Zaichun has been confused these past few days. He was still angry at first, but when more and more emergency telegrams came in, he no longer had the strength to yell.
Every day, I lay out the high-precision map sent by the Chinese military headquarters and keep looking at it to see if there are any problems.
After staying up all night, Zai Chun's eyes turned red and turned into rabbits. But today, in this Year of the Rat, no one would contact the little emperor because of his hard work. Two days later, more shocking news came.
In northern Henan, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Zhangde and Weihui Prefectures rioted and even attempted to attack Anyang. Under the joint efforts of the local Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp Army, the refugees failed and fled to the north.
However, the Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp also suffered heavy casualties and were unable to continue the pursuit. The most critical moment had arrived!
On the way to the north, these 100,000 victims actually merged with 50,000 victims from Lu'an Prefecture, Shanxi Province. These 150,000 victims were overwhelming like locusts and headed towards Ci County!
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Military Minister Bao Jun staggered into the Yangxin Hall, knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
"Your Majesty...something bad happened. On the 6th...Cixian County...Cixian County was captured by 150,000 rebels. The city was on fire and chaos..."
"The entire camp of the Eight Banners Army was dispersed and their whereabouts were unknown. The Green Camp garrison committed suicide by swallowing opium. The entire army was wiped out... Ci County has fallen!"
"Not only that... there happened to be a train full of grain at Ci County Railway Station... and the rebels were captured. Even the train driver was captured..."
"At this moment, Handan is urgently deploying troops to stop us. I beg your Majesty to send troops to support us as soon as possible. The place is completely in chaos!"
Zai Chun's vision went dark and he almost fainted. Er Mao next to him supported the little emperor. Zai Chun gritted his teeth and waved his hand, "I can still hold on, I can hold on... If there is any bad news, please bring it all out!" "
"Report...to report to Your Majesty..." Prince Dun Yipei hurried in! "About 50,000 rebels appeared in Linqing Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture in Shandong... They tried to attack Zhili. Fortunately, Li Hongzhang was stationed in Shandong. The army had blocked these rebels. Last night, Li Hongzhang won a great victory... Ten thousand!”
"Ah! Shandong... Shandong is also in chaos..." Zai Chun felt as if his heart was empty of blood.
"Your Majesty, calm down. There is no problem in Shandong. It's just that there are refugee rebellions in two states. As long as Li Hongzhang is here, they can't change the world... they can stop it!"
Zai Chun endured the dizziness and tried his best to calm down, "Go...get a box of Chinese cooling oil...apply some on me..."
Rubbing the tiger head cooling oil from the iron box on his temples brought Zai Chun back to his senses!
"If my calculations are correct, the rough figures reported in Shanxi local newspapers are 400,000 rebels, 500,000 in Zhili, and 100,000 in Henan..."
"Now there are 50,000...1.05 million rebels in Shandong? Hahahaha...what a joke. When did I become an angry and foolish king? A million troops have rebelled!"
"Hahaha... Am I so stupid?"
"Your Majesty, calm down..." Yi Pei and Bao Yun knelt on the ground. "There are hundreds of millions of people in the Qing Dynasty. This number of ants is nothing. Please don't be angry. Our country has never experienced any major events. This is just a rebellion." Little things..."
"Fart! I don't know that the local officials are so frivolous. In order to reduce their guilt, they can only downplay the numbers!"
"The real number must be at least double... At least there are two million victims who have rebelled. Do you want me to calm down? Do I still want to laugh at you?"
Zai Chun roared to vent the anger in his heart. He spit too much cooling oil, and the irritating smell smeared his eyes, making his eyes run down with tears and runny nose.
Yi Pei bowed his head and said loudly, "Your Majesty! During the famine years, the victims rebelled, and few made a big fuss. Even though there were many, they were not elites!"
"Whether it's one million or two million... we're not afraid even if it's three million!"
"Because many of these people are old people, women and children who don't have the fighting ability to make up the numbers. They are just hungry and want to eat!"
"As long as our relief food is in place, these victims will naturally disperse... The imperial court will only punish the culprits, and the coercion of the people can be spared, and then the rebellion will naturally subside!"
"Your Majesty has 100,000 tiger soldiers directly under your command. They are all elite new troops. One can be equal to ten without any problem!"
With Prince Dun's comfort, Zai Chun's mood improved a little. He breathed heavily, "Tell me... Tell me what you think... No matter whether these victims are elite or not, but now they are gaining momentum. We also need to have countermeasures..."
"Wait a minute..." Zai Chun was suddenly stimulated by a large dose of cooling oil and had a flash of inspiration, and a neglected detail suddenly emerged.
"Something's wrong...something's wrong...why are all the disaster victims in the world rushing to Zhili?"
"Don't any victims of the disaster in Shanxi go to Taiyuan to beg for food? It's really impossible to go to Guanzhong, Shaanxi. There is no disaster there... Why do they all go to Zhili?"
"If the victims in Henan don't go to Zhengzhou or go south, why do they have to come to Zhili... Jinan Prefecture and Jiaozhou Prefecture in Shandong Province have food, so the disaster is not that big!"
"Why are they all going straight to Zhili? There must be something evil here...fuck, there must be something evil!"
"Baojun! Yipei! Tell me the truth...what happened down there? Why did everyone come to Zhili?"
Bao Jun and Yi Pei turned pale. This question was too sensitive and no one knew how to answer it. In fact, they both felt faintly uneasy, but everything was just speculation and they didn't dare to say anything without evidence.
"Baojun! Tell me...what's going on?" Zai Chun saw that the two of them were silent, so he forced a roll call.
Bao Jun kowtowed, "Long live! I have also investigated. Although it is not detailed, some information has come back from feedback from the people..."
"The victims of the disaster are all coming to Zhili. In fact, it has something to do with His Majesty's New Deal... Ever since His Majesty began to carry out industrial reform, coupled with the deliberate publicity of the Qing Times, workers from factories and construction sites have returned to their hometowns to teach by words and deeds!"
"Who in the north of the Qing Dynasty doesn't know that His Majesty's industrial areas and railway construction sites are the most profitable?"
"In the hearts of the ignorant people, Zhili has long been a treasured land with gold and silver, a place where they can eat and drink without worries. This must be the first place they think of when they are hit by a disaster!"
"Actually, it's a good thing to think about it from another angle...90% of the north-south railway in Zhili has been completed. With the railway, our food and grass transportation will be faster, and it will be more convenient to mobilize troops for war..."
"Victims are pouring in. Those who are obedient will be given relief immediately, and those who are disobedient will be mobilized to attack immediately... As long as the railway is in the hands of the imperial court, there will be no chaos!"
Yi Pei said worriedly from the side, "But Ci County has lost a train at this moment, which means that we have too few troops stationed along the railway. If safety cannot be guaranteed... the railway is useless!"
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty has a proposal, please accept it..."
