1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 328 The Northern King's Wedding
Perhaps because this was Peng Gang's first wedding, as the wedding date approached, representatives from the brothers of the Shentian family gradually arrived in Wuchang to offer their congratulations and gifts to Peng Gang.

Shi Zhenlun, the representative from the Yi Palace who was closest to Peng Gang and had a relatively good relationship with him, was the first to arrive in Wuchang. Then came the representative from the Nan Palace, Feng Yunshan. Even the Assistant Prince Wei Changhui, who had already led his troops on the Northern Expedition and whose relationship with Peng Gang was not particularly good, sent someone to deliver congratulatory gifts.

The representatives of the Heavenly King and the Eastern King arrived the latest, especially the representative of the Eastern King, who arrived in Wuchang on the first day of the fifth lunar month, just three days before Peng Gang's wedding.

Yang Xiuqing sent Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong this time. These two were the two people in the East Palace who were relatively close to Peng Gang.

Peng Gang received the two in the main hall of the Northern Prince's Mansion.

"On His Highness the Northern King's wedding day, His Majesty the Ninth Prince specially ordered us to deliver congratulatory gifts, wishing His Highness and the Queen a long and happy marriage." Chen Chengrong respectfully bowed to Peng Gang.

His respect was tinged with fear and trepidation.

This wasn't Peng Gang's first encounter with Chen Chengrong. Chen Chengrong had never been so apprehensive when meeting superiors in the past. Chen Chengrong was Yang Xiuqing's close attendant, and it was likely that his symptoms were caused by serving Yang Xiuqing.

Peng Gang had heard that Yang Xiuqing became increasingly harsh and cold-hearted, capricious, and difficult to serve after entering Tianjing.

Before long, more than ten heavy, gilded gift boxes were carried into the main hall.

Lin Qirong, standing to the side, unfolded the gift list and read aloud: "Eight pairs of wild ginseng from Liaodong, 10 bushels of pearls, two round washers with celadon glaze from the Song Dynasty Ru kiln, 1,000 taels of red gold, and 300 bolts of Suzhou embroidery."

Yang Xiuqing was reluctant to allocate grain, but he was quite willing to give away valuable embroidery and antiques, since these were the things that Jiangnan had no shortage of.

Peng Gang smiled and accepted the gift from Yang Xiuqing. He then asked Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong to thank Yang Xiuqing on his behalf when they returned. He then exchanged pleasantries with Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong.

Seeing that Peng Gang was as friendly as he had been in Guangxi, Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong chatted for a long time, and they were no longer as reserved as before.

Peng Gang followed up the conversation by asking the two about the current situation in Tianjing City.

From the conversation with the two, it was learned that Hu Yihuang was now actually a member of the Eastern Palace. Therefore, Feng Yunshan did not bring Hu Yihuang with him on this southern expedition, but only brought Lu Liu, a senior member of the God God Society who was not very good at military affairs.

Two months ago, Hong Xiuquan invited a foreign missionary from the United States named Luo Xiaoquan, who was Hong Xiuquan's religious mentor and a Christian Baptist missionary, to Tianjing to teach him.

They poached Hu Yihuang, dispatched Wei Changhui on a northern expedition, and sent Feng Yunshan on a southern expedition.

Only the Heavenly King, who neglected state affairs, remained in Tianjing City, while the main force of the Eastern Palace remained in Tianjing to be responsible for its defense.

These measures demonstrate that Yang Xiuqing is drastically weakening local power and strengthening central authority.

To be fair, Yang Xiuqing's centralization of power was beneficial to the development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the path he took was not wrong.

During the time of the God God Society, its members were scattered in various places. They also joined forces to start the Jintian Uprising. Today, various temples and forces have all become powerful.

By this time, Yang Xiuqing had already centralized power far too late. Given his ruthless and cold-blooded nature and his hasty approach to governance, it was inevitable that he would offend all the high-ranking officials of the Heavenly Kingdom.

