Time passed day by day, and in a blink of an eye, the autumn wind blew yellow chrysanthemums, and Beijing ushered in the late autumn of 1866. Sijiu City had been operating smoothly under the rule of Xiao Letian for nearly two months.

During this period, the news of Xiao Letian's attack on the capital had been completely spread throughout the Qing Dynasty. Countless local governors and governors condemned Xiao Letian's atrocities, and even some remote governors wanted to lead their troops into the capital to serve the king.

This is a joke. The soldiers from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan walked to Beijing on foot, and the Ganzhou and Shaanxi Green Camp would enter Beijing without being wary of rebellion. The Hunan Army and Huai Army occupied the Central Plains and did not say they were serving the king. The governors and governors in these marginal areas were just making chaotic statements.

The remarks for the king were not yet at the capital halfway, and the soothing palace newspaper in the Forbidden City had already flown to all parts of the country. This newspaper newspaper, which was recommended by Ci'an, edited by Prime Minister Xiao, made a big report to expose the chaos in the entire capital for several months.

The deception of the French must be clearly written, and the fierce victory of Xiao Letian Europa must be written in a very special way. Cixi was described as an innocent person who was deceived, and all her sins were pushed to Andehai, Wuxi Gui and Meile. Of course, Prince Gong and Prince Chun also had the fault of being inattentive.

In the description of the di newspaper, Xiao Letian became a pitiful person who was forced to do so. The court sent troops to attack him several times. In the end, he did not take revenge and accepted the imperial edict of the Queen Mother Dong and went to Beijing to quell the rebellion. As for how many people died in the Qing Dynasty, no one cared about it.

Look at Xiao Letian. So many people died in Tanggu. Xiao Letian still stabilized the Qing Dynasty's ruling system. All the officials were safe and safe, and the court's tax revenue was paid a lot. If such a person said that he rebelled, he would be a bully.

Let’s look at what Xiao Letian did after entering Beijing. All the people did the peace project. The rice price of Sijiu City was 40 yuan. Officials in the Jiangnan area were stunned.

The most concerned national system in the Middle Ages was the great name. Xiao Letian did not kill officials or even arrest dissidents. The six ministries of the court were still operating normally. In the end, even the foreigners in Dongjiaominxiang said that Xiao Letian was not an ambitious man. Such a guarantee blocked the mouths of literati all over the world.

Even in the end, Zeng Guofan wrote a letter to affirm Xiao Letian's measures to safeguard the people, admitting that Xiao Letian was a loyal and important minister of the Qing Dynasty and the commander was the guarantee, which blocked all the plans to serve the king. The governors and governors of the whole country were watching Zeng Guofan, and his statement could almost represent the overall attitude of the entire Han ministers and warlords.

People say that the Qing Dynasty was the peak era of China's feudal centralization. In fact, it was about the Kangxi, Yong and Gan dynasties. The three generations of grandparents really suppressed all levels of the Qing Dynasty and could not move.

However, after the Qianlong Dynasty, the momentum of centralization began to loosen. During the Jiaqing period, the corruption trend became more and more intense. Land annexation made the people unable to bear it. Finally, the strange incident of the Tianli Sect attacking the palace occurred.

On September 14, 18th year of Jiaqing, the Tianli scholars lurked in the capital to attack Donghuamen and Xihuamen. Later, with the help of the eunuchs, they actually conquered Xihuamen in one fell swoop. The Tianli scholars actually drove straight into the palace of Yangxin.

The Yangxin Palace is already in the harem. It can be said that the Tianli Sect defeated all the defenders of the three halls this time, and killed them all the way to the harem. Even the prince, the later Emperor Daoguang, led his troops forward to fight.

Later, Emperor Jiaqing, who was in Rehe, heard that the Forbidden City had been captured, so he was so scared that he immediately led his troops back to Beijing and tortured all the more than 300 prisoners of the Tianli Sect who were captured and sentenced to death.

Although the Tianli Cult invaded the Forbidden City without any major results, it also confirmed in history that the Qing Dynasty had declined from prosperity. After Jiaqing's son Daoguang succeeded to the throne, the Qing Dynasty was in chaos, and in the end even British robbers attacked.

After Daoguang's death, Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, and this emperor could not bear the habit of greed for beauty. After all, since ancient times, the emperor has been lustful, but you are the son of Emperor Daoguang. Your father's ban on smoking and ban on smoking has been launched with the British. Why did you smoke and smoke in the Forbidden City?

Not only do you smoke smoke, but you also drink heavily. When you get drunk, you beat the eunuchs and palace maids, scold them, and punish them. When you wake up, you regret it. You coax these people and give them silver and small items. After that, you continue to drink, and when you are drunk, you continue to make trouble.

Such a drug-absorbing alcoholic can't be a surprise to die after eleven years of power. This is just a life-threatening death.

Not to mention it during the Tongzhi period. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was pacified, the Han warlord group had been formed. The two Opium Wars attracted countless Western robbers, and then the Qing Dynasty itself did not worry about a Xinyou coup.

It can be said that the degree of centralization of the Qing Dynasty collapsed like an avalanche under the rule of these four emperors, from Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi.

By 1866, the politics of the Qing Dynasty had actually been divided up by all forces, and centralization had become a joke.

The first group is the royal family of the Qing Dynasty. This is easy to understand. After all, the Qing Dynasty is the country of the Eight Banners of Manchus. However, this group is no longer united now. After the baptism of the Xinyou coup, everyone has their own ulterior motives.

