Sky Curtain: My Great Qin must have an aircraft carrier!

Yang Xiuqing's ambitions went far beyond the trick of "the Heavenly Father descending to earth".

In 1856, the Taiping Army broke through the Qing Dynasty's Jiangnan Grand Camp, and Yang Xiuqing made great contributions.

Riding the wave of his great victory, he once again staged a possession by the Heavenly Father, forcing Hong Xiuquan to bestow upon him the title of "Long Live the Emperor" in front of the entire court.

In the magnificent Eastern King's Mansion, Yang Xiuqing rolled his eyes and aggressively demanded that Hong Xiuquan appoint him as emperor.

Hong Xiuquan knelt on the ground, his face turning green.

"Tsk, they haven't even secured their rule yet, and they're already starting to fight amongst themselves?"

Liu Bang stroked his chin, looking somewhat speechless.

Although I knew the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was just a makeshift operation, this was still too embarrassing.

Where do people start fighting each other before they've even accomplished anything?

If the people are not of one mind, even if they manage to conquer territory, they will eventually have to give it all away.

On the surface, Hong Xiuquan was respectful and obedient, agreeing to his demands, but in secret he sent someone to deliver a secret edict, ordering the Northern King Wei Changhui to return to the capital to defend the emperor.

Wei Changhui led his elite troops back to Tianjing overnight and slaughtered Yang Xiuqing, his family, and more than 20,000 followers.

Shi Dakai hurriedly returned to Beijing and confronted Wei Changhui, accusing him of indiscriminately killing innocent people.

Driven by malice, Wei Changhui plotted to eliminate Shi Dakai as well.

Shi Dakai sensed danger and fled the city overnight. His family members who remained in the city were all killed by Wei Changhui.

Unfortunately, Shi Dakai had never been defeated in hundreds of battles since joining the Taiping Army, and even the Manchus gave him the title "Shi Gandang".

He was the only one in the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who could earn nicknames from his enemies.

He didn't die on the battlefield, but his entire family was wiped out by his own people.

"Aaaaaah!! You dare kill my whole family!?"

Shi Dakai's eyes were bloodshot as he walked step by step toward Wei Changhui.

"My son is only three years old, and you won't even spare a three-year-old! What have I ever done to offend you that you'd want to kill me so badly!"

"Fuck your mother!"

Shi Dakai swung his fist and smashed it straight at Wei Changhui's face.

The tragic deaths of his entire family have left him unable to distinguish right from wrong!

Wei Changhui was caught off guard, his nasal bone collapsed on the spot, and blood gushed out.

But Wei Changhui was no pushover either. He immediately came to his senses and started fighting with Shi Dakai.

The guards looked at each other, none of them daring to step forward and break up the fight.

These two, one the Northern King and the other the Wing King, will both die if they take sides and offend either of them.

Hong Xiuquan stood beside the dragon throne, feeling as if his head was about to split open.

He didn't want to help anyone, yet he couldn't afford to offend anyone.

Hong Xiuquan muttered for a long time, then finally put the teacup on the table, turned around and went back to the rear hall.

Never mind, let them fight it out.

To quell public anger, Hong Xiuquan ordered the execution of Wei Changhui and sent his head to Shi Dakai.

Shi Dakai returned to Beijing to assist in governing, but was severely distrusted by Hong Xiuquan. In the end, he became disheartened and led 100,000 elite troops away.

These 100,000 men were the most capable fighting force in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The loss of elite soldiers and generals caused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to decline from its peak and begin its downward spiral.

By 1861, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had been severely weakened, but despite numerous encirclement and suppression campaigns by the Qing army, it failed to completely eradicate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

"..."

Emperor Qianlong remained silent for a long time.

As he watched the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom deteriorate, his mood gradually improved.

But then I thought, if the enemy is so badly defeated, how could the Qing army not be able to take them down?

"Useless! They're all useless!"

Emperor Qianlong grabbed the Duan inkstone from his desk and smashed it hard onto the gold brick.

The signs were already there when he was in power—the Manchu bannermen were spending all their time in theaters with birdcages and other birds.

Emperor Qianlong simply reprimanded him and fined him a few months' salary.

In retrospect, those reprimands were no different from farting.

What's the use of just talking about something that's rotten to the core?

But if the Eight Banners are no longer effective, then the only ones left who can fight are the Han Chinese.

Emperor Qianlong stood there, his face extremely grim.

With Han Chinese employed, the Qing Dynasty gradually became a Han-dominated country; without Han Chinese employed, the Qing Dynasty was directly overthrown by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Which one to choose?

Emperor Qianlong closed his eyes and made a decision after a long while.