After the conversation, Peng Gang asked Peng Yi to take Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong to rest.

Chen Chengrong thanked Peng Gang and turned to leave. His movements were not very agile, as if he was injured.

Seeing this, Peng Gang called out to Peng Yi, who then took Chen Chengrong to the clinic to have his injuries checked.

After Peng Yi led Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong away from the main hall, he took advantage of a break to go to the West Flower Hall and instructed the coding group, composed of four students from the third term of the Martial Arts Academy, to compile a standard telegraphic codebook with reference to a phonetic dictionary.

Languages ​​with alphabetic systems, such as English, have a small character set, consisting of only twenty-six letters, ten numbers, and a few punctuation marks.

Morse code allows each character to be easily assigned a unique code.

The telegraph operator can recognize A by hearing "di di da" (A) and B by hearing "da di di di" (B), and can perform direct translation without relying on the codebook.

Chinese is a logographic language with an extremely large character set, containing thousands of commonly used characters. It is impossible to create a unique and easy-to-remember Morse code combination for each Chinese character. Even if it were forcibly created, no telegraph operator could remember and distinguish it, at least not the average person's telegraph operator.

Since existing telegraphs cannot directly transmit Chinese characters, an intermediate medium must be introduced for conversion and indirect encoding.

Peng Gang decided to adopt the four-digit encoding system used in later generations to assign numerical codes to 10,000 Chinese characters.

The telegraph operator at the sending end encodes and sends the message using a codebook, and then the telegraph operator at the receiving end decodes it.

After receiving and recording the digital signal, the telegraph operator at the receiving end consults the same codebook to decipher the numbers into Chinese characters.

Although this method has a high professional threshold and low efficiency, sending a Chinese telegram requires two conversions, the workload is more than twice that of alphabetic telegrams, it is prone to errors, and the telegraph operator cannot directly translate it.

However, this is already the most suitable and feasible solution under the current conditions.

After all, Chinese civilization had declined for more than two hundred years, the telegraph was invented in the West, and its technical standards were also set by the West. The entire technical system, from protocols, equipment and operating procedures, was designed around the Latin alphabet.

With the resources and technical capabilities currently available to Peng Gang, he is not yet able to create a telegraph system that can directly adapt to Chinese encoding.

Peng Gang chose to use the Pinyin dictionary as a reference to develop a standard four-digit coding system, partly out of consideration for promoting Pinyin and Arabic numerals.

As dusk fell, Peng Gang returned to the inner courtyard.

Having settled Chen Chengrong and Lin Qirong and finished dealing with the affairs of the Sacred Treasury, Peng Yi returned to the Northern Prince's Mansion.

The three siblings came to the restaurant to have dinner together.

As Peng Yi picked up his chopsticks, he said, "The Eastern King is becoming increasingly intolerant of others."

Since Bei Dian and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had gone far away, Peng Gang and his brothers could talk about Yang Xiuqing without any reservations, basically saying whatever came to mind.

"What do you mean?" Peng Gang asked, poking at the eyes of the braised mandarin fish with his chopsticks.

The Eastern Palace troops had not directly participated in the battle for nearly five months. Peng Gang knew without thinking that the wounds on Chen Chengrong's body were inflicted by Yang Xiuqing. Chen Chengrong was a high-ranking official and a close advisor of Yang Xiuqing. He was also senior in rank, and there were not many people who dared to injure him.

As for why Yang Xiuqing beat Chen Chengrong, Peng Gang didn't ask much about it during the day in the main hall.

"The injury on Chen Chengrong's buttocks is related to the Eastern King's eye ailment. The Eastern King's eye ailment is getting worse, and Chen Chengrong, after drinking, made a slip of the tongue, saying that the Eastern King's eyesight seemed to be not as good as before. Someone reported this to the Eastern King, who was furious. The Heavenly Father descended to earth and accused Chen Chengrong of blasphemy, and publicly had him flogged one hundred times," Peng Yi said.

