Chapter 110 Xiao Chaoxing: Didn’t I get beaten for nothing?
It's definitely not okay to just kill him directly.
That's called killing the surrendered, that's called venting anger.
It will be criticized!
Therefore, Li Yi's idea was to organize a military court in Pingnan County and invite the people of Pingnan to attend and witness.
Under the witness of the people of Pingnan, these Qing prisoners of war were publicly tried, sentenced and executed.
In this case, the Restoration Army's killings were not simply killing prisoners, but a just trial of war criminals.
The two must never be confused.
……
Changsha City!
Since the Taiping Army entered Changsha in early July, they have been lingering in the city.
Under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King, generals at all levels of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, under the pretext of reorganizing their troops and preparing for war, occupied land and houses inside and outside Changsha City and began to live their own lives.
For a while, no one mentioned the goal of killing all the people in Huguang and focusing on Nanjing.
For a whole month, almost all the Taiping Army retreated into Changsha City and did not take any other action.
Of course, the Taiping Army did not really just lie down and do nothing.
During this process, led by Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui, a number of institutional documents were promulgated, including the "Land System of the Heavenly Kingdom", "Calendar of the Heavenly Kingdom", "Holy Treasury System", and "Official System of the Heavenly Kingdom".
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completely completed the establishment work that had been completed in Yong'an according to the original historical line.
Hong Xiuquan married more than a hundred young and beautiful concubines.
Well, that's quite outrageous.
The brothers under him were strictly divided into male and female camps, and couples were forced to be separated, but he himself had many wives and concubines.
What’s even more outrageous is that even with this, the Taiping Army’s morale was not shaken.
I can only say that the power of religion is really fucking strong!
However, after doing all this, the Taiping Army’s top leaders broke out into a quarrel over the next strategic move.
Xiao Chaogui and Yang Xiuqing had clashed several times, and Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother took turns to descend to the earth to question each other.
"General, the King of Heaven has ordered you to go to the palace to discuss matters."
A personal soldier found Luo Dagang who was inspecting the water camp and spoke.
Since breaking out of Yong'an, Luo Dagang has made many military achievements.
However, due to his relationship as father-in-law and son-in-law to Li Yi, and the fact that he never converted to Christianity, as well as the fact that Feng Yunshan, who could have promoted him, died in battle, no one in the Heavenly Kingdom's high-ranking officials spoke for him.
Therefore, Luo Dagang is not valued in the Taiping Army now.
Although he commands a large number of troops, he is still just a general.
Those who have the same qualifications as him should have become prime ministers or marquises long ago.
Upon hearing this, Luo Dagang responded and said.
"Okay, I understand. I'll be ready to go now."
After thinking for a while, Luo Dagang spoke to his nephew Luo Dingshan beside him.
"Tell the brothers to prepare for the departure."
"The East King and the West King have argued so many times, I guess they should soon come to a conclusion."
"This time the Heavenly King summoned me to discuss matters, probably to announce the next move of the Heavenly Kingdom."
"When the time comes, we may just have to face the forwards again. It's always a good idea to prepare early."
Luo Dagang’s current identity is very awkward. In the eyes of many high-ranking officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he is never considered one of them.
In this situation, it is only natural to use him as cannon fodder.
Upon hearing this, Luo Dingshan first gave a bitter smile and then nodded.
"Don't worry, General, I understand."
Seeing Luo Dagang turning around and about to leave, Luo Dingshan suddenly spoke.
"Uncle, I feel that the Heavenly Kingdom's top brass is deliberately targeting us. This won't work."
"We should make plans early!"
During this period of time, they have been targeted by the high-level officials of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are asked to go to war first and are the last to get their turn when the spoils are divided.
Even when they were stationed in Changsha, they could not get a good place in the city and could only garrison outside the city, confronting the Qing army that was besieging them from all directions.
Luo Dingshan was really fed up with this kind of discriminatory treatment from his grandmother who didn't love him and his uncle who didn't care about him.
Upon hearing this, Luo Dagang just sighed.
"Now is not the time, don't think too much."
"Doing the job at hand well is more important than anything else."
Hearing this, Luo Dingshan opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Luo Dagang had already turned and left.
In fact, Luo Dagang had thought about breaking away from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
But the current situation does not allow it.
Now his troops were ordered to be stationed outside the city of Changsha, confronting Xiang Rong's Qing army from a distance.
In order to prevent the Qing demon leader Xiang Rong from threatening Changsha City, the East King and the West King respectively sent Lin Fengxiang and Yang Fuqing to lead troops to assist.
The Heavenly Kingdom sent Lin Yang and the other two, not only to assist him, but also to monitor him.
