You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 288 Recreating MacArthur's Famous Scene~
Outside Yongding Gate, Jiang Zhongcheng led 5000 elite Zhili Green Standard Army soldiers to set up camp, strictly enforcing military discipline and preparing for war, ready to defend his son's victory by force at any time.

Early Qing Dynasty
Most of the Green Standard Army soldiers in the north came from the Ming army, while a small portion came from peasant uprising armies.

Their loyalty to the Qing government was less about loyalty and more about fear.

However, after all the ups and downs over the past few years, they've all lost their mystique.

After the fear in his heart dissipated, his ambition began to swell rapidly.

The phrase "a minister who follows the emperor" is deeply etched into everyone's heart, burning their eyes and making their hearts itch, wishing they could immediately storm into the Forbidden City.

The Grand Secretary becomes the Emperor.

The governor-general became the retired emperor.

Everyone transformed into the new Eight Banners of the Empire!

Outside Yongding Gate, a murderous aura filled the air.

Inside Zhengyang Gate, all were loyal.

……

A dozen or so messengers galloped through the inner city, shouting:

"The Grand Secretary has returned to the capital! The Grand Secretary has returned to the capital!"

"Prepare to welcome the emperor!"

Like an ice cube falling into a boiling oil pot, wherever the messenger went, the streets erupted in chaos.

As the savior descended, the Manchu bannermen in the inner city leaped, cheered, and embraced, shedding tears of excitement, grievance, and anticipation.

That's terrible~
Starting in May this year, the imperial court could only guarantee the distribution of old rice and moldy green rice; there were no other supplies.

No pay!

No wine or meat!

No enjoyment!

No servants!

No medicinal herbs available!

There isn’t even enough fuel to cook rice or boil water!
Poverty, hunger, disease, fear, and confusion.

The young emperor shattered everyone's confidence with his own hands!
The black market dealers in Jingshan emptied everyone's savings!
Reality has made everyone stronger!

People in dire straits will instinctively beautify any news as "good news." Humans need hope; they cannot live without it.

In front of the Temple of Heaven.

"Long live the Grand Secretary!"

Several radicals shouted the most outrageous slogans in the street, yet no one condemned them.

……

An hour later.

Outside Yongding Gate, a rider galloped in.

Suksaha dismounted, knelt and crawled for ten feet, then raised his head, revealing a respectful and obsequious smile.

"Reporting to the wise and mighty Prime Minister, please enter the city."

Jiang Qingyun glanced past him and looked at Jiang Deshun behind him. Jiang Deshun nodded solemnly, his meaning clear: everything was normal, and his son-in-law could rest assured.

"Put on your armor!"

Half an hour later~
The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, casting thousands of golden rays.

Chiang Kai-shek enters the city!
He rode a pure white horse and trotted into the city.

He was wearing three layers of heavy armor: chainmail, cotton armor, and golden armor.

He also wore a pure gold mask, which, from a distance, shone with dazzling light, appearing majestic and extraordinary, unlike anything human.

Following him were the all-black-horse, white-flag cavalry and the all-yellow-horse, Zhili Green Standard Army cavalry, divided into left and right columns.

……

On the central axis.

Bannermen from the capital lined both sides of the road, with each person standing a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) apart. The procession stretched from Yongding Gate to Zhengyang Gate, and then from Zhengyang Gate to Wu Gate.

They silently gazed into the distance along the street.

"Turn~"

As Chief Minister Chiang Kai-shek appeared on horseback, all the armed guards turned around, their backs to him, their movements synchronized and silent, like dominoes falling, sending chills down one's spine. The main gate of Zhengyang Gate opened.

The Great Qing Gate was also opened.

Jiang Qingyun spurred his horse into the sacred and inviolable Forbidden City. In front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, he saw the thin, disheveled, and inhuman Shunzhi.

The emperor and his subjects meet again!
A long silence~
"Prime Minister, do you intend to assassinate the emperor?"

"Your Majesty, you are still young, and we have a long time to serve as ruler and subject. If you issue an edict now, entrusting the affairs of state to me, I will clean up the mess for you. Go to the Summer Palace to read more and exercise more; you may very well make a name for yourself in history in the future."

Emperor Shunzhi laughed so hard he lost control, then abruptly stopped.

He wiped away his tears, turned and left.

……

Jiang Qingyun stood on the city wall and gave an impromptu speech to the dark mass of bannermen below.

"I will lead you to suppress the Shanxi merchants!"

"I will lead you to suppress Wu Sangui!"

"I will lead you to suppress the Confucius Mansion in Shandong!"

I will lead you into a new life!

Every time Jiang Qingyun spoke, 20 loud-voiced megaphone soldiers, scattered throughout the city wall, would loudly recite the script to ensure the sacred sound resonated throughout the room.

With each word spoken, the flag bearers cheered.

The cheers of tens of thousands of people were like waves, repeatedly reverberating over the capital. Jiang Zhongcheng, who was outside Yongding Gate, heard them and thought to himself: This kid is really something else!
As if possessed by a demon, the flag bearers became more and more excited as they shouted.

Through repeated cheers, they actually felt the long-lost power of the collective.

When the huge banner with red cloth, white background, and black characters fell from the city wall, and everyone could see clearly that it read, "Seven lives for the country! Eight directions under one sky!"

Everyone started stomping their feet and roaring wildly.

They didn't really know why they were doing this, but they just wanted to stomp their feet, roar, and recapture their former glory.

……

After the speech, messengers toured the entire city.

"The Grand Secretary has ordered that in one hour, everyone in the capital, regardless of age or gender, must leave the city and expand the Western Hill Camp on the spot."

No one could disobey!

Respond positively!

The entire city was quickly mobilized!
This proves from another perspective that, whether people admit it or not, the Eight Banners of the capital have accepted the loving yet strict Grand Secretary from the bottom of their hearts!
Once the military order was given, men, women, and children cut down trees, dug trenches, built tents, and cooked meals. Everyone was like a screw in a huge machine.

In the camp, messengers kept running around.

"The Grand Secretary has ordered that the sick step forward and be properly treated in a separate camp."

"The Grand Secretary has ordered that all males under the age of 13 step forward and form a separate battalion. All elderly and infirm men over the age of 45 step forward and form a separate battalion. All unmarried Manchu women step forward and form a separate battalion."

"The Grand Secretary has decreed that everyone should rest at 7 PM and get up at 5 AM."

……

The next day, at 5:45 AM.

All members assembled.

Jiang Qingyun delivered a speech entitled "Total War".

"We must be fully prepared for war. We must unite. We must arm ourselves. We will launch the fiercest attack against all enemies!"

"Our first enemy is the Shanxi merchant armed group!"

"Our greatest enemy will be Wu Sangui, the treacherous scoundrel who commands 100,000 troops and has seized control of Yunnan and Guizhou!"

"In order to win this battle for survival, the Eight Banners must be as solid as a rock and as stable as Mount Tai, and must not waver, crack, or be destroyed by the enemy during the critical moments of the war."

"I hereby announce that, effective immediately, the original names of each banner will be abolished. The Eight Banners will be a unified whole, with no distinction between this banner and that banner. Armor, clothing, and flags will all be standardized."

"What is backward must be changed, and what is decadent must also be changed. This is exactly in line with the New Life Movement that I have been advocating."

The scene was eerily quiet.

Jiang Qingyun took off his helmet and grabbed his braid: "This braid is one of the symbols of backwardness. I'll go first."

A guard cut off the prime minister's braid at the back of his head and shaved off the rest of his hair.

Bald!

(End of this chapter)