"Chen Chengrong has followed the Eastern King for many years and made great contributions. He has never been disloyal. It is too much to punish him with a hundred strokes of the cane for a careless remark. Lin Qirong said that after this incident, the Eastern King bought several pairs of Western sunglasses. He never takes them off and no longer shows his eyes to others. He also does not tolerate the words 'eyes' or 'eyes.' Many people have been punished with canes for unintentionally uttering words related to eyes."

Discussing the appearance of ordinary monarchs has always been taboo. Even if a monarch is as fat as a pig, has a crooked neck, is bald, or has some eye problems, it is not acceptable to discuss him directly in a crowded place.

For a suspicious monarch, the private gossip of his confidants is more dangerous than the open attacks of his enemies.

Moreover, Yang Xiuqing's power base did not entirely come from military or administrative abilities; part of it was based on his sacred identity as the spokesperson of the Heavenly Father.

Any physical defect of Yang Xiuqing might be considered a personal characteristic in an ordinary environment, but within the framework of theocratic politics, it would inevitably be seen as a challenge to divine perfection.

Discussing that Yang Xiuqing has eye problems is tantamount to questioning the perfection and sanctity of Yang Xiuqing's identity as the Heavenly Father, or it may be implying something else entirely.

If you keep your distance from Yang Xiuqing, from an outsider's perspective, he is a natural-born leader. He is decisive, bold, and has an indomitable spirit. You can see more of his strengths than his weaknesses.

But those who were closer to Yang Xiuqing and under his command included Wei Changhui, Lin Fengxiang, and others.

From the perspective of a close confidant like Chen Chengrong, one sees more of Yang Xiuqing's flaws: excessive self-centeredness, disregard for others' feelings, bullying, vindictiveness, ruthlessness, capriciousness, hedonism, double standards, and tyranny. Moreover, one has to constantly endure Yang Xiuqing's shortcomings, something most people could not tolerate.

“Give Chen Yucheng three days off. Chen Chengrong has come all this way to Wuchang and has raised Chen Yucheng. As Chen Yucheng’s nephew, he should accompany him to visit him,” Peng Gang said, picking up a fish eye, putting it in his mouth, chewing and swallowing it.

"Prepare some gifts to return to the Eastern King. When Chen Chengrong returns to Tianjing and Lin Qirong returns to Jiangxi, also send them some gifts privately. Treat them well these next few days, and keep your distance from their entourage when you speak."

Chen Chengrong is now a trusted minister of Yang Xiuqing, responsible for conveying Yang Xiuqing's edicts and coordinating various parties.

Maintaining a good relationship with Chen Chengrong would also make it easier to obtain information about Tianjing's movements and react accordingly.

As for Lin Qirong, he was sent by Yang Xiuqing to Jiangxi to assist the Yidian in guarding Pengze and to share the pressure of the Yidian's river defense.

Peng Gang controlled half of Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi, and befriending Lin Qirong proved highly beneficial in future battles in Jiangxi.

The fourth day of the fifth month of the first year of the Tianli reign of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1852).

The twelve gates of Wuchang City opened one after another.

Yellow silk and colorful ribbons stretched from the Wang family residence all the way to the Beiwang Mansion, with each household along the way displaying a dragon and phoenix banner specially made for the Beiwang Mansion.

Before dawn, the city was already deserted as people crowded both sides of the streets to watch the grand wedding.

Thirty-six cannon salutes were fired.

A procession of splendidly dressed, spirited ceremonial guards was carried out from the Wang family residence on the front street. At the forefront were eight pairs of golden gongs leading the way, followed by sixty-four red-clad soldiers from the Northern Palace, each carrying a red flag.

The band played wedding music, with the sounds of sheng, xiao, and flute interspersed with the brass of a Western military band, a unique blend of Chinese and Western styles.

