Chapter Thirteen: Encounter with Blackmail Again

  After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, there were large-scale uprisings in various regions across the country, and the Nian Army was just one of them. The Da Cheng Empire was actually established by the Tiandihui uprising in the two Guang provinces.

  The Tiandihui has been committed to overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming since its establishment in the early Qing dynasty. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, the Qing dynasty was on the verge of collapse, and the Tiandihui would not miss such a good opportunity. However, due to historical reasons, each hall of the Tiandihui did not belong to one another, so although the Tiandihui's uprising had a great momentum, its actual combat effectiveness was not high.

  After the uprising of the Tiandihui branch in Guangdong, it was led by Chen Kai and Li Wenmao, local leaders of the Tiandihui. After several battles, the other dozens of Tiandihui rebel forces in the two provinces were either destroyed or severely damaged, but this branch led by Chen Kai and Li Wenmao not only survived but grew stronger, and eventually Chen Kai was promoted as the leader of the Tiandihui in the two provinces.

  In the sixth year of Xianfeng, Chen Kai and Li Wenmao led troops to attack Guangzhou but were unsuccessful and suffered heavy losses, eventually fleeing to Guangxi. The Qing government's forces in Guangxi were weak, with few stationed troops, allowing the Tiandihui to expand rapidly here. Half a year ago, the Tiandihui captured Xunzhou City, establishing the "Dacheng Kingdom" and changing the era name to "Hongde". They renamed Xunzhou City as "Xiu Jing", with Chen Kai claiming the title of King of Zhen Nan. Li Wenmao was appointed as the King of Pingjing, concurrently serving as the General Manager of Land Transportation.

  After the failure to attack Guangzhou, more than 100,000 members of the Tiandihui were killed by the Qing government. Anyone who had any connection with the Tiandihui was not spared. Pingjing King Li Wenmao was originally a Cantonese opera actor, and those who followed him initially were also brothers from the theater troupe. Because there were many Cantonese opera actors in Li Wenmao's army, after Guangzhou was relieved, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ye Mingchen, and the Governor of Guangdong, Bai Gui, ordered the killing of all Cantonese opera actors after finishing off the Tiandihui members.

  Sima Ping was also a Cantonese opera singer. As an orphan, he grew up with his master and had a deep affection for him. Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui's Guangzhou cleansing campaign killed his master's entire family, as well as the families of his fellow disciples. This grudge was too great, so he led dozens of Tiandihui brothers to risk entering Guangzhou to kill Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui in revenge.

  But unexpectedly, Ye Mingchen was locked up by the foreigners, and the governor's mansion was guarded like an iron barrel. After waiting for several days, it finally came to the day of the minor New Year, when most of the yamen runners went home for the holiday, if they didn't take action now, there would be no more opportunities, so they had to take a risk and make their move.

  Unfortunately, just as they were about to kill Park Ji, the foreigners arrived, and in the end, their efforts came to nothing.

  Unexpectedly, this old fellow Baogui's life is so big, he hasn't died yet. In Li Mingfeng's heart, he didn't have a good impression of Baogui.

  "So it was, but why did Mr. Sima kidnap me?" Li Mingfeng had been listening for half a day and still couldn't figure out Mr. Sima's motive.

  "Alas, our army had the upper hand in the battle of Guangzhou, but at the last moment, the foreigners sent several hundred men to help the Qing court defend the city, which led to our defeat." Sima Ping's tone was full of regret.

  Li Mingfeng felt a chill on his body, the foreigners' involvement had led to their failure in occupying Guangzhou, and the defeat of the Battle of Guangzhou had resulted in the killing of Sima Ping's entire family. Now he was entangled with the foreigners, and Sima Ping would not hesitate to kill him to avenge his master.

  Simapeng was not clear what Limingfeng was thinking, and he continued to sigh: "This battle really made me fearful, 200,000 Tiandihui brothers, how heroic they were. The Qing dog's 50,000 Green Camp soldiers had the geographical advantage but couldn't hold Guangzhou, yet the foreigners with only a few hundred men caused our army heavy casualties. What's even more frightening is the foreign warship, our thousands of battleships under the foreigner's cannon fire, like paper, without any ability to resist." When he said this, Simapeng's eyes were filled with tears.

