Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 256 Shi Dakai: Change Xi'an to Chang'an!
After the Taiping Army captured Nanjing, they massacred the Eight Banners of Jiangning and confiscated their property, which yielded a mountain of gold and silver.

Moreover, the Taiping Army was subsequently surrounded by the Qing Dynasty's Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps in the city of Nanjing.

Although he had mountains of gold and silver, he found it difficult to spend them, and almost all of them were thrown into the treasury and became dust.

Later, when the Qing government recovered Jiangning, these mountains of gold and silver were naturally seized by the Qing army, returned to the Qing army, and then transported to the capital.

However, although the Qing government could transport gold and silver away, it could not transport the land.

And land is the greatest wealth!

The Eight Banners of Jiangning occupied Nanjing for two hundred years, and almost half of the fertile fields in several prefectures around Nanjing were turned into the banner fields of the Eight Banners.

After the Eight Banners of Jiangning were massacred by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, these banner fields naturally became ownerless.

Nowadays, they all belong to the Tang Dynasty and have become public land in the hands of the Tang Dynasty.

You know, these lands are located around Nanjing, which is the most fertile land in the entire Jiangnan area.

Normally, even if you have money, you can't buy the land here.

It goes without saying how valuable it is.

In many cases, land is a hard currency that is harder than gold and silver.

With these lands, if the Tang Dynasty is short of money, it can sell the land for cash at any time.

Of course, Datang is not short of money now.

As of now, Datang's finances are still quite abundant.

After discussing the Tang Dynasty's fiscal expenditure plan for next year with Wu Xingbang and chatting about trivial matters for a while, Li Yi waved his hand to send the other party away.

Then he summoned Zhao Ke, director of the Industry Department, to meet him.

Zhao Ke came to Li Yi's office and reported to Li Yi on Datang's industrial development this year.

The first and most important thing is that this year, Datang completed the construction of a telegraph network connecting major cities such as Guangzhou, Guilin, Changsha, Wuchang, Jiujiang, Anqing, and Nanjing.

And relevant tests were carried out to ensure that signals can be sent and received stably.

In other words, Li Yi can now sit in Guangzhou and remotely command the three major battle zones of the Tang army via telegram.

Of course, this is just talk. Li Yi is not the principal and he will not really be a master of micro-manipulation.

In addition, there is the expansion of industrial parks.

In addition to the Foshan Industrial Park, Datang has also designated areas in Changsha, Hunan and Guilin, Guangxi, and is preparing to build a Changsha Industrial Park and a Guilin Industrial Park to drive the industrial and commercial development of the two provinces.

Although there is no port in Changsha, maritime trade is not possible.

However, it can connect to Dongting Lake through the Xiangjiang River and then directly into the Yangtze River, use the Yangtze River waterway to transport raw materials, and sell industrial products to various provinces along the Yangtze River.

The Guilin Industrial Park can transport goods to Guangzhou for export and transshipment of raw materials via the Guijiang River and then to the Xijiang River.

Or it can go through the Lingqu Canal, turn to the Xiangjiang River, and then from the Xiangjiang River to Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, and be distributed inland.

It is worth mentioning that after the Tang Dynasty conquered Guilin, it immediately recruited civilians to repair the Lingqu Canal, deepen and widen it, so as to increase the cargo volume of the Lingqu Canal.

It was originally intended to facilitate the army to transport logistical supplies through the Lingqu Canal.

But now it just makes freight more convenient.

It’s like killing two birds with one stone!
In general, the location advantages of Guilin and Changsha are quite good.

Li Yi now realizes that if you want to get rich, you have to build roads first.

If the transportation is not convenient enough, it would be wishful thinking to want to develop.

Li Yi is really grateful now. He is grateful that his hometown is in the south, where he can develop industry and commerce through water transportation.

In the north, where all transportation depends on land, it would be very difficult to develop industry and commerce without railways.

In addition to these two newly built industrial parks, Li Yi also personally instructed to develop Daye Iron Mine and Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant in order to further promote the development of Datang's heavy industry.

Lay the foundation for Datang's subsequent large-scale railway network construction!

After seeing Zhao Ke off, the ministers under the Ministry of the Interior came to Li Yi one after another to report on their work.

Li Yi met with them in turn and had a clear understanding of the development of various departments of Datang this year.

……

Xi'an!

After the Taiping Army led by Shi Dakai conquered Xi'an, they liquidated the Eight Banners of Xi'an in the city.

Although at the reminder of the Qing court, a considerable number of the Eight Banners of Xi'an evacuated Xi'an in advance and went to Shanxi or Henan, thus avoiding the complete annihilation of the Eight Banners of Xi'an.

However, after Shi Dakai's troops occupied Xi'an, they still searched and killed more than a thousand Eight Banners in Xi'an. They used the heads of these Eight Banners to severely shock the people in Guanzhong.

After occupying Xi'an, the first thing Shi Dakai did was to change the name of Xi'an to Chang'an and the Xi'an General's Mansion to the Wing King's Mansion.

Afterwards, he ordered his troops to use the confiscated fields of the Eight Banners around Chang'an to prepare to implement the Tianchao land system.

It is clear that he plans to live in Xi'an for a long time.

One day, Shi Dakai was reviewing documents in his study when his wife Huang pushed the door open and walked in, holding a tray with a few cups of tea on it.

"King Yi, now that the army has entered the pass and arrived in Chang'an, we can be considered to have settled down for the time being."

