1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 272 "Reasoning"

“Eighth brother is married now. You’re the only one among us who isn’t married yet. Don’t try to fob me off with that excuse that the Tartars haven’t been defeated yet. You’re not getting any younger. You should leave an heir for the Peng family.” Yang Xiuqing said in an unquestionable tone.

Peng Gang disliked others interfering in his marriage, especially Yang Xiuqing.

Yang Xiuqing's current Dongwang Mansion is the former Huguang Governor's Office. The lives of the Cheng family in Wuchang are all in Yang Xiuqing's hands.

Peng Gang knew perfectly well what Yang Xiuqing was thinking when she sent Cheng Lingnan to Peng Gang.

"Seventh Brother dislikes the descendants of a wicked official?" Yang Xiuqing asked.

As soon as Yang Xiuqing finished speaking, Cheng Lingnan hurriedly knelt down, bowed her head and sobbed, blurting out, "This humble woman is still a virgin. If there is anything I have done wrong, I beg the Northern King's forgiveness."

"Get up, you've done nothing wrong." Peng Gang raised his hand to stop him, speaking impatiently, then turned his head to look at Yang Xiuqing.

"I'll let her into my Peng family's household."

Peng Gang was not unwilling to accept the position of a descendant of a Manchu official.

If it were the descendants of officials like Tao Shu and Lin Zexu, whose post-retirement assets amounted to only tens of thousands of taels of silver, and who were highly respected and well-regarded in their localities.

Peng Gang was willing to accept the offer if it brought him tangible political benefits.

During this raid on wealthy households in Wuchang, the Taiping army looted over a million taels of silver from the Cheng family alone.

Among the wealthy families in Wuchang, only the local wealthy family Li Xiangxing had more silver than the Cheng family, possessing 1.2 million taels.

The Cheng family is a veritable corrupt tycoon.

Although Cheng Yucai, Tao, and Lin were all famous provincial officials during the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods, their reputations and influence were clearly not comparable and were not on the same level.

Marrying Cheng Lingnan was a complete loss; they wouldn't even get the million taels of silver the Cheng family had hidden in Wuchang.

Yang Xiuqing's attitude was firm, and since we were currently at the Eastern Prince's residence, it would be best to accept the person he was sending.

Anyway, Peng Gang only agreed to Yang Xiuqing's request to allow Cheng Lingnan to enter the Peng family's household. As for whose household he should enter, that would be up to him after they got back.

"Very good, very good. Seventh Brother should also give the Northern Palace a successor." Yang Xiuqing nodded slightly and said with a smile.

The following day, in a good mood, Yang Xiuqing took Peng Gang to the center of Wuchang City, to inspect the Yue Ma Chang (horse-viewing area) on Wuchang Changjie Street, and showed Peng Gang the results of their missionary work in Wuchang.

Several preaching platforms of varying sizes had long been erected at Yuemachang for "explaining principles," or one could say "explaining the will of Heaven."

To put it bluntly, it was about gathering people to preach, a missionary model that Hong Xiuquan learned from listening to pastors preach on the streets of Guangzhou in his early years.

All officers in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, from the kings down to the lowest Sima, were required to preach and teach their subordinates.

The official requirement was that the content to be preached should be the doctrines and divine commands of the God-Order Society.

However, many of God's congregations are illiterate, while many of the Old Order are well-versed in the laws of God.

As for the rather lengthy and tedious doctrines, few people are truly familiar with them.

The lower and middle-ranking civil and military officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom generally only talked about the benefits of worshipping God when they tried to persuade their subordinates to do things.

On the various stages of the Wuchang Yuemachang, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom generals of all ranks spoke eloquently, spitting as they lectured the seemingly devout and attentive Wuchang newcomers below, expounding on the benefits of worshipping God.

As the presentation progressed, they would occasionally call on people to ask questions. If someone answered incorrectly, they would be punished on the spot with a beating and their rations reduced.

This scene inexplicably reminded Peng Gang of the large lectures he attended in college.

