Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 220: Press the gourd and lift the ladle

Upon hearing this, Qi Junzao started to come up with another idea.

"Your Majesty, I heard that the Tang thieves in the south have made a lot of money by minting silver coins."

"The Qing Dynasty may also follow suit and mint its own silver coins to make a profit."

It is no secret that the Tang Dynasty minted a large number of silver coins in Guangzhou and implemented the policy of abolishing the two-yuan system and changing the yuan system.

It is obvious that there is profit to be made here!
In this case, my Great Qing Dynasty naturally doesn't mind copying...ah, let's borrow from it.

Upon hearing this, Xianfeng stroked his chin and thought.

"Is this really possible?"

Qi Junzao nodded and said.

"I think it is feasible."

"Let's take a step back and say that even if this fails, the Qing Dynasty won't suffer any loss. We might as well give it a try."

Xianfeng heard this and nodded.

"Well, let's give it a try!"

As soon as Xianfeng said this, Yi on the side spoke up.

"Brother, I think if the Qing Dynasty wants to make money by minting coins, it can do more than just mint silver coins."

"You can also mint big coins!"

"Minting silver coins is nothing more than earning a few cents of hard-earned money. How can it be as much as directly minting big coins?"

If the Qing Dynasty wanted to mint silver coins, even if it didn't have to be as high as the Tang Dynasty, where the silver content of a coin reached 90%, it would have to be at least 70% to 80%.

Otherwise, the quality of the silver coin would be so poor that it could even be seen with the naked eye.

This is definitely not possible.

Although the silver content of 70% to 80% is not high, it stands to reason that if coins were minted with such a silver content, the profit of the Qing Dynasty would be at least 20% to 30%.

But, in our Qing Dynasty, everyone knows that after officials at all levels have extorted money from the government, if only a few cents can be made into the national treasury, it means that the people below have a conscience.

However, minting large coins is different.

A large coin worth five cents, even if the copper coin is cast in a larger circle, the net profit will be at least two or three times.

If it's ten, then it must be at least seven or eight times.

Not to mention the big bucks of twenty or thirty.

Assuming that the profits from minting coins are exaggerated enough, even if officials make more money, the national treasury can still get a lot of profits.

Upon hearing this, Xianfeng couldn't help but twitch his mouth, but still spoke.

"That's feasible."

"It just makes the people suffer!"

Yi replied.

"I believe the people will understand the court's difficulties."

Anyway, it is the lower-class people whose interests are harmed, so Yi doesn't care about them.

Suddenly, a chaotic sound of footsteps was heard outside the Yangxin Palace.

Soon, An Dehai, who was waiting outside the hall, walked in.

"Your Majesty, there is an urgent message from Shaanxi that has arrived within 800 miles..."

As he spoke, An Dehai handed a military report in his hand to Xianfeng.

Xianfeng couldn't help but frown when he heard this, but he still took the military newspaper and started reading it.

After a moment, Xianfeng's face, which had been smiling all the time, suddenly turned gloomy.

"What a thief!"

"What a good thief!"

Yi, Sushun and others could not help but look at each other when they saw this, not knowing what had happened.

Upon seeing this, Xianfeng did not keep the audience in suspense. He directly threw the military newspaper in his hand to everyone and then began to speak.

"Let's take a look at this urgent report from Shaanxi."

"The fake Wing King of the Long-haired Thief has caused trouble again."

Yi took the military newspaper and started reading it. Soon, the expression on his face froze.

There was only a simple line of words in the military newspaper, but this line of words made Yi's pupils shrink.

On the fifth day of the third month in the third year of the Xianfeng reign, the long-haired bandit false King Yi led his army out of Chongqing, captured Shunqing and Baoning, then entered Hanzhong, captured Nanzheng, and fought his way out through the Baoxiadao Road to Mei County, threatening Xi'an...

The Longhair Bandits' detachment broke out of Sichuan and entered Guanzhong, and the dragon trap was resolved.

Shaanxi, I’m afraid it’s going to be dangerous!

After reading this military newspaper, this was the only thought left in Yi's mind.

His expression kept changing and he raised his head and looked at Xianfeng.

