The rebels never expected that Li Tuo would use the neighborhood system and good citizen certificates. This would drain the firepower. The rebel spies in the capital would either flee or lie dormant.
Because most of these Guiziliu's secret agents are members of the Eight Banners. Before they were exposed, they were just ordinary alley gangsters, dandy boys from various families.
During the two hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, these back-and-forth queuing games never stopped. There was never a shortage of conspirators here!
On the surface, these people shouted slogans of loyalty to Emperor Tongzhi, but in their hearts they were just trying to make ends meet, especially those bannermen families who had a blood feud with Zai Chun. After all, 30,000 factory slaves were killed, even if they were the underdogs among the bannermen. They all have several prominent relatives!
Due to the hatred of the country and the family, coupled with the secret wishes made by Guiziliu, many people have become traitor agents in the capital. They have sent out a lot of information, and they have also completed many secret sabotage tasks.
It took three days to register all the people in the city. This was a very huge project, and it was almost an impossible task for the Manchu and Qing court's execution capabilities at that time.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the permanent population of the capital had reached one million. This was within the city walls, not counting those outside the city walls. Three hundred thousand people had to be registered in one day? It's definitely impossible.
The total number of good citizen certificates registered on the first day was a little more than 200,000, but the number of registered people was astonishingly five or six hundred, and the details were exposed.
The whole day there was a loud killing sound in the capital, with gunshots and arrests in almost every street!
These people are just drizzle. They were exposed because they were scared because they didn't register. Naturally, the 200,000 people who dared to register had no evil intentions.
And what about the 700,000 or 800,000 people left? Those who drag their feet and refuse to register first may have a problem!
On this night, these hot pot ants suddenly started to cause chaos collectively. Starting from Nancheng, countless rioters were attacking the checkpoints set up by the street system!
"Kill... kill all Hunjun's lackeys... we are not animals... we cannot be locked up..."
"The foolish king uses this neighborhood system to trap us and then kill us one by one... We want to survive!"
Groups of thugs attacked the policemen on duty at night. Many people died tragically at their duty posts at the street entrance before they could react!
Dang, Dang, Dang... Alarm bells suddenly sounded everywhere in the city. The people were awakened from their sleep. They stretched their heads and looked outside. Before anything happened, they heard someone banging on the door!
"Come out and run for your life... The Hunjun is going to kill someone... Now you have to escape from the capital and seek refuge in the countryside..."
"Young and old men, all the neighbors are running away...hurry out of the city..."
Some people who didn't know what was going on were dragged out by the so-called neighbors. The police on duty only sounded the alarm bell a few times and were hacked to death!
Piles after piles of certificates of good citizenship were piled up on the street and burned down!
"Throw all your registered good citizen certificates into the fire. These are used by the foolish king to register for murder. Don't be fooled... burn them quickly!"
Forced by the butcher's knife, the good citizen certificate that had been registered during the day was thrown into the fire, and a lot of the day's efforts were in vain!
Are the agents of Guiziliu trying to escape from the city? Of course not, their mission is to take advantage of the rebels' attack on the city to initiate unrest in the city, and work together to overthrow Zai Chun's empire.
Now that Guizi Liu's army has not crossed the Yongding River, how can they even leave the city? They just want to completely destroy the good citizen certificate system so that they can stay hidden for a few more days!
But they made a wrong calculation and underestimated the determination of the imperial court. Just as hundreds of fire points started burning in the south and north of the city, the sound of uniform footsteps suddenly came from the street!
"If you violate the curfew on the street, all non-officials on the street...kill them all!"
Ma Ming of the Yulin New Army, Na Sanbao, Bailang of Kaizi Ma, Xiaoer... a group of direct descendants who are truly loyal to Emperor Tongzhi have been waiting for this rebellion for a long time!
Xiao Huang regarded them as the local gangsters of the Capital Police Headquarters and ran wildly on the streets in police uniforms, "leading the way for the officers and soldiers... to suppress the rebellion... all the people who dare to show up on the streets will be killed without mercy!"
Bang bang bang... The gunfire finally rang out, without any mercy, not even giving these people time to surrender. If you don't sleep at home in the middle of the night, as long as you are on the street, you will kill them all!
This was a one-sided massacre. These meticulous efforts could not withstand the tragic deaths one by one. After three or four rounds of gunfire, the rest were all scattered!
In the end, the police officers and soldiers got so mad at the suppression that they didn't even bother to shout. They would shoot whenever they saw someone on the street. Anyone who violated the curfew system would be killed without mercy!
The streets and alleys of the capital were stained red with blood. Emperor Tongzhi in the Forbidden City stood on the high Five Phoenix Tower in his clothes, listening to the bursts of gunshots in the distance with a sneer on his lips.
"I forced out five hundred during the day, why should I force out five thousand tonight? I want to see how many lives you people have to kill for me!"
"If these Eight Banners continue to serve me, what if I kill them all and form a new Eight Banners? Haha... I have no illusions or pity for you at all!"
"I would rather be a prince like Li Tuo, a flag bearer with only a quarter of his bloodline, than tolerate and support traitors like you, white-eyed wolves!"
"Hahaha... kill them all! Kill all the old Eight Banners, and I will create a new Eight Banners that will obey my orders!"
"Good killing! Good killing! From today until the end of the counter-insurgency, the curfew system will never be closed!"
The gunshots also shocked the hearts of others. The dignitaries of the Eight Banners in the capital were now imprisoned in the imperial city by Emperor Tongzhi. Prince Lao Li and Prince Zheng both lived in the west of the Forbidden City, in the East Harmony Garden and Nanchizi area.
They were so frightened by the gunfire tonight that they dared not rest. They were all like fried chickens, trembling when they heard the intensive gunfire outside!
"Ancestor Huang Tian! There are all our slaves and relatives outside... How many people are going to die? How many people are going to die?"
"This is too cruel, leaving no roots at all...cut out a blank paper man, I will stab you to death, stab you to death!"
I don’t know how many Eight Banners palace nobles secretly cut out a paper figure, wrote the name of Emperor Tongzhi on it, pricked it with needles, burned it with fire, and beat it with the soles of their shoes!
At this moment, just outside Guangqumen, in front of the first railway station in the capital, two dignitaries, surrounded by heavy troops, were waiting anxiously!
Fu Qing was waiting for the Chinese train to arrive late at night. He wanted to go to Tanggu as soon as possible. As a special envoy of the imperial court, he was going to Tanggu to negotiate the purchase of military rations, weapons and ammunition.
And the person seeing him off was Li Tuo, whom he single-handedly promoted!