The difference is that he could skip large lectures in college, which wasn't so strictly enforced. In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, reasoning was conducted in groups, and everyone had to attend. Skipping lectures was punishable by death, and not paying attention was also punished.

As Peng Gang passed by more than a dozen large and small lecterns, he saw more than twenty people being dragged out of the line and punished.

This outcome was within Peng Gang's expectations. When the new congregation in Wuchang listened to the lecture, their eyes were glazed and lifeless. They were forcing themselves to listen, and it would have been strange if they had actually absorbed anything.

Passing through the surrounding lecterns, Peng Gang arrived at the central lectern in the horse-viewing arena.

The central podium was larger and more magnificent, and the status of the lecturer who spoke reasoned was increasingly elevated.

Even Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai and others personally came to preach and expound their doctrines.

The audience also differed; the peripheral audience consisted mainly of ordinary people, mostly laborers and peddlers from the Wuchang area.

The upper echelons, especially the princes' audience, consisted mostly of fair-skinned, pretty girls aged twelve to seventeen or eighteen, interspersed with a small number of local students and students from Wuchang.

Peng Gang once wondered whether the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom princes were there to reason with the people or to select concubines.

Only the audience below Feng Yunshan's stage

There were relatively few young women; there were more students and children.

Those who listened to Feng Yunshan's reasoning listened most attentively, and almost none of them were punished.

Several believers who had sincerely submitted to Feng Yunshan knelt down and prayed, reciting the "True Words of the Heavenly Father" with devout expressions. Their voices resonated in the ears and rippled through people's hearts like a tide.

The audience below the stage listened with rapt attention.

When it comes to serious missionary work, Old Feng is still the best at it.

The one who spoke the loudest about reason was Hong Xiuquan.

All that could be heard was Hong Xiuquan speaking eloquently and fluently:
"You have long suffered because your hearts have strayed from the way of Heaven! Now, the Heavenly Father has taken pity on you and sent us down to earth to save you! Those who believe in my true way and worship the Heavenly Father will be given new life, spared from war, and enjoy peace!"

"The Heavenly Father is the Lord of all things, the source of heaven and earth! He is not a paper horse or clay sculpture, nor an illusion of bodhisattvas or arhats. The Heavenly Father has a Son named Jesus, who is the same as my Heavenly Brother. I am the brother of my Heavenly Brother, and I come to uphold the righteous path in the world."

"The Father speaks to the world through my mouth. What I say today is not my own words, but the Father's words spoken through me. Anyone who questions this speaks doubting the Father."

As Hong Xiuquan was speaking enthusiastically, a student suddenly stood up and stormed off, breaking through the crowd and rushing towards Hong Xiuquan, only to be subdued by the swordsmen beside him.

The students, now under control, became agitated and pointed at the dragon's eyes on Hong Xiuquan's robe, shouting, "Heaven and earth have spirits! Saints have spirits! How can the evil spirits and demons of foreigners have spirits?!"

Fellow elders of Wuchang, listen to me! The Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother they are making you worship are barbarian demons!
"These so-called Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother are nothing but a bunch of charlatans who swindle and deceive. Don't be fooled by them and believe their nonsense!"

Hong Xiuquan trembled with rage, gritting his teeth as he roared, "How dare you, you demon, speak ill of the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother! Men! Horses! Horses! Horses!"

Since Hong Xiuquan became king, apart from Yang Xiuqing during the period when the Heavenly Father was possessed, no one dared to be so disrespectful to him.

Being pointed at and cursed by a student in front of so many people completely undermined Hong Xiuquan's authority as the Heavenly King. He was so angry with the student that he ordered his men to execute him.

Yang Xiuqing, who was standing next to Peng Gang, also looked extremely unpleasant.

Originally, Yang Xiuqing intended to use the grand occasion of the sermon to let Peng Gang experience the benefits of preaching and encourage Peng Gang to open sermon venues in Hanyang and Hankou as well. Unexpectedly, such a big accident occurred.

Before long, Hong Xiuquan's guards brought five horses and tore the brave scholar to pieces on the spot.

(End of this chapter)