Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 619 Feng Yunshan's Dilemma
"Don't you remember?"

Lin Dao leaned down and stared at the dazed Hong Xiuquan. "You were possessed by the Heavenly Father before~"

"Ah~~~"

The aftereffects of the electric shock were still lingering, and Hong Xiuquan felt uncomfortable all over, with his crotch feeling sticky.

But he managed to suppress his physical discomfort, his face full of confusion.

"Is this happening?"

"I really don't know~"

"Has the Heavenly Father... left?"

Lin Dao stared at him, making him feel uncomfortable all over, but he had to force himself to endure it.

After a while, Lin Dao finally smiled and said, "Our God-Worshipping Society worships the Supreme God of Heaven."

“If your foreign Godfather comes again, it won’t be easy for you to leave.”

"clear?"

I understand, I understand perfectly!
If anyone dares to pull this "possession of the Heavenly Father" act again, they will be physically destroyed.

Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan were well aware of this.

They don't buy into that at all!
Straightening up, Lin Dao looked at Feng Yunshan and asked, "What are your plans?"

"Will you join us in opposing the Qing Dynasty, or go back to Guangdong and continue your Heavenly Father Worshipping Society?"

Following us means that the God Worshippers' Father will vanish into thin air, and we will become his subordinates, at the mercy of others.

Hong Xiuquan was just a charlatan; he couldn't pretend to be one. What use was he, a mere student who wasn't even a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations)?

Lin Dao didn't look at him, but stared at Feng Yunshan, and that was the reason.

Feng Yunshan, who came from a landlord family, was the core figure in the early days of the God Worshipping Society.

If he hadn't died so young in battle, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom might have actually succeeded.

Feng Yunshan fell silent.

He understood what Lin Dao meant; this was an attempt to recruit.

Otherwise, given their previous influence here, silencing them would be the best option.

Not to mention, my foolish cousin even put on a show of being possessed by God.

If they agree, aside from anything else, at least they should have no problem becoming leaders like Xiao Chaogui, Shi Dakai, and their brothers.

Yes~
Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix!

Feng Yunshan, who was living a perfectly good life as a landlord with white flour buns every day, turned into a wanted criminal by the imperial court, all for the sake of getting ahead.

Besides~
Besides, Lin Dao only controls a part of Wuzhou Prefecture now.

He had a large number of men under his command, but the vast majority of them were ordinary people, including men, women, the elderly, and children.

To be honest, I'm not optimistic about it.

Feng Yunshan didn't speak, but Lin Dao already understood.

"Anyone who opposes the Qing Dynasty is a friend."

He simply stated, "When I leave, I'll send you a batch of supplies to take back to Guangdong."

Lin Dao didn't plan to fight in Guangdong because although Guangdong was important, it wasn't the core area of ​​Mite Clear.

Their core territory consisted of taxes and grain from the Jiangnan region and the North.

But we can't just let it go unchecked.

Arranging for Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan to start an uprising in Guangdong could also tie down the 100,000-strong army in Guangdong (on paper).

"You went to Guangdong."

Before Lin Dao could finish speaking, he said, “We can no longer use the name ‘God Worshipping Society.’ We can call it ‘Heavenly Father Worshipping Society.’ Didn’t you say you are the second son of the Heavenly Father? Then we’ll use that.”

Hong Xiuquan, who was still trembling, could only lower his head and remain silent.

The God Worshipping Society, which I painstakingly built, was wiped out by this person.
He looked up reluctantly at the old brothers he had contacted over the past few years.

Unfortunately, Shi Dakai, Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and the others simply nodded and nodded, without offering any words of help.

"Let's go."

Feng Yunshan helped him up, and he limped out of the tent.

"Take me to change my clothes first."

Hong Xiuquan lowered his voice, "I can't take it anymore~"

Smelling the pungent stench, Feng Yunshan rolled his eyes and found an empty barracks to send him inside.

"The Feng brothers~"

While waiting outside, Shi Dakai came over to greet him.

"Brother Stone."

Feng Yunshan greeted him with a broad smile.

"The leader ordered me to arrange a batch of supplies to take back to Guangdong for Brother Feng." Shi Dakai said with emotion, "Actually, if you ask me, it would be best if Brother Feng worked with us."

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Feng Yunshan was determined to take the plunge on his own.

If our brothers in Guangxi can make such a big splash, there's no reason why we can't.

He wasn't like Yang Xiuqing and others who had to risk their lives because they couldn't even afford food; he genuinely wanted to do great things.

Seeing that Feng Yunshan showed no sign of wavering, Shi Dakai sighed and beckoned Feng Yunshan to go to the warehouse together.

As for Hong Xiuquan inside the room, after taking off his clothes and cleaning himself, he peeked out to ask his cousin to find him some clothes, only to be surprised to find that no one was outside.
"This used to be the warehouse of Wuzhou Prefecture."

Upon arriving outside the warehouse complex, Shi Dakai handed over the approval slip signed and stamped by Lin Dao to the soldiers guarding the warehouses.

"All the spoils captured by the army are stored here."

"The military?" Feng Yunshan raised an eyebrow. "What military?"

"It is preliminarily determined to be the Taiping Army." After confirming that the approval had been granted, Shi Dakai led Feng Yunshan inside "to signify the wish for peace throughout the land."

"Taiping Army~" Feng Yunshan was slightly taken aback. What a good name!
I want to use it~
A warehouse in front of them was opened, and the gleaming silver was dazzling.

Shi Dakai held up the document in his hand: "Ten thousand taels of silver, plus a batch of copper coins."

