Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 361 Going to Beijing for the Examination!
Li Yi laughed when he heard this.

"Ha ha!"

"Okay, Li Liang, you're right."

"Pass the order down, the army will enter the city."

"Today, I will take all of you to the capital to take the exam!"

Li Yi felt that he was thinking too much now.

The fruits of victory are right in front of you, why think so much!

There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain!
We’ll talk about the future later.

For me now, the most important thing is to enjoy the fruit of victory that is about to fall into my mouth.

Zuo Zongtang on the other side couldn't help but sigh.

He took the imperial examinations so many times in the first half of his life, but after wasting half his life he only became a juren and could not become an official.

But now he just changed his mindset slightly and followed Li Yi for a few years, and now he has arrived in the capital.

As expected, the old saying goes, it is much easier to get into the capital than to pass the entrance exam.

Li Yi urged his horse forward and led his men to the outside of Yongding Gate in a mighty procession.

Cai Bingwen and Nerjing'e, along with a group of Qing officials who stayed in the capital, knelt in front of them, asked for surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and knelt to welcome Li Yi's arrival.

When Li Yi's horse arrived in front of Cai Bingwen and others, he stopped the horse, turned his head and said to Cai Bingwen who was kneeling in front of him.

"Master Cai, although this is the first time we meet today, we have known each other for a long time. Now, we should be considered old acquaintances, right?"

Cai Bingwen knelt on the ground, not daring to look up. Hearing the sound of horse hooves approaching, he became more and more uneasy.

Cai Bingwen didn't speak until Li Yi started talking to him.

"I was blind and resisted the king's army. I deserve death, but now I have come to my senses and surrender the capital. I hope the king will forgive me."

Li Yi laughed.

"It is the greatest honor to admit one's mistakes and correct them. Since Lord Cai has led his people to return, how can I refuse?"

"How about letting Master Cai lead the way for me today?"

Li Yi actually had no ill feelings towards Cai Bingwen.

Well, Lao Cai has often been against the Tang Dynasty.

But, he is a bad cook!

It basically did not cause any obstacles to the Tang Dynasty!
Even when Li Yi first led his army to attack Xunzhou City for the third time, Cai Bingwen's deceiving actions provided a lot of assists to the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, Old Cai also murdered Zeng Guofan, thus eliminating a great evil for the world.

Therefore, Li Yi not only did not dislike Cai Bingwen, but instead looked at him with a different eye.

Upon hearing this, Cai Bingwen immediately said with great joy.

"I obey your orders!"

Cai Bingwen knew that since Li Yi said this to him, it was very likely that he, Old Cai, would not only be able to save his life this time.

Maybe I can keep my official position...

How could Cai Bingwen not be excited about this?
As he spoke, he stood up from the ground, led the horse for Li Yi, and walked towards the capital.

Nerjing'e and others continued to kneel where they were, and Tang officials would make arrangements for them later.

Although Nerjing'e and others could not keep their official positions, they would definitely keep their heads as they had made great contributions by surrendering the city.

Passing through the city gate, your eyes suddenly open up.

Although the outer city was also considered the capital, it was mostly inhabited by poor people and there were no magnificent, exquisite or splendid buildings.

Most of them are low and dilapidated bungalows, or even shacks.

A courtyard house made of blue bricks and tiles can be considered a luxury house even if it is placed in the outer city.

Come to think of it, there were hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners descendants gathered in the capital.

These Eight Banners descendants could only survive from starvation by relying solely on their crops. If they wanted to live a good life, they had to find a way on their own.

But what else can they do in this capital city?

It's nothing more than plundering those poor Han people who have no backing and no background.

As hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners descendants plundered and amassed wealth, the gap between the rich and the poor in the capital had reached an alarming level.

The fact that the Han people in the outer cities of the capital have a place to live instead of being homeless can be considered as the conscience of the Eight Banners descendants.

The streets on both sides had already been under martial law by the Tang army soldiers who had entered the city earlier.

Even the buildings on both sides of the street were placed under martial law.

In order to prevent anyone from assassinating the king, the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to security work.

Although most of the people in the outer city are Han people, not the Eight Banners.

But the Manchus had been in the capital for more than two hundred years, so there might be a few diehards who would pop up and assassinate Li Yi.

These days, it's not difficult to get a few rifles for long-range sniping.

Therefore, when Li Yi entered the city this time, he simply did not arrange for the people to line the streets to welcome him, so as to not give the assassin a chance to blend in with the crowd and commit the assassination.

Even the buildings within a certain range on both sides of the street were cleared and guarded by people to prevent assassins from having the opportunity to launch long-range sniping attacks.

Well, showing off is important.

But compared to showing off, Li Yi still feels that his life is more important.

He didn't want to reach the capital only to be assassinated and fail.

The army marched into the capital in a mighty manner, and Li Yi's imperial carriage passed through the outer city and arrived outside the inner city.

"Your Majesty, the city gate in front of us is Zhengyang Gate, the main gate of the capital..."

Cai Bingwen began to introduce.

Li Yi nodded slightly, then continued to ride his horse forward. Under the guidance of Cai Bingwen, he passed through the city gate and entered the inner city of the capital.

After entering the inner city, the architectural layout of the capital changed drastically.

What comes into view is no longer a collection of low earthen huts.

