Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 250 Assassination!

Seeing that Hong Xiuquan on the execution platform was still shouting, Xianfeng became suspicious and turned to An Dehai who was serving him and spoke.

"Xiao Anzi, send someone to ask that long-haired bandit chief what he's making such a fuss about."

Upon hearing this, An Dehai immediately agreed, then turned around and told a young eunuch beside him to do it.

Soon, the young eunuch went back and forth between the viewing platform and the execution platform, came to An Dehai, and whispered something in his ear.

An Dehai's face changed when he heard this, but he caught a glimpse of Xianfeng waiting for his report, so he did not dare to delay, walked up to Xianfeng and spoke.

"In reply to your Majesty, I just sent someone to listen in. The long-haired bandit leader was unwilling to be executed and was swearing and cursing."

“It’s no big deal!”

Upon hearing this, Xianfeng still asked with some curiosity.

"Don't keep us in suspense. Just tell me what the long-haired bandit leader said."

Upon seeing this, An Dehai knew he could no longer keep it secret and could only select a few words to relay to Xianfeng.

"In reply to your Majesty, the bandit leader said that he is the son of the evil god of the long-haired bandits, and that he came to the mortal world this time to experience a catastrophe."

"Now that his tribulation is over, he will ascend to heaven and return to his Father."

Obviously, An Dehai would definitely not dare to repeat Hong Xiuquan's curse that Xianfeng would have no descendants, his family would be broken up, and he would be abandoned by his friends and relatives.

Apart from anything else, the sentence about having no descendants was like walking in a minefield in Emperor Xianfeng's reign.

Because this is not a curse, it is a fact.

Xianfeng has indeed no descendants now.

If An Dehai really dared to repeat this sentence in front of Emperor Xianfeng, there might be one more death row prisoner to be skinned alive on the execution ground today.

Upon hearing this, Xianfeng sneered disdainfully.

"The evil god worshipped in the evil temple dares to touch the tiger whiskers of the Qing Dynasty?"

"Didn't this thief leader Hong Xiuquan say that he came to earth to experience tribulation?"

"Very good. Tell the executioners to give him more cuts when they chop him. Make sure this thief has a complete death."

An Dehai broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, but he still responded immediately, then turned around and trotted to convey Xianfeng's order.

Soon, it was noon.

The sun is high in the sky!

The golden sunshine adds a bit of warmth to the capital city in winter.

Xianfeng looked around and then gave orders.

"Pass the order, the time has come, start the execution!"

As Xianfeng finished speaking, he threw an imperial edict arrow on the ground.

On the execution platform, the executioners walked towards Hong Xiuquan who was tied to the cross.

Hong Xiuquan's clothes were stripped off and a fine-mesh fishing net was covered over him.

As the fishing net tightened, pieces of fish-scale-like flesh were bulged out.

The executioners stepped forward and cut off Hong Xiuquan's eyelids with two cuts.

In an instant, blood gushed out, dyeing Hong Xiuquan's face bright red.

The executioners threw the two eyelids toward the crowd watching the excitement, causing a scramble among the crowd.

The Eight Banners descendants in the crowd looked at the scene before them and listened to Hong Xiuquan's miserable wails, all of them looking quite excited.

"Good! Good!"

"That's a good cut! It feels so good!"

"Hahahaha, the leader of the bandits was skinned alive. The people who were killed in Jiangning, Jingzhou, Guangzhou, Xi'an and other places finally got their revenge!!"

"Slash him, slash him a few more times, and see if there are any more villains in this world who dare to rebel!"

"..."

The Eight Banners descendants shouted excitedly, as if each of them had encountered a great joyful event.

Given the character of these Eight Banners descendants, you would not have the courage to go to the battlefield and fight the bandits.

However, they not only had the courage to watch the bandit leader being skinned alive at the execution platform, but they were also very brave.

When Xianfeng saw this scene, he was also excited.

Looking at Hong Xiuquan screaming miserably with blood all over his body, he felt inexplicably happy in his heart.

But at this moment, several gunshots were heard from a two-story building outside the execution ground.

The gunshots were mixed in with the noise around the execution ground and were not noticeable.

The moment the gunshot rang out, several bullets shot out from the muzzle, cutting through the air and heading straight towards Xianfeng on the execution platform.

Xianfeng was watching Hong Xiuquan being tortured to death with great interest when he suddenly felt a chill on his ear and subconsciously reached out to touch it.

Soon he saw his hands covered in blood.

Looking at all the blood, Xianfeng couldn't help but stand there in a daze.

But before he could react, he heard a shrill and sharp scream.

An Dehai's face was full of horror, and he pointed at Xianfeng's chest and shouted.

"Blood! Bleeding!"

"The emperor's chest is bleeding!"

Xianfeng subconsciously looked down and saw several pools of blood soaking through his clothes, spreading across his chest and dyeing his bright yellow dragon robe blood red.

He opened his mouth, a sharp pain hit his heart, and Xianfeng's pupils contracted.

On the side, Yi suddenly rushed over, threw himself on Xianfeng, and shouted.

"Escort, escort!"

"There is an assassin, quickly escort him!"

Although the assassin was arranged by Yi, this did not prevent him from continuing to act as a loyal minister, filial son, and good brother in front of everyone.