"Uh~"

Feng Yunshan was dumbfounded.

They never expected that Chairman Lin would provide such strong support!

That's ten thousand taels of silver!
Undoubtedly a huge sum of money.

Such a large sum of money could even be enough to live a life of luxury as a gentry in some prefecture. Of course, given the current state of the Manqing regime, without a powerful backer, one would soon be swallowed whole, skin and bones.

However, what Feng Yunshan found even more unbelievable was that this was just the beginning.

Shi Dakai led him through one warehouse after another.

"Eggs are difficult to store and carry, so the leader said he would give you jarred meat."

"The Taiping Army has rushed to make a batch of military uniforms here; you can take a batch with you when you leave."

"Take as many of these homemade muskets, gunpowder, and lead bullets as you can; we don't need them."

"Look here, all of this grain was harvested this autumn."

"The leader said that he will give you 13,000 shi of grain as military rations."

"These tents, carts, iron pots, tools, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones~"

The military is a very large group, and all aspects of its life, including food, clothing, housing, and transportation, must be guaranteed.

The supplies provided to the military are also enormous in quantity and variety.

Lin Dao was absolutely kind and considerate to Feng Yunshan, providing him with all sorts of things, and in large quantities.

It's more than enough to start an uprising.

"Braised meat in a jar." Shi Dakai opened a can of luncheon meat, took out a dagger, and pried out a piece of meat. "It can be eaten raw."

"This would be perfect as a reward for the soldiers."

After taking a few bites of the canned food, Feng Yunshan was greatly impressed by the rich oil and meaty texture, along with the strong flavor of spices and salt.

"nice one!"

“These clothes,” Shi Dakai shook out his T-shirt, shorts, and sandals, “are the summer uniforms of our Taiping Army.”

"The leader means that if you really want to start an uprising, you need at least 10,000 people to form a significant force, so we have prepared 30,000 sets for you."

"It's not that we can't give more, but that we don't need too much."

Here in the forest, there is no shortage of clothes and shoes.

Not only can they be purchased from the modern world, but they are also produced by factories using mechanized processes.

He could also organize the women to sew clothes using sewing machines from various controlled time and space locations.

It's certainly not as efficient as a mechanized factory, but it has a lot of people.

They provide meals and use the leftover scraps of cloth as payment, so one person can sew many pieces a day.

Feng Yunshan remained silent, already deeply shocked.

At the same time, the doubts in my heart grew stronger.

When I got to the outside of the weapons depot, looking at the mountains of weapons, equipment, flags, musical instruments and so on inside, I finally couldn’t help but speak up.

"I see you have a lot of people, don't you need these weapons?"

Even the most basic refugee cannon fodder, holding a pitchfork or a wooden stick, is vastly different from those carrying knives or guns.

So much equipment, and they just gave it all away? Feng Yunshan couldn't understand it no matter how hard he tried.

"We have the best."

At this point, Shi Dakai's face was full of joy.

"These muskets and cannons are not powerful enough; we are using brand-new modern guns and cannons!"

"It has great power, long range, quick reloading, and good quality."

Feng Yunshan's heart stirred slightly at these words, but before he could speak, Shi Dakai shook his head and said, "Don't even think about it. The leader forbids it from being leaked. Every gun is bound. Whoever loses it will be in trouble."

Feng Yunshan fell silent, his gaze fixed on the weapons and equipment in the warehouse.

Many of the muskets and cannons have clearly been wiped, repaired, and oiled, and look to be in very good condition.

In his eyes, this was definitely a good thing.

But the Taiping Army didn't even consider them a threat.

For a moment, Feng Yunshan felt somewhat disappointed.

"The grain here."

Shi Dakai led him to the warehouse where the grain was stored. "The leader said that about 13,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) will be given to you."

Most of the grain was harvested in the autumn, but most of it was confiscated from various grain shops.

In addition, there were some miscellaneous grains and old grains, plus a small amount of sweet potatoes, vegetables, potatoes, and the like.

Without a doubt, this is an enormous scale, amounting to more than ten thousand shi (a unit of dry measure).

If used to recruit soldiers, there would be thousands upon thousands of recruits.

In this day and age, nothing is more important than food.

Feng Yunshan remained silent for a long time before finally asking the question that had been on his mind.

"Chief Lin, why are you providing such assistance?"

For aid of this scale, even offering oneself in gratitude is an understatement.

"We need to launch a northern expedition." Inside the main tent, Lin Dao explained to the generals, "We don't have time to develop operations in Guangdong, Yunnan, and other places."

"But we can't let the Qing demons launch a counterattack and slaughter all the people here."

"I want to leave a contingent of troops to guard Guangxi."

"We also need auxiliary forces to draw the Qing demons' firepower from the outside."

Historically, the Taiping Army was essentially a band of outlaws before capturing Nanjing.

The kind of person who just goes wherever the road takes them.

In the areas they had fought, the Qing army counterattacked and, under the pretext of treason, carried out a brutal and inhumane massacre.

Lin Dao had no intention of becoming a bandit, and he would never allow the Qing army to carry out a wanton massacre.

Therefore, it was inevitable to leave people to guard the local areas while simultaneously carrying out land reforms and distributing land to the wealthy.

As for the candidate, he already had one in mind.

However, even Guangxi has not been pacified yet, so it's far from the right time.

"Twenty days."

He instructed the leaders to "reorganize the entire army around me, and adapt to the equipment and training."

"I'm only giving you twenty days."

"Twenty days later, the army will march north and take Guilin directly!"

(End of this chapter)