At this time, Xianfeng had a gloomy face and obvious anger in his eyes.

Not long after Emperor Xianfeng was happy about the Qing Dynasty's victory in wiping out the main force of the Taiping rebels, he received news that a detachment of the Taiping rebels had entered Guanzhong.

How could Emperor Xianfeng not be angry?
He couldn't understand why the Qing Dynasty had become like this?
It's really like suppressing one problem but another one pops up!

In fact, the Qing court had already received the news that Shi Dakai's troops were setting out from Chongqing to launch an attack to the north.

However, the Qing government at that time had to focus its main attention on the war in the south of the Yangtze River. In addition, it was confident that Sichuan's terrain was closed and the march along the Shu Road was difficult, so it was not easy for the Taiping rebels to break out.

So I didn’t take it too seriously.

However, what Xianfeng did not expect was that in such a short period of time, this detachment of the Taiping rebels had already entered Shaanxi.

After reading the military report, Yi and others knelt down and apologized.

"We, the servants, are incompetent, which has led to the Long-haired bandits' invasion of Sichuan and the chaos in Guanzhong."

"I hope your majesty will forgive me!"

Upon hearing this, Xianfeng took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and then spoke.

"It's no use to plead guilty. I just want to know how the Qing Dynasty should deal with the crisis in Shaanxi now."

"The Taiping rebels have reached Mei County, which means they are not far from Xi'an."

"The eight banners in Jingzhou, Guangzhou, and Jiangning have all been slaughtered. If the eight banners in Xi'an are also slaughtered by the bandits, how can I face my ancestors in the underworld a hundred years later?"

In addition, the Green Camp in Gansu and Shaanxi has always been synonymous with the elite of the Qing army since the Qing Dynasty.

Whether it was the Qing army reinforcements that Senggelinqin brought to the Jiangnan region to fight, or the Eight Banners New Army that the Qing court was forming, there were a considerable number of men from Guanzhong among them.

Now, with the Taiping rebels invading Shaanxi, for the Qing court, it is not just a simple loss of a province.

It also meant that the Qing Dynasty had lost an extremely important source of troops. This impact was really huge!
Upon hearing this, Sushun spoke immediately.

"Your Majesty, I think that the Qing Dynasty may be able to issue an order to the Eight Banners of Xi'an, asking them to withdraw from Xi'an as soon as possible before the Taiping rebels reach Xi'an, and temporarily go to Shanxi, Henan and other places to avoid the war."

"When the imperial army comes to reinforce Shaanxi and the situation in Shaanxi stabilizes, the Eight Banners will return to Xi'an."

Sushun now did not have much hope that the Qing Dynasty could hold on to Xi'an.

Therefore, he suggested that the Eight Banners in Xi'an should run away as soon as possible, otherwise they would be slaughtered again!
After saying this, Sushun continued.

"In addition, we should also send a message to the monk king, asking him to lead his troops back to reinforce the war in Shaanxi."

Although Senggelinqin's troops suffered heavy losses in the war in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, the only powerful army that the Qing court could use in the northwest was the one in Senggelinqin's hands.

If the Qing court did not want to sit idly by and watch Shaanxi fall, then the best option would be to dispatch Senggelinqin to provide assistance and then lead troops to Shaanxi to quell the rebellion.

Because, apart from this, the Qing court had no other choice.

After all, we couldn't really expect the Eight Banners Army, which had only been formed not long ago and had only a few thousand soldiers, to march alone to the northwest to quell the rebellion, right?

This is unrealistic!

Upon hearing this, Xianfeng did not agree immediately, but just spoke.

"It is feasible to let the Eight Banners of Xi'an temporarily leave Xi'an."

"However, in my opinion, the Qing Dynasty should focus its main efforts on dealing with the Tang thieves."

"Jiangnan will be the main battlefield next."

"And Senggelinqin's troops are the elite of our Qing Dynasty. How can they be withdrawn from the front line at will?"

"As for Shaanxi, it's okay to let the Taiping army be arrogant for a while. When the Qing Dynasty joins hands with the foreigners to eliminate the Tang thieves, we can concentrate our main forces to move westward and recapture Shaanxi."