After Xianfeng's death, if Yi wanted to ascend to the throne, he had to have a good reputation.

When the people around saw this scene, they all reacted and rushed over to protect Xianfeng in the middle.

Su Shun, who was in charge of the emperor's guards, had beads of sweat on his forehead and shouted at the top of his voice, "Quick! Quickly escort the emperor back to the palace."

"Then call the imperial physician, call the imperial physician quickly!"

After giving these instructions, he continued.

"In addition, immediately seal off the scene and arrest the assassin. Do not let him escape..."

Sushun knew that no matter what the final outcome of this incident was, he was in trouble.

The emperor was assassinated by his own guards. Even if he was fine in the end, he would probably be charged with dereliction of duty.

If he wanted to salvage something, his only chance would be to capture the assassin as soon as possible and find out the real murderer.

The crowd escorted the blood-stained Xianfeng down from the execution platform, and then they headed towards the Forbidden City under the escort of soldiers.

The place is in chaos!
Everywhere you could see screaming crowds pushing and shoving each other.

Screams and wailing continued to be heard, and the scene was in chaos.

Sushun ordered his men to suppress the riot, but it was impossible to suppress the rioting crowd.

……

Night is falling!

The Forbidden City, outside the Qianqing Palace.

Yi, Sushun, Shengbao, Qi Junzao, He Ruolin, Ruilin, Shu Xing'a and other senior officials of the Qing court gathered together.

Even Borjigit, the highest-ranking empress dowager in the palace, came to the scene with all of Emperor Xianfeng's concubines.

Everyone's face was filled with anxiety as they waited for the results in the Qianqing Palace.

Although Xianfeng was assassinated, he did not die on the spot.

Thanks to the treatment of the imperial physician, he was able to survive for the time being.

But it is only temporarily suspended, and it is hard to say whether it can survive the dangerous period.

"What happened today?"

"Why was the emperor assassinated?"

Qi Junzao asked with a serious expression.

Yi's face was gloomy and uncertain. He couldn't understand why Xianfeng didn't die!

Upon hearing this, Borjigit immediately began to turn the tables.

"You'll have to ask Lord Sushun about this."

"The emperor's guard duties have always been in the charge of Lord Sushun."

"Now that the emperor has suddenly been assassinated, his life or death is unknown. Sushun, do you need to give me, the ministers, and the entire Qing Dynasty an explanation?"

Upon hearing this, Sushun could only bow his head and plead guilty.

"What happened today was my fault. I hope the Concubine will forgive me and give me a chance to make amends."

Upon hearing this, Borjigit just snorted coldly.

"Humph, I can't give you this opportunity."

"Let's look at the emperor's!"

"I just hope that the emperor is okay. Otherwise, even if you have ten thousand heads, Sushun, they won't be enough to chop off."

Sushun responded immediately.

"Yes, yes, yes, I understand!"

Yi, who was standing by, finally came to his senses and spoke to test Su Shun.

"Sushun, has the assassin been caught?"

"Do you have any idea about the identity of the mastermind behind this?"

Sushun heard this and spoke.

"In reply to Prince Gong, after the emperor was taken away, I ordered people to seal off the execution ground and conduct a search."

"Although we were unable to find the assassin, we did find the weapon he used in the assassination in a two-story building not far from the execution ground."

"They are several Western-style rifled guns, with the inscriptions on the gun bodies reading 'Made in the Second Year of Zhaowu in the Tang Dynasty'."

"If I'm not mistaken, the assassin should be a spy that the Tang thieves have placed in the capital."

When Yi heard this, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

But he was ecstatic in his heart, knowing that his advance arrangements had successfully misled people.

Regicide is a big deal, so Yi naturally cannot fail to be prepared for unexpected events.

One of the preparations Yi had made in advance was to have the musketeers used in the assassination attempt engrave the Tang army's emblem in order to frame the incident on the Tang Dynasty.

However, before Yi had time to be happy for long, he heard Shengbao beside him speak.

"Lord Sushun, in my humble opinion, although there are Tang thieves' inscriptions on the assassination weapon, it is not necessarily the Tang thieves who did it."

"If it was really done by Tang thieves, why would they deliberately leave evidence and point the clues to themselves?"

"Leaving the symbol of the Qing Dynasty on the weapon, leading the Qing Dynasty's high-ranking officials to be suspicious of each other, and even causing civil unrest in the Qing Dynasty, wouldn't this be more in line with the interests of the Tang thieves?"

Although Shengbao behaved like a coward on the battlefield, he was not stupid.

One sentence pointed out the doubts about the matter.

If it was true that the Tang Dynasty sent assassins to kill Emperor Xianfeng, how could there be evidence pointing to them left at the scene?
Upon hearing this, Yi's heart, which had just relaxed, became tense again.

However, most people at the scene seemed to be preoccupied with something, so no one noticed his abnormality.

Rui Lin on the side did speak.

"Lord Shengbao, are you saying that the Emperor was assassinated this time by our own people of the Qing Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, Shengbao immediately denied it.

"Lord Ruilin, how can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air? When have I ever said such a thing?"

However, although Shengbao denied it, it was just because he didn't want to take responsibility.

Everyone knows what his original intention is!
(End of this chapter)