The second group is the Han warlords represented by Zeng Guofan. It is better to say that they are warlords than to say that they are governors, because since the Tongzhi Dynasty, all wars between the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were actually fought by Han soldiers. The Eight Banners and Green Camp of the Manchus have long become synonyms for jokes.

The third group is traditional officials. These civil servants without military power are naturally close to Qingliu led by Weng Tonghe. What they represent is the most traditional Chinese literati power.

The fourth group was the foreigners in Dongjiaominxiang. After two Opium Wars, the Qing Dynasty even allowed the British Hurd to take over the customs. The foreigners also had a say in the politics of the Qing Dynasty, but the Tongzhi period was not as obvious as it was during the Guangxu period.

Xiao Letian had a clear view of the political situation in the late Qing Dynasty. He knew that these four political forces seemed very united on the surface, but there were also many contradictions, even a great revenge on life and death.

The royal family has now been separated into conservatives and reformists. The survivors of the Xinyou coup have naturally gathered together. Moreover, Empress Dowager Ci'an of the Eastern Palace has also seen through the faces of the people in the court and has clearly begun to support the reformists.

Let’s look at the Han warlords. Zeng Guofan was a hidden dragon in China. His eyes saw the rise and fall of China in the future. He was not a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty. What this old guy is thinking now is how to turn the more than ten million square kilometers of land in the hands of the Qing Dynasty into Han people.

For this ideal, he could give up the temptation to be emperor.

As for Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, they were incompatible with water and fire, and they fought until they died.

As for the foreign group, they have their own ulterior motives. The British see that the Russians are not adapted, and the French see Prussia and hate them at all. As long as they are not united, there will naturally be a chance to use their skills.

Three of the four political forces have been leveraged by Xiao Letian. Xiao Letian has thrown out the bait for the Eight Kings to discuss politics against the royal family, and secretly took out the big cake of the Longxugou Renovation Plan. Xiao Letian knew that it would be no problem to buy them neutral.

Xiao Letian had a better way to deal with the Han warlords. Wu Qing and Li Hongzhang had a fierce fight, which had already convinced Old Man Li. In addition, Zeng Guofan and him had a similar scent, so as long as he did not rebel against the Han warlords, he would still support him.

Let’s look at the foreign forces. With the secret match between Americans, even if France and Russia disagree, they cannot withstand the support of the United States, Britain, Prussia and other countries. Xiao Letian believes that they will not be bad.

In the end, Xiao Letian was left with only one group, and that was the Qingliu force represented by Yi Weng Tonghe. These corrupt scholars were already cruel to Xiao Letian, and there was no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides.

This is no longer a power struggle, this is an academic struggle. I have never heard of any academic dispute in China in history that there is a possibility of reconciliation. Literati holds revenge so stubbornly unreasonable.

However, Xiao Letian is not afraid. Three of the four major political groups have been won. Three to one will always have Xiao Letian’s advantage, and the corrupt scholars of the Qing Dynasty cannot make any waves.

The people don’t know the ups and downs of the court. Even if the rumors occasionally come out, they are just a smile after dinner. In their eyes, a prime minister who can stabilize the rice price at 40 liters per liter will be broken even if it is broken, let alone the Sijiu City made by the prime minister is so clean and so in good public security.

Although there are always a group of people who lack big fingers on the streets of Sijiucheng during this period, and these people are also the most fierce group to scold the prime minister, but the disabled is to be disabled. No matter how fierce the scolding is, can the prime minister still lose a piece of meat?

On the contrary, you have lost two thumbs and can't do anything in the future.

This is a manifestation of the sinisterness of the new army. You should know that the thumb is the most important finger on a person's hand. It is the key organ for cooperating with other fingers to move. If you don't believe it, try it. Without the help of the thumb, what can your remaining four fingers do?

Cutting off the thumbs of these soldiers will also eliminate their future military work. There will be countless wastes in the Eight Banners system. The Qing Dynasty can support them in a day or two, but for ten or eight years, even the whole family can't stand you having idle meals, let alone the imperial court.

Xiao Letian forced a big burden to the Qing Dynasty that could not be shirked. One day, he would be able to exhaust the Qing Dynasty to death. The Eight Banners system would sooner or later not be able to carry it.

Time passed day by day, and the autumn wind in Sijiu City was replaced by the bitter cold wind. Gradually, a faint black smoke floated from the sky of the city, and the coal stoves of every household began to ignite. The winter of 1866 finally arrived.

The notice that the court would hold a grand dynasty meeting had been sent long ago. The governor who was far away from home even started to rush to Beijing as soon as autumn began. Everyone knew that this year's grand dynasty meeting would affect the political direction in the next few decades. Everyone was not willing to fall behind in this feast of power.

Sijiu City is becoming more and more lively. The low price of grain has attracted a large number of refugees to Beijing. Coupled with the collective return of local officials, the atmosphere in Sijiu City has become more lively. The business of theaters, restaurants and brothels is very good.

When the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guoquan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and other powerful officials collectively entered the capital, the smell of gunpowder in the capital's political arena could be ignited.

"The Grand Marshal is here. I heard that the Grand Marshal brought three thousand iron cavalry back to Beijing... This is great. Finally, someone can compete with the Demon Xiao. It's great, it's great. Fortunately, there is another Grand Marshal Zeng in the court."
Chapter completed!