Chapter 6 Guangxu Year

  Feng Guozhang stared blankly at the yellow smoke rising from the dead crow, like a clay figurine.

  Zhou Xuanzhang blew away the blue smoke from the muzzle and tossed the rifle into Feng Guozhang's arms, praising: "Good gun!"

  Feng Guozhang was knocked to the ground by a rifle, and it took him a while to come to his senses, clutching the gun tightly. He suddenly raised the gun, pointing the muzzle at Zhou Xuanzhang's chest, and shouted: "You little scoundrel, you've touched my gun! Speak! What's your name? Where do you live? What do you do? Are you a remnant of the Taiping Rebellion? A bandit? Or a spy for the foreigners? Tell me everything, one by one. If you utter even half a lie, I'll execute you on the spot!"

  "My name is Zhou Xianzhang, my hometown is in western Hunan, not a Taiping rebel. I seem to have heard from my grandfather that our family had been involved with the Taipings a long time ago, saying that someone named Shi Dakai led a group of Taipings here and left..."

  "Nonsense!" Feng Guozhang shouted: "Stonewall Jackson was defeated at the Battle of Big Crossing River! You must be a bandit!"

  "Bandits? I've heard Grandpa mention it before, a long, long time ago, there were bandits causing trouble, but that was in the north, very far from our home."

  "You must be a foreign spy!"

  "Nonsense!" Zhou Xianzhang shouted: "Now our China is so powerful, we've hosted the Olympics, built an aircraft carrier, Shenzhou-9 soared into the sky, Chang'e rushed to the moon, everyone takes pride in being a Chinese, who the hell has water in their brain and wants to be a spy for foreigners!"

  "What is the Olympic Games? Aircraft carrier? Shenzhou 9..."

  "The Olympics are when people from all over the world come to our China to compete, and we Chinese take care of their food and accommodation."

  "How much silver will it cost?"

  "It cost a lot, but that little money doesn't matter to us Chinese. I'm telling you, our China is powerful now, we hold the US national debt in our hands, all of Europe has to borrow money from us, Russia's old Maozi is crying and begging us to transport daily necessities to him, France is pleading with us to send warships to escort Somalia, only little Japan doesn't know its place, wanting to compete with us for Diaoyu Island. But we just sent a few fisheries administration ships and chased away the Japanese military vessels..."

  "Go to your mother's spring and autumn dream!" Feng Guozhang was furious: "The French have just occupied our Annan, bombed our Ma Wei military port! The Russians robbed Ili, the British devils robbed Hong Kong, the Germans occupied Jiaozhou Bay, and the Japanese robbed Ryukyu..."

  "Is there such a thing?" Zhou Xuanzhang shook his head: "It won't be, will it? We just got back Hong Kong and Macau, the equipment of the garrison troops is world-class, where does Britain have the guts to come and grab again? Besides, I heard from the instructor that the French didn't fight in the Battle of the Tail, even if they did, it wouldn't be the turn of the French, the French seem to be stuck in Mali..."

  Feng Guozhang sighed heavily: "Our great Qing dynasty is in a precarious situation, on the brink of collapse..."

  "Qing Empire?" Zhou Xuan Zhang was shocked, the braid on the back of his head shook three times, he finally remembered that only in the Qing Empire did men have braids hanging from the back of their heads.

  "May I ask, Lord Feng... what year is it now?" Zhou Xianzhang asked hastily.

  "You little scamp, have you been drowned by the flood and lost your senses?" Feng Guozhang rebuked: "Today is May 18th of Guangxu's eighteenth year!"

  Guangxu?

  "According to the Western calendar, it's 1893! Can't you understand what I'm saying?"

  Zhou Xuanzhang was shocked, Guangxu year, big braid, long gown and horse jacket... everything seemed to indicate that a flood had swept him into the Qing Dynasty!

  Zhou Xuanzhang was greatly disappointed. According to legend, when others traveled through time and space, they brought rich historical knowledge and advanced technology to ancient times, and as soon as they arrived, they would show off their foresight and give the ancients a demonstration of their abilities, then pretend to be gods and demons, commanding the wind and clouds, gathering followers, and having a smooth official career.

  However, Zhou Xuan Zhang knew very little about the Qing Dynasty, he was a new recruit from the mountains of western Hunan, had only attended elementary school, and had been in the army for only half a year. He didn't understand the history of the Qing Dynasty at all, the only thing he understood was the Hanyang Arsenal.