Peng Gang extended invitations to the British, French, and American delegations who were still inspecting the three towns of Wuhan and Daye, waiting for his trading company to send ships to transport goods.

The French and American delegations, who already had the intention to establish diplomatic relations with Beidian, gladly participated in Peng Gang's wedding and sent their military bands to join in the festivities.

The British delegation leader, Alcock, took a more ambiguous stance. He himself did not attend Peng Gang's wedding, but only sent Jardine Matheson, a representative of Jardine Matheson & Co., to participate.

The bride's phoenix palanquin was carried by eight old men from Guangxi. The palanquin was made of sandalwood and surrounded by curtains embroidered with gold thread depicting a hundred sons and a thousand grandsons. A golden phoenix with outstretched wings stood atop the palanquin.

Wang Yunheng wore a bright red crepe gauze wedding dress, a nine-phoenix crown, and a beaded curtain draped over her face as she sat regally in the phoenix carriage.

Women lining the streets scattered flower petals and coins, while children chased after the procession, singing joyful songs and bending down with beaming smiles to pick up the scattered coins. As the procession reached the gate of the palace, suddenly drums and music erupted. The vermilion gates of the Northern Prince's Palace swung open, and thirty-six women dressed in red lined both sides, chanting in unison, "Welcome the Northern Prince's Consort!"

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had many taboo characters, and many of these taboo characters were commonly used characters.

The surname Wang should also be changed to Huang. According to the etiquette of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a song should be sung to welcome the Queen Mother Huang.

Peng Gang felt that the title was not only awkward but also rustic, so he did not adopt the idea of ​​changing the surname to Wang Niang and continued to call her Wang Fei according to the old system.

Those attending the wedding were slightly taken aback by the title and felt something was amiss. However, this was Wuchang, and no one was so tactless as to point out the inappropriateness in public at Peng Gang's wedding.

Peng Gang was wearing a nine-tassel crown and a dragon robe woven with five patterns. There was a dragon woven in front and behind him, and a dragon woven in each of his shoulders. He wore a leather and jade belt around his waist. He looked handsome and had a touch of scholarly elegance.

Peng Gang personally descended the steps to welcome Wang Yunheng into the mansion.

The wedding was officiated by Zuo Zongtang's wife, Zhou Yiduan.

Zhou Yiduan first led Peng Gang and Wang Yunheng to bow to Heaven and Earth, and then turned around to bow to their parents. Peng Gang was an orphan and had no parents. His brothers and uncles dared not accept his bow and declined to perform the ceremony on his behalf. Peng Gang only bowed to the relics of his parents that Peng Min had brought from their hometown.

Finally, Peng Gang and Wang Yunheng bowed to each other.

After the ceremony, Jules Iel, a French photographer dressed in a suit and sporting a beard, seeing that it was sunny and noon, pointed to the heavy wooden box he had brought, covered in black cloth and supported by a tripod—his Daguerreotype camera—in heavily accented and not very fluent Chinese, and expressed his request to Peng Gang.

"Your Highness, this is a camera, the magic of light. It can eternally freeze this moment, this scene of Your Highness and the Queen's wedding, onto a metal plate. This will be an eternal testament to your marriage, more real than any painting by a painter. I humbly request Your Highness's permission to preserve this memorable and great moment for you and the Queen."

The servants and guests around looked at the strange square box with curiosity and wariness, whispering among themselves.

Wang Yunheng stood beside Peng Gang, the beaded curtain of her phoenix crown swaying slightly. She stared at the dark lens as if it were an unfathomable abyss, and unconsciously tightened her grip on Peng Gang's sleeve, her fingertips turning slightly white. She whispered, "Your Highness...this thing...this thing is very strange. Could it be...something else?"

The French delegation once presented Peng Gang with a Daguerreotype camera as a gift, which Peng Gang played with in private.

In the mid-19th century, the mainstream photography method was the daguerreotype process, and a little later the wet plate collodion process emerged. Daguerreotype cameras used silver iodide or silver bromide as the photosensitive agent, which are the film and photosensitive elements (CCD, CMOS) commonly used in later generations.