  "In this battle, our army was defeated. It's not that the brothers from various families were not brave enough, nor was it that our commander-in-chief gave wrong orders. It's entirely because the foreigners' firearms were too sharp. One man with one gun could still hold his own against us, but a hundred men with a hundred guns would be more than we could handle, even if we had ten times their numbers. And with a thousand men and a thousand guns, they also held the strategic high ground of the city walls. If it weren't for the Qing troops' reinforcements, we wouldn't have been able to break into Guangzhou."

  After finishing, Sima Ping turned his head to look at Li Mingfeng: "I invited my brother here because I know that my brother is on good terms with the foreigners. Those foreigners who help the Qing dynasty guard the city are not in conflict with us, but for the sake of a word 'profit'. As long as the benefit is sufficient, foreign firearms can also be bought." Li Mingfeng heard from Sima Ping's tone that he did not hate foreigners, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

  "Even our king was defeated by Western firearms and wanted to buy them, but unfortunately, there was no way. After I arrived in Guangzhou, I accidentally learned that foreigners trusted a Chinese man very much. On the day of the assassination of Bai Gui, I knew in advance that my brother would also be attending the banquet. However, this assassination operation was not led by me, but by the General of the Front Gate under the King of Zhen Nan. I was only assigned to guard the back door and thought it would be impossible to see my brother again. But unexpectedly, I saw my brother at the back door, what a great fate!" After finishing speaking, Sima Ping burst out laughing.

  "General Sima, the foreigners' firearms are also for sale, but the price is too expensive. Even Qing's wealthy and powerful people haven't bought many firearms." This time Li Mingfeng wasn't trying to cheat his opponent, on the contrary, he didn't want to make this money.

  The thinking of modern people and ancient people is not on the same level, especially these so-called righteous armies. In their way of consideration, everything is for their own sake, and others can be ignored. In their minds, there are only the Qing court, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and various local righteous armies in the current situation.

  In Li Mingfeng's mind, however, it was a completely different story. He clearly knew that in the current global landscape, China was just a weak country waiting to be bullied in a corner, and how to divide China depended on the attitudes of Britain, France, Russia, and the United States. The Qing court and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were a joke in the eyes of foreigners, and this seemingly powerful regime could be thoroughly defeated at any time.

  The reason why foreigners helped the Qing government defend Guangzhou was that they believed that under the control of the Manchu government, they could gain more benefits. If these extremely radical members of the Heaven and Earth Society controlled Guangzhou, or even Guangdong, South China, it would be a great blow to the interests of foreigners.

  The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is an example, although Hong Xiuquan took Christianity as the foundation of his country, but after he ascended to the throne, he massively excluded foreigners, and in the areas controlled by the Taiping Army, Britain had no place to intervene.

  Internationally, interests decide everything.

  The British and French would not give up the vast market and source of raw materials that is China for the small profit of selling a few thousand rifles, so no matter how high the price offered by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, foreigners could not possibly support a regime opposed to foreigners.

  Li Mingfeng brought out the excuse of high prices, estimating that a local uprising army would definitely have limited wealth, so the crime of not being able to make a deal wouldn't fall on him. "The Pacifying King also knows this point, so we plan to borrow some firearms first, and after eradicating the Qing dynasty, when the Pacifying King sits on the dragon throne, we will repay them double." Sima Ping's words scared Li Mingfeng half to death. Borrow? Isn't that just a euphemism for taking?

  Simap's smile remained on his face, but Li Mingfeng felt a chill run down his spine: "I don't know how many firearms Brother Sima wants?"

  "We also know that the country of the foreigners is extremely far from the Great Qing, and transportation is not easy. Let's just borrow 10,000 rifles and 100 cannons for now." Sima Ping showed no hint of embarrassment, as if he was really just borrowing a small item.