As long as the Qing Dynasty doesn't fall during his reign, he doesn't care about the future.

Let the children and grandchildren figure it out themselves!

At this point, has anyone noticed a problem?

The Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fought for over a decade. Where were those Western powers then?

"Foreigners? You mean those red-haired barbarians?"

Emperor Kangxi frowned slightly, a sudden jolt of surprise gripping his heart.

Yup!

From the moment the sky appeared until now, his mind has been filled with internal strife, rebels, and powerful ministers. How could he have forgotten about the red-haired barbarians!

Based on the time displayed on the sky, the war between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lasted for more than a decade.

It's impossible that those Westerners wouldn't have reacted at all during such a long period of time.

Especially Tsarist Russia to the north, which had coveted that piece of land in Northeast China for many years.

With the Qing Dynasty embroiled in civil war and its national strength so weak, why didn't Tsarist Russia take advantage of the situation?

Those Westerners couldn't possibly be...

The more Kangxi thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

If the West had fully intervened, could the Qing Dynasty, in its current state of disarray, have lasted for more than a decade?

Emperor Kangxi had absolutely no confidence in his unworthy descendants.

He immediately realized that things weren't that simple.

For Westerners, the outbreak of internal strife in the Qing Dynasty essentially presented three options:

Help the Qing Dynasty, help the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or remain neutral and watch the two sides fight it out.

In the end, there's only one answer...

"Foreigners, you're from the past!!"

Emperor Kangxi slammed his fist on the imperial desk, his forehead veins bulging with anger.

If the Qing Dynasty becomes a henchman of foreigners, it would be better to just blow them up!

Losing to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom meant losing the country, becoming a dog of foreigners, and nailing the Aisin Gioro family to the pillar of shame!

For Europeans, the Qing Dynasty's internal strife was undoubtedly a good opportunity, but they simply couldn't spare the resources to deal with it.

At this time, Britain was overwhelmed by rebellions in its colonies, France was busy dealing with Prussia and Austria, and Tsarist Russia had just been defeated.

Therefore, all the great powers wanted a piece of the Qing Dynasty, but none of them had the means to do so.

"I see……"

When emperors of various dynasties heard this, they breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt a lingering fear.

Although everyone mocked the Qing Dynasty, they also knew in their hearts that all dynasties were in a state of decay at the end of their reigns.

Whether it was the late Tang, late Song, late Yuan, late Ming, or any other period, there were no exceptions.

If we were to add the invasion of foreign powers, we might end up in a situation similar to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

The great powers could not fully intervene, but they did contact the leaders of both sides, intending to hedge their bets.

However, when the envoys from the foreign powers arrived in Nanjing and met Hong Xiuquan, they were completely dumbfounded.

Hong Xiuquan called God "father" and Jesus "elder brother," which is even more intolerable than heresy.

Even heretics acknowledge their doctrines; what you're doing is pure fabrication.

Moreover, Hong Xiuquan's attitude was extremely tough, demanding that the foreign powers recognize the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as a superior nation and that they pay tribute to him.

Ultimately, after weighing the pros and cons, the powers chose to help the Qing Dynasty.

In 1864, Qing troops captured Nanjing, thus ending the Taiping Rebellion, which had lasted for fourteen years.

Li Shimin's lips twitched, and he remained silent for a long time.

Both sides were utterly rotten in their own way; it was practically a battle of idiots.

The war lasted for fourteen years, and tens of millions of people died, but nothing changed.

After all that fuss, it was all innocent civilians who died.

All that raging blood and fire was ultimately shed in vain.

……

"Ying'er, have you finished reading it? Did you learn anything?"

Liu Bang leaned back on the soft couch and asked questions casually.

Liu Ying pondered for a moment before slowly speaking: "Your Majesty, I believe that the power of grassroots rebellion should not be underestimated."

"Hong Xiuquan used heresies to bewitch people, which seemed to quickly gather popular support, but in reality, his foundation was weak."

"They indulged in pleasure as soon as they gained power; in the end—"

Liu Ying hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up.

"In the end, he's just a bandit leader. Making him emperor would be a terrible misfortune for the country."

"Okay, you've improved a bit."

Liu Bang straightened up from the soft couch and, unusually, uttered a word of praise.

Liu Ying was flattered and speechless for a moment.

Empress Lü, sitting behind the curtain, finally relaxed her shoulders after hearing these words.

Liu Bang turned back to look at the sky, muttering to himself:

"Huang Chao was half a warlord, while Hong Xiuquan was a complete incompetent fool; they were both utterly useless."

"Hey, Tianmu, is it even going to work? Show us what you're really capable of!"