Xianfeng was not prepared to play whack-a-mole with the rebels all over the world. He was still prepared to stick to the previous strategy of concentrating the main forces to defeat the rebels one by one.

To this end, he was even mentally prepared to temporarily lose Shaanxi.

Having said this, Xianfeng continued.

"In order to prevent the Longhair bandits from continuing to move eastward after occupying Shaanxi, Cai Bingwen, the Minister of Jiangxi militia, was replaced as the Governor of Henan and concurrently the Minister of Henan militia."

"Immediately send an order to order him to set off for Henan to oversee the training of militias to prevent the Taiping rebels from going east, and to prepare for the future westward advance of the Qing Dynasty to recover Shaanxi."

The reason why Xianfeng appointed Cai Bingwen as the Governor of Henan and Minister of Militia.

One reason is that Cai Bingwen captured Hong Xiuquan alive during the war in Jiangnan and made great contributions.

Promotion is a natural thing!

The second reason is that due to the rampant Nian Army, the situation in Henan and Central Plains is relatively chaotic. In addition, in order to prevent Shi Dakai's troops from occupying Shaanxi and then moving east, Henan needs a capable and capable official who can be trusted by Emperor Xianfeng to go and maintain order.

Originally Zeng Guofan was also a good choice, but now that Zeng Guofan has been killed by him, Cai Bingwen is the only choice.

As for what to do in Jiangxi?
In Xianfeng's view, the Qing Dynasty would not send troops to Jiangxi in the short term. Even if it wanted to conquer the Tang bandits, it would wait until the foreign expeditionary force arrived before advancing together with the foreigners.

Under such circumstances, keeping Cai Bingwen in Jiangxi would be a waste of talent.

Xianfeng, who was good at knowing people and assigning them to the right positions, decided to use Cai Bingwen in a more important position.

Everyone heard this and said in unison.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Now everyone is very glad that Xianfeng is not the guy like Chongzhen who is too concerned about his reputation.

Compared to Chongzhen, who wanted everything for the sake of face.

Xianfeng was obviously much easier to serve because he made choices, knew how to temporarily abandon territory to consolidate his strength, and concentrated his energy on defeating the bandits one by one.

……

There were sounds of horse hooves as a team of more than a hundred knights galloped across the land.

These people all wore turbans, carried sabers on their waists and muskets on their backs. They looked majestic and menacing.

Even if you look at it from a distance, you can tell that it is not of the same kind as him.

Wherever the horse's hooves passed, the gravel and sand on the ground kept jumping.

The team ran all the way to a stream and then stopped.

Zhang Lexing dismounted, walked to the stream, scooped up several handfuls of water and splashed them on his face to wash away the dust on his face.

Then he took several big gulps of the sweet stream water before stopping.

A man nearby came up and handed him a sweat towel.

"Brother, wipe it."

Zhang Lexing took the towel, wiped it across his face a few times to dry the water marks, and then asked.

"How far is it from the destination?"

The man next to him heard this and spoke.

"To reply to Big Brother, we are still about ten miles away from the agreed location."

Zhang Lexing heard this and nodded.

"Well, since we are not far away, let's work harder, brothers."

"It won't be too late to rest after we reach the agreed location."

The man next to him nodded immediately to show that he understood when he heard this.

Soon, the team set off again and rushed all the way to the outside of Sujiaji.

From a distance, Zhang Lexing saw a group of people appearing in the distance.

The distance between the two kept getting closer, until they were finally able to see each other's faces clearly.

In the opposing team, the leader rode out on his horse.

"May I ask if the brothers on the other side are from the Nian Army?"

Zhang Lexing clasped his fists when he heard this.

"Exactly!"

"We are the personal soldiers of the Zhang Banner Lord, and we have been ordered to come and welcome the special envoy of the Tang Dynasty."

Zhang Lexing did not directly reveal his identity.

The man laughed, took a few steps forward, clasped his fists and introduced himself.

"I am Chen Chengrong, and I am the Anhui Recruiting Envoy of the Tang Dynasty. I have come to Zhiheji today to meet with the leaders of the Nian Army on behalf of our king and to recruit all the brothers of the Nian Army."

"Brother Lao is here to greet you!"

(End of this chapter)