned with clouds of hair, arched eyebrows, big eyes sparkling like autumn waves, a small nose made of jade, and a tightly pursed mouth, all radiant in the brilliant sunlight.

  Damn it, how did a spectator come out? My emperor's ugly side has been exposed! I hurriedly sat up straight and said seriously: "Alright, I have to attend to my royal duties!" I turned around and asked the beautiful woman: "Which family is she from?"

  Swallow tugged at my ear: "Forgot in just a little while? She's Bai Xue, the director of Beijing Military Arsenal! Did you just take advantage of someone else's head? How could you forget so quickly?"

  Wow, Bai Xue? Ah, my fourth wife? Haha, changing into women's clothing is so beautiful, I've really hit the jackpot! I, Long Xiang Yu, have truly reached the peak of good fortune with women!

  Suddenly I felt a chill in my heart, looking at her hairdo I hastily asked: "What, is she married?"

  Faye immediately said: "Such a beautiful sister can't be without a mother-in-law? But I asked for half a day, she didn't say which family it was, really, even the sister kept it secret!"

  The swallow stared at me with her eyes as if her life depended on it, making my scalp tingle!

  Oh no, I played with a married man and accidentally became the third party, it's so sour and uncomfortable in my heart!

  Bai Xue just looked at me, although there was still a smile on her face, but in her eyes, tears seemed to be rolling. I was shocked: "Could it be referring to me? She said that back then, this lifetime will also taste the feeling of being hugged and kissed by the man she loves! She also said that her heart's desire has been fulfilled, and she must not have another man. But she is afraid of aiming too high, so she wants to guard herself for a lifetime for me. What should I do? Looking at her like that, my heart really wants to break! What to do? Of course, I have to take responsibility! How can I also let her jump into the dragon's gate? However, looking at those two little wives' appearance, it's still necessary to be steady and not blindfoldedly grab a handful of millet, losing one while gaining another.

  Seeing me like this, Fei asked strangely: "Husband, what's wrong with you?"

  I hastily changed the subject and said: "Where's Zhen? Why didn't she come over?"

  Fei hastily ran out, and a moment later, Zhen Fei rushed over with her clothes disheveled but a joyful smile on her face.

  As soon as I saw Zhen Fei, I was about to kneel down again, but Fei'er pulled me back: "Didn't your husband say so? Just among us few people, don't come up with that etiquette routine, it's both troublesome and awkward! Come on, tell your husband about your harvest!"

  I smiled and asked: "Did Little Zhen find a gold ingot?"

  Zhen Fei was taken aback: "Huh? How did you know?"

  She said this and stunned me, who was mistaken. She came over and pulled me away. The few of us arrived at Yàn Xǐ Táng, entered the house, she locked the door, then whispered: "Come on, lift up the bed!"

  A few of us lifted the bed and moved it away, she squatted on the ground and felt around for a while, and to our surprise, the floor slowly opened up a small door. She held up a candle and said: "Come on, let's go take a look!"

  I took a look and found that behind the small door was a large pit with stairs leading down to the bottom.

  She took the candle and walked towards the cave, we lit a few more candles and followed her to the cave. In the end, only Bai Xue was left standing there, unsure of what to do. I pulled her hand and said: "Come on, don't treat yourself as an outsider!" After saying that, I held her hand and walked towards the cave.

  Bai Xue's body trembled slightly, but she followed me obediently, sometimes even sticking her body to mine. I knew, I was right, she had already taken me as her lover!

  The path didn't go far before turning into a small house. Zhen'er opened the door and said, "Come in, this is one of Andehai's secret warehouses. I don't know why he built it in the imperial concubine's temporary residence."

  We entered the house and were immediately stunned. In front of us, several rows of jade shelves were lined up, filled with precious jade artifacts that were worth a fortune.

  Under the treasure rack, three large boxes were neatly arranged. Zhen Fei lifted one up to take a look and found that they were all filled with gold and silver. In a drawer of a table, she also discovered a thick stack of silver notes. The total value of the gold, silver, and silver notes added up to 12 million taels, not including the precious jade utensils.

  Looking at these things, I feel deeply moved: "The imperial court's annual tax revenue is only 60 million taels, yet he has embezzled so much. And this is just a part of his corruption. How can such an imperial court not be overthrown? The fall of the Qing dynasty is justified by heaven!"