In addition, there is the threat from Qing demon Xiang Rong's troops not far away. Now Luo Dagang really has no energy or mind to think so much.
……
With a loud bang, Xiao Chaogui smashed a Jun porcelain teapot at hand out.
The porcelain fell to the ground and shattered instantly into a large piece of debris.
Crashing sound!
The scalding hot tea spilled all over the floor, still steaming.
"Damn it!"
"What on earth does this Yang Xiuqing mean?!"
"Didn't my brother just go to the women's camp and have some fun with his wife? He didn't force any decent women. Why would he keep harping on such a small matter?"
"grass!"
After scolding Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui turned around and yelled at Xiao Chaoxing who was kneeling in front of him.
"And you, you bastard, can't you control your own crotch?"
"Damn it, what a disgrace!"
As he was speaking, Xiao Chaogui walked forward and started punching and kicking Xiao Chaoxing, causing him to lie on the ground wailing.
Although Xiao Chaoxing and he were not biological brothers, he was just the son of Xiao Chaogui's adoptive father.
But after all, the two grew up together. They are not blood brothers but are more like blood brothers, and their relationship has always been very good.
Although Xiao Chaogui was angry, he didn't actually use much strength. Xiao Chaoxing's screams were more like a way for Xiao Chaogui to vent his anger than a cry of pain.
He knew that only when Xiao Chaogui let out his anger could his life be saved.
After venting for a while, Xiao Chaogui sat back in his chair, breathing heavily, but the anger in his eyes had faded a lot.
Upon seeing this, Queen Xi Hong Xuanjiao ordered people to clean up the broken porcelain pieces in the hall, replaced the tea for Xiao Chaogui, and then stepped forward to ease the situation.
"Since Chao Xing has already realized his mistake, a small punishment and a severe warning will suffice. As for the Eastern King, I will ask the Heavenly King to intercede for him, and this matter will be over."
"It's just a small matter, why do you have to get so angry? It's not worth it to get yourself hurt by getting angry."
Although Xiao Chaogui was dissatisfied when he heard this, Xiao Chaoxing was his brother after all, and he could not ignore him.
If Xiao Chaoxing was really killed by Yang Xiuqing because of such a trivial matter, then Xiao Chaogui would lose all his reputation.
Seeing Hong Xuanjiao come out to ease the situation, Xiao Chaogui took advantage of the situation.
"Did you hear that? You useless guy, why don't you thank your sister-in-law?"
"Next time, I will personally help you get rid of those two taels of trouble roots."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Chaoxing knew that he had passed this hurdle, and kowtowed hurriedly to express his gratitude.
"I understand, I understand. Thank you, brother Wang and wife Wang, for saving my life."
Seeing this, Xiao Chaogui waved his hand to signal Xiao Chaoxing to leave.
Then, another guard came in from outside and reported to Xiao Chaogui, "King of the West, the Heavenly King wants you to go to the palace to discuss matters..."
……
When Xiao Chaoxing left the West Palace, a group of lackeys were already waiting outside the palace.
"Guo Zong, what's the situation? Has it been resolved?"
"Has the Western King agreed to help?"
"The dogs from the East Palace won't cause us any more trouble, right?"
"..."
When a group of people saw Xiao Chaoxing coming out, they rushed forward and asked questions in a flurry.
Xiao Chaoxing rubbed his butt which was aching from being kicked, puffed out his chest, and said with great pride.
"That's natural."
"Big brother has doted on me since I was a child. It's just a small matter. Big brother will naturally help me settle it."
"Let's go, brothers, let's go drink!"
A group of people walked towards a restaurant in Changsha City.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Xiao Chaoxing immediately started to greet everyone and asked the boss to bring out all the good wine and food.
The boss didn't dare to offend these big shots among the rebels, and although he was trembling with fear, he had no choice but to do as he was told.
Soon, the table was piled with all kinds of food and drinks.
Xiao Chaoxing called out, and a group of people started eating and drinking.
Time passed quickly, and Xiao Chaoxing and others were drunk.
Suddenly, the door of the box was pushed open from the outside.
Several officials from the East Palace wearing yellow scarves on their heads rushed in from outside in a somewhat rude manner.
"Which one is Xiao Chaoxing?"
Xiao Chaoxing was lying on the table in a daze, and was startled by the sudden kick on the door. When he heard someone looking for him, he slammed the table and yelled.
"Fuck it, I'm Xiao Chaoxing, what's wrong?!"
Upon hearing this, the official from the East Palace was a little dissatisfied with Xiao Chaoxing's tone, but after thinking about Fang Guozong's identity, he still spoke patiently.