The Daguerreotype camera had to be mounted on a tripod to be used, similar to later large format cameras. The lens protruding from the wooden box looked like a gun muzzle, giving it a very aggressive appearance.

Wang Yunheng had never encountered such a thing before. The Daguerreotype camera's aggressive appearance, cold metallic feel, and unknown functions made her instinctively feel a little scared, but in order not to embarrass Peng Gang, she pretended to be calm.

Peng Gang turned his head and his gentle gaze fell on Wang Yunheng.

He did not directly refute her fear, but gently held her cool and soft hand.

Being held in front of so many people, Wang Yunheng blushed and lowered her head, saying in a low voice, "There are so many people watching."

Peng Gang felt the slight tremor in her fingertips and her forced composure, and the warmth from his palm warmed her even more. Instead of letting go, he took the opportunity to completely envelop her slightly cool hand in his warm palm, and gently touched the back of her hand with his fingertips in a soothing way.

He leaned slightly closer to Wang Yunheng's ear, which was swaying gently behind the beaded curtain, and said to her already slightly red earlobe, "What are you afraid of? You and I are upright and honorable, witnessed by heaven and earth and our elders, and blessed by all people. Why should we be afraid of these few gazes? Let them look at us. It is only natural for me to hold my queen's hand."

As he spoke, Peng Gang paused, his gaze sweeping over the cold camera lens, and said gently to Wang Yunheng, "It's a Western photographic machine. Its principle is similar to pinhole imaging. It's not a hidden weapon, nor is it some kind of supernatural force. The French delegation also gave me a set, and I will personally teach my beloved concubine how to use it in the future."

Don't let its intimidating appearance fool you; it's actually incredibly clumsy. Without a strong light and a tripod, it's just a useless box. If it were truly a concealed weapon, it would be the worst concealed weapon in the world.

When it starts operating, there will be a sound and a few flashes, like fireworks during the Lunar New Year, only much smaller. There's no need to be alarmed.

"My beloved, you only need to look at me. Just imagine, a hundred years from now, future generations will be able to see our splendor through this iron box, and witness how virtuous and graceful my queen was."

Peng Gang's words gradually dispelled Wang Yunheng's unease, and she was also somewhat moved by what Peng Gang said. Could there really be such a magical object in the world?

Wang Yunheng looked up and caught a glimpse of Peng Gang's smile and met his determined gaze, which inexplicably made her feel at ease.

She gave a soft "hmm," then secretly squeezed his broad hand in return. Her blush deepened, and she muttered under her breath, "Your Highness always has so many reasons... Your Majesty... Your Majesty will do as you say."

"Okay!" Peng Gang laughed loudly, grasped Wang Yunheng's hand tightly, walked to the brighter outdoor area, and nodded to Le.

"Mr. Jules, please!"

Silver iodide and silver bromide photosensitizers have extremely low sensitivity. Due to the limitations of optical technology at that time, large aperture lenses could not be made. In order to reduce aberrations, the maximum usable aperture of the lens could only be F/16.

A small aperture means less light enters the camera, requiring a longer exposure time to produce a proper image.

If they were taking photos indoors, he and Wang Yunheng would have to sit still for at least several minutes to get a normal image.

Even in bright outdoor light, taking a portrait requires an exposure time of at least ten to several tens of seconds.

That's why people in old photos all have serious expressions.

It wasn't because people in the 19th century were serious and didn't like to laugh, but because they had to remain still to take a usable photograph; any slight movement would cause the photo to blur.

Jules was overjoyed and immediately instructed his assistant to adjust the camera and reflector.

Peng Gang led Wang Yunheng outside the hall and guided her to look at the camera and remain still.

Just then, with a "poof," the magnesium powder exploded and ignited, the blinding white light instantly illuminating Peng Gang and Wang Yunheng's faces and freezing this precious moment.

