Chapter 39: Li Yunzhong says to demote Zuo Zongtang

  Zuo Zongtang's eyes widened in shock and his tongue was tied, he muttered: "The Qing dynasty will not perish."

  Li Yunzhong sneered, "This statement is probably something you yourself don't believe. The Qing dynasty has been established for nearly two hundred years, and the Han and Tang dynasties were no better. I'm taking pity on your talent, that's why I'm advising you with kind words."

  Zuo Zongtang is now in a state of utter despair, unwilling to spend his life in mediocrity. In the first half of his life, he was disappointed by the imperial examination and suffered ridicule from others. Now that he has finally achieved something and the world is in chaos, it's the perfect opportunity for him to make a name for himself and bring glory to his ancestors. Yet, he accidentally fell into the bandits' trap. Could it be that he really has to surrender to them? No... this would not only implicate his family but also betray his two teachers.

  Li Yunzhong saw Zuo Zongtang's face changing color, and his heart was already hesitant. He added fuel to the fire: "Actually, when I was in Hunan before, I had already sent someone to bring your family here. At that time, I was afraid you would be angry and not think clearly. Please don't blame me, sir."

  Zuo Zongtang fell to the ground and said: "If I still don't surrender, will you kill my whole family?"

  Li Yunzhong shook his head and said, "No, at most you will be placed under house arrest in Nanjing."

  Zuo Zongtang thought to himself: Now that Li Yunzhong has taken Jiangning, those discontented scholars will surely come to join him. Who knows, they may even overthrow the imperial court in the future. Why don't I take this opportunity to secure my position? With my talent, the position of prime minister is within reach. Moreover, he treats me, a mere scholar, with such sincerity, which is truly rare. After some consideration, Zuo Zongtang said: "You must agree to three conditions of mine before I can agree to yours."

  Li Yunzhong was overjoyed when he heard the news, and thought he had misheard it. When Zuo Zongtang repeated it again, he hastily stepped forward. Remembering that Zuo Zongtang was a man and couldn't be hugged, he was at a loss for what to do with his hands and feet. Recalling the story of Hong Chengchou, he quickly took off the sable cloak from his body and personally put it on Zuo Zongtang, saying: "With your help, sir, I am like a fish in water. Not to mention three conditions, even if it were three hundred or three thousand, I would agree."

  Zuo Zongtang said, "It's good that Your Highness can treat scholars well. My first condition is: the Great Han cannot learn from the Taiping Army, destroying Confucius temples and burning books wherever they go, and forcing men and women to camp separately."

  Li Yunzhong said: "To be honest with you, sir, I am dissatisfied with Hong Xiuquan and the others for doing things this way, so I parted ways with them. This condition is not acceptable, add another one."

  Zuo Zongtang said, "A great man's word once spoken is like a team of six horses that cannot be caught. Since Your Highness has agreed, the second condition is: you must not spread foreign teachings within the Great Han to suppress the Confucian and Mencius doctrines."

  Li Yunzhong thought for a moment and said, "Actually, Christianity also has many praiseworthy aspects." Seeing Zuo Zongtang's disappointed expression, he hastily added, "However, it is after all a foreign thing, incomparable to the Confucian teachings that have been passed down in our China for two thousand years. From now on, I will order that its doctrines not be spread among the people, but if the people themselves want to believe, then I won't be able to control it." Li Yunzhong weighed the pros and cons and immediately abandoned Christianity.

  Zuo Zongtang was initially disappointed, but later seeing Li Yunzhong agree not to spread the 'heresy' again, he felt relieved: this Han Wang is still able to accept loyal advice and is not a stubborn and self-willed master. He continued: "Thirdly, granting rewards to meritorious generals in the army cannot be like the Taiping Army's way of dividing land and enfeoffing kings, otherwise there will be endless troubles later on."

  Li Yunzhong was moved to say: "I thought the three conditions you proposed were all for yourself, but it turned out that every one of them was for me and for the great Han. You are truly a national hero! Don't worry, sir, from now on if I do anything wrong, please point it out and I will definitely follow your advice."