"Guo Zong, please come with us. You committed adultery with your wife in secret, which violated the rules of heaven. The King of the East wants to see you."
Xiao Chaoxing was drunk and his mind was not very clear. He only heard the words "You committed adultery with your wife and violated the rules of heaven" in a trance, and he immediately became furious.
"Fuck you, I'm sleeping with my own wife, not with the East King's wife, how can I commit adultery?"
"Brothers, beat me to death!"
Xiao Chaoxing was furious now. He felt that he had committed adultery before he was beaten by the King of the West, and he was still committing adultery now that he had been beaten.
Then wouldn’t I have been beaten for nothing?
How can you bear this?
Absolutely not!
A bunch of lackeys were also drunk. They didn't think too much and rushed forward immediately, surrounded the officials from the Prince of East's Palace and started beating and kicking them.
At the beginning, those officials of the East Palace could still let out screams.
But gradually, no more sound was heard.
After a long time, when Xiao Chaoxing and his group regained their senses from their drunken state, several officials from the East Palace were already breathing less and exhaling more.
Seeing this, Xiao Chaoxing quickly stopped his lackeys.
Pushing aside the crowd, several officials from the Prince of East's Palace who were beaten beyond recognition appeared before him.
Seeing this, Xiao Chaoxing reached out his hand tremblingly to their noses to smell their breath.
The next moment, the expression on Xiao Chaoxing's face froze.
“No…no breath!”
"Now we're in trouble!"
The moment he realized the seriousness of the matter, Xiao Chaoxing broke out in a cold sweat.
He couldn't help but feel regretful. What on earth had he just done?
He just said that the King of East wanted to see him, and it didn't mean anything. But he ended up beating the man to death!
This is really going to be trouble!
If Xiao Chaogui had come forward to plead for him about the incident that happened to him before, it would most likely have been resolved.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to get through this time!
Upon seeing this, all the lackeys came to their senses and looked at each other, each with fear on their face.
"Guo...Guo Zong, someone is dead, what should we do?"
A lackey asked with a trembling voice.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Chaoxing swallowed and said.
"First... first go see the King of the West..."
Xiao Chaoxing behaved like a child who got into trouble outside and his first reaction was to find his parents.
Upon hearing this, the lackey spoke.
"Guo Zong, if the West King knew that we were the first to attack and then beat the officials of the East King's Palace to death, I'm afraid he might not necessarily help us, right?"
Xiao Chaoxing thought it made sense when he heard it, so he opened his mouth to ask.
"So what do you think we should do?"
The lackey showed a cunning expression on his face and then spoke.
"If we take the initiative to attack the officials of the East King, then the West King may not help us."
"But what if it was the East King's subordinates who attacked us first?"
"When you, Guozong, seek an audience with the King of the West, you might as well give yourself a few wounds to make yourself look more embarrassed..."
When Xiao Chaoxing heard this, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
Then he nodded and said.
"Okay, let's do this..."
……
The meeting was over, and Xiao Chaogui returned to his West Palace with a lot of anger.
"Fuck! Yang Xiuqing is using Heavenly Father to pressure me again!"
"Besides asking the Heavenly Father to come down to earth, can he do anything else?!"
Xiao Chaogui drank the tea in the cup which had already gone cold, and then he threw the cup away.
"Are you all dead? Why don't you change the tea when it gets cold?"
Just now, during the meeting in the Heavenly King's Palace, Xiao Chaogui and Yang Xiuqing quarreled again over the route.
Yang Xiuqing wanted to penetrate Huguang and focus on Nanjing.
However, Xiao Chaogui wanted to go north to the Central Plains and make it his home.
The two sides argued for a long time, and neither could convince the other.
At the critical moment, Yang Xiuqing once again asked God to come down to earth and, through God's mouth, forced Xiao Chaogui and others to agree to his strategy of "breaking through Huguang and focusing on Nanjing".
Xiao Chaogui was almost angered to death by Yang Xiuqing.
Upon seeing this, Wing Prince Shi Dakai, who had returned to the West Prince's Palace with Xiao Chaogui, began to persuade them.
"Calm down, Brother Xi Wang, calm down. Don't bother with a bunch of servants..."
After hearing this, Xiao Chaogui's expression improved slightly.
"I'm sorry, my servants in this mansion are not well disciplined. I'm sorry to make you laugh, brother Dakai."
Upon hearing this, Shi Dakai just shook his head.
"Nothing, it's not a big deal."
Just at this moment, a steward from the West Prince's Palace walked into the hall and came up to Xiao Chaogui and said.
"King of the West, the Emperor is outside seeking an audience..."
(End of this chapter)