Looking at the successfully exposed silver plate, Jules gave Peng Gang and Wang Yunheng a thumbs up, saying that this shoot went even more smoothly than many shoots in Europe.

Jules exclaimed excitedly, "Perfect! Absolutely perfect! This is love! This is history!"

Peng Gang smiled and gently said to Wang Yunheng, who was still somewhat dazed, "See, I told you, it's not scary. It preserves the most beautiful and handsome moments of us."

Wang Yunheng looked at Peng Gang with eyes full of tenderness and admiration.

After the banquet, the warm light from the wedding candles, as thick as a baby's arm, on the gilded candlesticks in the bridal chamber, along with the glow from the whale oil lamps, illuminated the entire room.

Wang Yunheng sat upright on the edge of the bed. The beaded curtain of her phoenix crown had already been removed, and only a pair of hairpins adorned her dark blue hair.

The candlelight cast fine shadows on her long, drooping eyelashes, and her fingers, crossed on her knees, nervously twisted a handkerchief.

Just then, the door opened slightly, and Peng Gang, who smelled slightly of alcohol, walked in and locked the door behind him.

Peng Gang had also changed out of the heavy formal attire he wore during the day, and was now dressed in a dark red cloud-patterned robe, ready to travel light.

The footsteps drew closer and finally stopped in front of Wang Yunheng.

Wang Yunheng's heart suddenly raced, almost bursting out of her chest. She suddenly felt the bed dip slightly; it turned out that Peng Gang had sat down beside her.

Peng Gang reached out and gently placed his hand over her tightly wrung handkerchief; the warm touch made her tremble slightly.

Wang Yunheng glanced quickly at Peng Gang, then lowered her eyes again, her voice barely audible: "Your Highness, have you drunk too much? I'll go brew some tea to help you sober up."

Just as Wang Yunheng was about to get up, Peng Gang pressed down on the back of her hand.

“No need to rush.” Peng Gang reached out with his other hand, his fingertips lifting Wang Yunheng’s chin with a gentle yet firm touch, forcing her to lift her face and meet his gaze.

"Let me take a good look at my bride."

Wang Yunheng's cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were as clear as water. Her usual scholarly aloofness had completely transformed into shyness and helplessness.

"You weren't afraid of that iron box and that two-inch-thick lens during the day, but now you're afraid of me?" Peng Gang teased, his fingers and thumb gently tracing Wang Yunheng's smooth jawline and burning skin.

“How can that be the same?” Wang Yunheng subconsciously tried to turn her face away, but Peng Gang stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh? What's different?" he asked with interest, moving even closer until their clothes touched.

Wang Yunheng felt her face burning up, her heart pounding like a drum, and even her ears turning bright red.

She pursed her lips and mustered her courage to meet Peng Gang's gaze: "That thing is an inanimate object, Your Highness is a living person, my husband."

"My beloved consort is saying that I am your husband."

Before he could finish speaking, Peng Gang had already leaned down and kissed her lips.

Wang Yunheng's eyes widened in surprise, and her hand instinctively went to his chest, but he pulled her closer to his waist and pressed her even deeper into his body.

Her resistance melted away like ice and snow; her hand, which had been pressed against his chest, gradually lost its strength and eventually clung softly to Peng Gang's clothes.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally stepped back slightly, both of them breathing unsteadily. His forehead pressed against hers, their hot breaths mingling together.

"Your Highness, I'm scared."

"Don't be afraid, just bear with it and it will pass."

Peng Gang gently traced her lips, then lingered on her earlobe and neck. His large hand reached for the intricate sash of her wedding dress.

With a crackling sound, the bed curtains silently slipped down, concealing the spring scenery.

The wedding dress, the straight robe, and the inner garment were all picked up, taken off, and piled haphazardly on the carpet beside the bed.

After an unknown amount of time, the clouds dispersed and the rain stopped.
(End of this chapter)