"There shouldn't be any more migrations in the future, right?"

Huang handed the teacup in her hand to Shi Dakai and asked softly.

Shi Dakai took the teacup, took a sip, nodded, and then spoke.

"Guanzhong is the foundation of the kingship!"

"Now that we have taken it, we will naturally not leave."

When Huang heard this, her eyes became moist. She put her hand on Shi Dakai's shoulder and said.

"King Yi, now that the army has settled in Chang'an, it's time for you and me to have a child."

"You are the King of Wings, the commander of the entire army. If you have no children, I'm afraid people will be uneasy."

For a politician, children are a very important bargaining chip.

Having children means that there is a possibility of a smooth handover of power in the future, and that the power has a bright future.

As the current supreme leader of the Wing Palace troops, Shi Dakai naturally bears the same responsibility.

The soldiers under him were all waiting for Shi Dakai to give birth to a child as soon as possible. Although they were not eager to see him, they were still looking forward to it.

Upon hearing this, Shi Dakai reached out and squeezed Huang's hand that was on his shoulder, and spoke in a teasing voice.

"It's still daytime? Can't the princess hold back?"

When Huang heard this, her face immediately turned red.

"King Yi, what nonsense are you talking about? How could I be such a shameless woman!"

"This is really ridiculous!"

Upon hearing this, Shi Dakai laughed heartily.

As he laughed, he held Huang in his arms and groped her up and down.

Their eyes met, and there seemed to be a fire burning between them.

However, just as the two were getting closer and closer, almost touching each other, there was a knock on the door outside Shi Dakai's study.

Immediately, Shi Xiangzhen's voice rang out.

"Lord Yi, General Shi Xiangzhen wishes to see you. I have something important to report!"

"It's urgent!"

Shi Dakai was interrupted just as he was getting excited, and an unhappy expression appeared on his face.

But when he heard Shi Xiangzhen say that there was something extremely urgent, he let go of Huang in his arms.

Huang stood aside, tidying up her slightly messy robe, and Shi Dakai greeted Shi Xiangzhen who was outside the door.

"What happened? Come in and talk!"

Upon hearing this, Shi Xiangzhen pushed the door open and saw Huang, who looked a little disheveled, standing next to Shi Dakai.

In an instant he realized that he seemed to have come at a wrong time, but considering the urgency of the matter, Shi Xiangzhen stepped forward and came to Shi Dakai and spoke.

"King Yi, something big has happened."

"The old king of heaven has ascended to heaven!"

When Shi Dakai heard this, the expression on his face froze.

First there was shock, and then there was forced grief.

"Are you serious?"

"Has the King of Heaven really ascended to heaven?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Xiangzhen nodded vigorously.

"To reply to King Yi, this matter is definitely true and cannot be false."

"Some time ago, in early October, the Qing demons set up an execution ground in the capital to execute our Heavenly Kingdom soldiers who were captured in the Battle of Tianjing."

"The Heavenly King was also killed on the execution ground and has now ascended to heaven!"

After saying this, Shi Xiangzhen continued with a serious expression.

"Also, there is news coming from the capital."

"When the Qing demons executed our Heavenly Kingdom soldiers, Emperor Xianfeng, the chief of the Qing demons, went to watch the execution in person. He was then assassinated on the spot and died of his wounds in the Qianqing Palace."

"Afterwards, a dramatic change occurred in the Qing Dynasty's top leadership. Prince Gong Yi ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, with the reign title Qixiang..."

The expression on Shi Dakai's face became more and more shocked.

Oh my goodness, it turns out that Hong Xiuquan and Xianfeng are both dead!
Isn't the situation in this world changing too fast?

Shi Dakai frowned and thought.

"Who was responsible for the assassination of Emperor Xianfeng?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Xiangzhen responded immediately.

"In reply to King Yi, according to the news sent back from the capital, Qing Yao has determined that this was done by the Tang Kingdom."

Shi Dakai frowned and asked again.

"What is the reaction from the Tang Kingdom?"

Shi Xiangzhen spoke honestly.

"After the Tang Emperor led his troops to conquer Tianjing and renamed it Nanjing, he led his troops back to Guangzhou."

"There was no reaction."

Shi Dakai couldn't help but chuckle, then said.

"Haha, interesting."

"It seems that this incident was most likely directed and acted by the Qing Dynasty itself."

The assassination of Emperor Xianfeng had nothing to do with Shi Dakai.

The Tang Dynasty did not take advantage of the assassination of Emperor Xianfeng and the unrest within the Qing court to continue its campaign in the south of the Yangtze River to expand its victory, but instead returned to Guangzhou after taking Nanjing.

At first glance, it has nothing to do with them.

By the process of elimination, there is a 99% chance that this incident was an internal conflict directed and acted out by the Qing Dynasty itself.

Seeing this, Shi Xiangzhen asked.

"King Yi, how should we deal with this matter?"

Shi Dakai pondered for a while, then spoke.

"This matter is of great importance, and it is not easy for this king to decide it with just one word."

"Xiangzhen, go and invite Mr. Huang and Mr. Zhang to discuss this matter together!"

"The King of Heaven has ascended to heaven. As the remaining members of the Kingdom of Heaven, we naturally cannot pretend that nothing happened..."

Upon hearing this, Shi Xiangzhen clasped his fists and left to convey Shi Dakai's order.

Shi Dakai himself was sitting in the study, frowning, obviously thinking...

(End of this chapter)