Instead, there are gardens, mansions and large courtyards one after another.

There are endless layers of buildings, green tiles and red eaves, terraces and pavilions, carved beams and embroidered windows. In the inner city, the most common buildings are courtyard houses with curved corridors.

The inner city is where the real powerful and wealthy live.

Most of the Eight Banners descendants of the Qing Dynasty lived in the inner city, and only a small number of impoverished families moved to the outer city.

However, the inner city is now in a state of chaos.

Because Tang army soldiers were arresting Eight Banners members from house to house, preparing to search their homes and then send them to public trial and labor reform.

Cai Bingwen felt a little bit reluctant about the scene before him, but he also knew what he could say and what he could not say, so he just continued to lead Li Yi in silence.

After passing through Zhengyang Gate, the Daqing Gate is right in front of you.

Li Yi raised his head and glanced at the plaque hanging on the Daqing Gate, sneered and gave orders.

"Take that stone plaque and make a new one!"

"From now on, this is no longer the Daqing Gate!"

An official beside Li Yi heard this and immediately agreed.

Li Yi continued to move forward. In later life, he had heard an interesting story that after the Xinhai Revolution, the Republic of China was preparing to change the name of Daqing Gate to Zhonghua Gate.

In order to save trouble, the craftsman official in charge of engraving the words planned to turn the stone plaque of the Daqing Gate over and engrave the words on the back.

But after turning the stone plaque over, they realized that they were not the first to do so.

Our predecessors in the Qing Dynasty had the same idea.

Because, behind the stone plaque of Daqing Gate are three big characters: Daming Gate.

Now things are a bit awkward!

After passing through the Daqing Gate, the group soon arrived outside the imperial city.

The city gate in front is the main gate of the imperial city, which was called Chengtian Gate in the Ming Dynasty and later changed to Tiananmen Gate during the Shunzhi period.

Li Yi rode his horse into Tiananmen Square and continued towards the Forbidden City.

Soon, he passed the Meridian Gate and arrived at the Forbidden City.

Looking at the Forbidden City in front of him, which was magnificent and luxurious with its red walls and yellow tiles, but could not hide the traces of time and history, Li Yi could not help smacking his lips.

It's a bit depressing.

The Forbidden City is in such a dilapidated state, how can he live here?
But it’s normal when you think about it, the Forbidden City was built five hundred years ago.

Although it has undergone several major repairs along the way.

However, it is just a major overhaul.

Including the time when the Ming and Qing dynasties transitioned, Li Zicheng did burn down the Forbidden City before retreating westward, but he did not burn it completely.

At least, the Wuying Palace was not burned down.

Because after the Manchus entered the Pass, Shunzhi ascended the throne in the Wuying Hall.

It can be seen that the story of Li Zicheng burning the Forbidden City is actually exaggerated.

Moreover, a large number of Ming Dynasty components were discovered in the three main halls of the Forbidden City in later generations, which shows that the Qing Dynasty rebuilt the Forbidden City on the basis of the Ming Dynasty.

This also shows that the Forbidden City before us has undergone several major renovations throughout the ages.

But in essence, it is still an old house that has experienced five hundred years of wind and rain.

It's impossible not to break!
How can it be comfortable to live in a dilapidated house that is more than 500 years old?

Li Yi felt uncomfortable when he thought about living in such an old house in the future.

But if he wanted to rebuild a palace, Li Yi was afraid of being criticized for wasting time and money.

So, he was in a dilemma!

After a moment, Li Yi made a decision.

He won’t repair it. Li Yi doesn’t want to bear the reputation of wasting people’s time and money.

I'm going to live in the Old Summer Palace!
The Forbidden City is an old house, but the Old Summer Palace is not.

If he doesn't want to live in the Forbidden City permanently, he can live in the Old Summer Palace.

At most, he would return to the Forbidden City when a grand court meeting or some ceremony was held.

Anyway, the Forbidden City is not far from the Old Summer Palace, only forty miles.

When we have cars in the future, we can build a direct road between the two cities. A round trip will take no more than half an hour, so it won't delay anything.

Shaking his head to get rid of all these messy thoughts, Li Yi continued to walk forward.

After passing the Meridian Gate, you will see the Golden Water Bridge.

Then there is Taihe Gate and Taihe Hall.

This is the so-called court!
On the imperial road of the palace, Tang army soldiers carrying rifles remained on guard.

Li Yi stepped forward, stepped onto the steps, and headed towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

With a creak, the door of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was pushed open.

A beam of sunlight shone from behind Li Yi and illuminated the golden dragon throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Under the sunlight, the floating dust in the air keeps moving.

Li Yi stared at the "Gold Lacquered Throne with Cloud and Dragon Pattern" in the center of the hall in front of him without blinking, his eyes showing a slightly obsessed look.

After five years of traveling and fighting, he has finally reached this point.

He was really only one step away from the throne in front of him that symbolized the highest authority.

It is worth mentioning that the dragon throne in front of us is actually from the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Qing Dynasty remade the dragon throne after entering the Pass.

But during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, a fire broke out in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the dragon throne was burned.

The craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty could not find suitable materials at the moment, so they could only repair this old Ming Dynasty object slightly and then bring it back.

Well, the dragon throne belonging to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was once again placed in the main hall of the Forbidden City!

It's quite ironic to say.

(End of this chapter)