  However, there is one thing he does know - the Qing dynasty during the Guangxu period was a thoroughly unlucky era, bullied by foreigners, corrupt officials, people struggling to survive, natural disasters and man-made calamities, the country on the verge of collapse!

  Moreover, he crossed over into a jinxed drowned ghost's body.

  Like his previous life, the Great Qing Empire also suffered a flood disaster. The rivers were filled with countless nameless corpses, exposed under the bright sun, left for crows to peck at, without any officials coming to collect the bodies. This alone is enough to illustrate the corruption and incompetence of the imperial court!

  "Damn it, we've finally arrived in the corrupt and incompetent Qing Empire!" Zhou Xuanzhang said with a sigh.

  "Feng Guozhang shouted loudly: 'Shut up! A mere commoner, how dare you rashly discuss the imperial court?! You must be a rebel without a doubt! Raise your hands!'"

  The black muzzle was pressed against his chest, and Zhou Xuan Zhang knew he had misspoken. He hastily raised his hands and said with caution: "This official has misunderstood me, I am not a rebel, my brain is just a bit muddled... You know, I've been through the gates of hell, it's not easy..."

  "Shut up! How dare you say you're not a rebel? You little scoundrel, plotting to seize the Emperor's guns and harm the imperial officials!"

  "Lord Feng, you can't just open your eyes and talk nonsense. If I really wanted to harm you, why would I shoot at a crow? I could have directly blown you up!"

  "This...". Feng Guozhang was at a loss for words: "Damn it, how do I know what you little brat is up to? Judging from my experience, you must be setting a trap, leaving me here first and then waiting for an opportunity to assassinate the Governor!"

  Xunfu is a high-ranking official in the imperial court. Feng Guozhang falsely accused Zhou Xuanzhang of assassinating the xunfu, which was a serious crime that no one could bear. What Feng Guozhang did was to use the xunfu as a tool to suppress others.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang let out a cold laugh and pretended to be confused: "Governor? Is he even bigger than you, sir?"

  Feng Guozhang's face turned red, and he scolded: "The governor is a high-ranking official... how dare you be so garrulous! Follow the adults obediently, when we arrive at the governor's mansion, you can ask the governor yourself! Let's go!"

  Actually, Feng Guozhang is a big self-proclaimed big shot, and he's a big scammer.

  Feng Guozhang is indeed an official appointed by the imperial court, but this official appointed by the imperial court is far inferior to a provincial governor. Not even comparable to a candidate for county magistrate.

  Feng Guozhang was originally a soldier in the Huai Army, and later entered the Tianjin Military Academy Infantry Department. In 1885, Feng graduated with honors as the top student in his class and stayed on at the academy as an instructor for three years.

  The quality of the teaching is extremely low, so low that it's not even comparable to a ninth-grade substitute teacher!

  Teaching without rank is commonly known as "not yet in the mainstream". Equivalent to a university teaching assistant in the 21st century.

  However, according to the official system of the Qing dynasty, he was indeed a genuine imperial officer, and in front of ordinary people, he could also call himself "Your Excellency"!

  Of course, he also has a sense of self-awareness and knows that his official title is somewhat exaggerated. If he were to call himself "sir" in school, people would laugh at him.

  Feng Guozhang was born into a poor family, but his family was originally a prominent and respected clan. However, by the time of his grandfather's generation, the family had declined, and the Feng family had fallen from greatness. From a young age, Feng Guozhang was clever and quick-witted, showing great promise, so the Feng family pinned their hopes on him to restore the family's honor when he grew up. Therefore, the Feng family scrimped and saved to send Feng Guozhang to school. However, Feng Guozhang was unlucky and failed to pass the imperial examination to become a scholar-official. At the age of 26, he was getting old, and continuing his studies would be pointless. With no other choice, he had to change his career path and join the army, hoping to make a name for himself through military service.

  At that time, Li Hongzhang founded the Tianjin Military Academy, which was the first modern military academy in the Qing Dynasty. The academy hired German instructors to teach modern Western military tactics.

  Li Hongzhang attached great importance to the Tianjin Military Academy, and in order to cultivate qualified modern military personnel, Li Hongzhang required each battalion of the Qing army to recommend excellent soldiers for admission. Feng Guozhang was also a good soldier material, having mixed with the Huai Army for several years and being appreciated by his superiors. Coincidentally, when the academy recruited students, his superior recommended Feng Guozhang.