  Zuo Zongtang listened to Li Yunzhong's candor and, plucking up his courage, pointed at the cannon fire outside and said: "General, can you order them to stop firing from outside? Inside are just innocent civilians who only dare to resist because they fear you will slaughter the city."

  Li Yunzhong nodded and said, "That's right. I was blinded by anger. It must be those flag officers who refused to surrender and spread rumors among the people that I wanted to slaughter the city. I'll go and order them to stop the bombardment."

  Li Yunzhong came to the door and said to Chen Yucheng, who was standing guard outside: "You go tell Zhang Junzhang to stop firing cannons and save some ammunition for tomorrow's attack on the city."

  "Obeying orders!" Chen Yucheng said loudly with a red face, and ran quickly towards the inner city.

  Inner city

  Hou Xiang looked at the pairs of expectant eyes in front of him, his heart scattered, and he said despondently: "Do you really believe what they say?"

  A bearded general muttered: "That's still better than being blown up by cannons."

  Sitting under the General Commander, Vice General Commander Huolongwu glared and said: "Hans can surrender, but we Manchus will never yield!"

  The big beards all converged on the words, and strongly argued: "We can die in battle, but what about the tens of thousands of women and children inside the city? If we provoke the rebels' ferocity, and they really come to slaughter the city, can you justify it to them?"

  "Hou Xiang waved his hand and said, 'This is not the time for arguing. All of you be quiet. Since that's the case, those who are willing to fight sit on the left side, and those who are willing to surrender sit on the right side. Whatever the majority decides will be followed, no one can have a second thought.'"

  Hou Xiang believed that those who wanted to surrender were definitely a minority. The Manchu people were founded on military power and had a strong sense of bloodline. As long as their retreat was cut off, it would be fine.

  Huo Longwu was originally sitting on the left, seeing others sitting in their seats without moving, feeling angry and sad. Obviously afraid of death and unwilling to continue resisting, yet fearing that today's events would spread and implicate their families, thinking they could get away with it by pretending nothing happened.

  Hou Xiang also despaired, they did this to make him take the blame for surrendering.

  They don't want war.

  They decline, unwilling to take responsibility.

  Holon Wu drew his sword from his waist and shouted sternly: "You neither surrender nor fight. Are you waiting to be beheaded?"

  The big bearded man whispered: "Let the people in the city decide, if we die, everyone will die together, and the road to Huangquan won't be lonely either, if..."

  Everyone understands that if something happens below, and the imperial court asks for punishment later, they will also have a reason to shirk responsibility. In order to humiliate and bear the weight of the entire city's people, let's just survive stealthily for now.

  "This method is good"

  "Right, right, just like this, we are also guarding the city for the people, should ask for their opinions."

  …………

  Hou Xiang saw that they were all silent just now, but now they nodded and loudly said some good things about the common people. Those who didn't know would have thought they were all "clear officials" who begged for the lives of the people. Hou Xiang understood that he had already lost control of the situation and could only hope for the people in the city.

  Inside the city, many people heard that General Hou Xiang had gathered everyone at the city gate. They thought the rebels were going to attack the city again and rushed out with their weapons. The crowds converged on the main road, forming a sea of people. For a while, only the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing could be heard. When they arrived at the city gate, they found that there was no battle and looked around in confusion. Then they saw Hou Xiang and others standing high above, looking down at them.

  Hou Xiang saw that there were too many people coming, in order to avoid causing panic, he let the people below push forward some leaders to come up and discuss, and within half an hour, 70 or 80 people were pushed forward by the people.

  The big beards all led them under the pavilion on the city wall.

  Hou Xiang saw that everyone was looking at him with doubt, and explained: "Respected elders, you are all men of high virtue and prestige. Today, there is a matter that concerns the life and death of every citizen in this city. I, as an official, do not dare to make a decision alone, so I would like to hear your opinions."

  The big beards all looked at each other, secretly scolding and saying: "The Han army outside the city sent someone to convey their king's message. As long as we open the city gate and surrender, they won't kill anyone. It's just that we can't live in the inner city anymore, and we have to find our own way out."