  An Dehai, a native of Qing County in Hebei Province, was lured by wealth and glory and castrated himself to become an official eunuch. This man was cunning and adaptable, skilled at manipulating power and change. By introducing the Xianfeng Emperor to Lan'er (Cixi) under her pomegranate skirt, he became Cixi's confidant. On Cixi's orders, he left the capital to win over foreign ministers. At that time, Cixi and Ci'an were vying for power behind the scenes, openly and secretly struggling with each other. Cixi instructed An Dehai to quietly leave and secretly return.

  But little did he know that An Dehai had become arrogant and domineering, and just a few days after leaving the capital, he ordered the dragon flag to be raised on the boat, flaunting his power and letting officials along the way come to pay their respects and offer bribes. Wherever they went, the chickens and dogs were restless. When the boat entered Dezhou, Shandong Province, the prefect of Dezhou went to greet him and presented 200 taels of silver, but An Dehai thought it was too little and demanded that he hand over 5,000 taels of silver within three days.

  The governor of Dezhou was at a loss for a moment, and suddenly thought of his superior, Shandong Governor Ding Baozhen. This man was an honest official and had the courage to take bold action. So he rushed to Jinan overnight to cry to Governor Ding. Governor Ding asked if the governor had seen the imperial edict? The governor said no. "Good!" Governor Ding clapped his hands, ordering the governor of Dezhou to immediately go back and capture An Dehai and his party. The governor was frightened: "Sir, isn't this like digging a hole in the head of the God of Fate?" Ding Baozhen laughed loudly: "I'll take all responsibility." The governor of Dezhou followed orders.

  It turned out that the Qing palace had a long-standing ancestral rule: "The inner monitor is not allowed to leave Beijing privately for 40 miles, and those who violate this rule will be executed on the spot by local officials." Ding Baozhen grasped this point and wanted to punish the arrogant eunuch. He immediately sent his trusted aide to enter the capital and present a memorial to Empress Dowager Cixi. Soon, Empress Dowager Cixi's decree came down: ordering Ding Baozhen to execute An Dehai on the spot. At this time, suddenly heard a voice: "Empress Dowager Cixi's decree has arrived!" This made An Dehai extremely happy, he jumped up from the ground and said: "Ding, you little boy, see how you can get out of this!" Unexpectedly, Ding Baozhen loudly ordered: "Receive the decree at the front gate, behead him at the back gate!" Indeed, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered to quickly take An Dehai back to Beijing. However, by that time, An Dehai had already been executed and his head had been separated from his body.

  I've long known about Ding Baozhen's clever plan to kill the corrupt officials, but I never expected him to be killed suddenly, which has now earned me a large sum of money!

  I looked at Jin and Yin in surprise and asked Zhen Fei, "How did you discover that there was a warehouse here?"

  "Since the day I moved in, I've been smelling a strong metallic smell here, it's so pungent that I couldn't sleep well. So I secretly searched for it, and today I finally found it!" Zhen Fei said calmly, leaving us speechless.

  I smiled and said, "Alright, since you discovered it, these silver ingots will be in your charge. Don't let outsiders know about this warehouse, let's keep it as our secret storage!" As I spoke, I handed her the silver notes I had obtained from Li Lianying last time: "Zhen'er, from now on, you are my Grand Treasurer. We'll use this money to conquer the world and build an army!"

  "How did he build the warehouse here?" asked Yan'er.

  "This is his lair, this house. Outsiders can't enter, and even the imperial concubines only stay for a short while when they come to pay their respects. But he can come in anytime, so of course he thinks this is the safest place!"

  After we came out, we moved the bed back to its original place. I said to Bai Xue: "You can stay in this house and take care of the warehouse for me!" Bai Xue's face turned red as she nodded and stayed in that room.

  It was another sleepless night, and the next morning Xiaofuzi rushed over to say: "Cixi wants to increase the imperial household expenditure by 1.8 million taels, but the Minister of Revenue, Yan Jingming, has vetoed it. The Old Buddha wants to demote him to his original rank, and Weng Tonghe sent someone to tell you that you need to find a way to save him!"