Chapter 1661: The Great Trend

Jingcheng, the Imperial Palace, Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"My lord, the Taiping rebels failed; all those we colluded with among the foreigners have had their homes raided and assets confiscated, and some foreigners were even beheaded."

Hearing this terrible news, Vanguard Commander painfully closed his eyes while lying on the bed.

Ever since hearing that the foreign lords were beaten so badly they fled in panic, Vanguard Commander had hardly risen from his sickbed, as the stream of disastrous news never ceased.

The front lines retreated step by step, constantly losing territory; seeing that the Great Qing was doomed, people elsewhere harbored their own agendas and actively joined the uprising, resulting in uncollected taxes, insufficient troops, Manchu bannermen unfit for use, the Green Standard Army long since ruined, and an inability to recruit new soldiers.

Forcibly conscripting people only resulted in these men loafing on the battlefield; they fired few shots, did not flee when defeated, and considered it a success merely to dodge artillery fire, all while waiting to surrender.

However, if given a choice, they actually wished to return home; but with supervision teams behind them executing anyone who retreated, they could only wait to dodge the bombardment before simply surrendering, which was their best option...

In short, the Great Qing was now basically finished; because they were not powerful, the local magnates below perceived their weakness, and since these people were never loyal to begin with, naturally they withdrew support once the regime faltered, even intensifying their efforts during this time to dig graves for the Great Qing's masters.

On one hand, they could strengthen themselves; on the other, they could curry favor with Wang Yan, confident that once Wang Yan took power, he would still employ them.

After all, among Wang Yan's current subordinates, many local gentry and landlords were already participating in grassroots governance; although Wang Yan was implementing new laws, he had not discarded the old people, which reassured them and prevented resistance.

Thus, everyone happily pushed the Great Qing toward its death...

The failure of the Heavenly Kingdom's operations and its subsequent general martial law to suppress petty criminals marked that the Great Qing was utterly beyond salvation; the foreigners used advanced firearms and artillery to force the Great Qing into signing unequal treaties, while Wang Yan used even more advanced firearms and artillery to extinguish the Great Qing's Jiangshan.

In later history, when people summarized the reasons for the Great Qing's collapse and its fundamental corruption, one term proved highly accurate.

Closed-door policy!

The Qing ruling class refused to embrace change or develop technology, blindly keeping the populace ignorant and weak, which led to their lack of strength, causing them to be swept into history's trash heap.

Vanguard Commander knew the Great Qing was completely beyond saving; he had become the monarch of a fallen nation!

Someone nearby continued speaking: "My lord, the vanguard of that traitor Wang has already reached Baoding; judging by their usual tactics, they will likely reach the outskirts of Jingcheng in about another month; my lord, we cannot delay any longer; it is time to relocate beyond the Great Wall and return to the old capital..."

These were truly loyal ministers, still concerned for their master's safety...

Yet, hearing these words filled the utterly despondent Vanguard Commander with even greater anguish; his face turned iron-blue, then flushed red, and his entire body suddenly shifted from lying down to sitting hunched over, driven up by violent muscle contractions.

Immediately following a retch, Vanguard Commander spat out a mouthful of blood.

"My lord? My lord? Someone come quickly!"

Already frail, Vanguard Commander could not withstand the shock; like a lamp running out of oil, his life had become thinner than paper.

The succession of setbacks, combined with the terrifying four characters 'monarch of a fallen nation,' frightened everyone, bringing unrest both in life and after death...

In fact, the advance was currently being deliberately slowed, as reaching each location and maintaining order there meant advancing only a few hundred li at a time.

However, the current problem was that the populace welcomed the thriving vitality with open arms, greatly reducing the difficulty of stabilizing order; basically, as soon as the main army arrived, local gentry and officials would form groups to comfort and reward the troops, directly accept rule, implement new policies according to Wang Yan's requirements, and cooperate as much as possible with the officials Wang Yan dispatched, agreeing even when some interests were lost.

In the past, retreating Qing troops might engage in sabotage, but now no one was willing to do so, not even the retreating soldiers themselves, because Wang Yan truly killed people; surrender was useless, and once caught, however many there were, that many would die, worked to death doing dirty and exhausting labor.

They had not witnessed it personally, but due to persistent propaganda, they believed it; in fact, it was true, as Wang Yan most enjoyed organizing such engineering teams.

An even more important reason was that everyone believed the Great Qing was doomed and that Wang Yan would gain the empire; otherwise, given the military discipline of the time, without officers above urging them, they would have organized themselves on a large scale to plunder the local areas.

Deterrence had kept them honest, but even so, some audacious individuals still committed massacres during the retreat; this was unavoidable.

Overall, the number of places and people harmed had decreased significantly.

It was precisely due to these various reasons that, although Wang Yan was suppressing the offensive, he was actually advancing very quickly.

This campaign began last winter, and now it was only autumn...

"Who could have expected that the Wing King, the Five-Thousand-Year-Old, would fight so quickly, and that Pang Qingyun, formerly a mere battalion commander under Lord Chen, would now rise to such prominence, driving us all the way from Wuchang to Guangzhou; now there is nowhere left to run; if we run further, the two of us will have to jump into the sea..."

Lord Di held a monocular telescope, gazing at the distant camp where life was bustling along without any urgency to attack Guangzhou, as the areas behind were not yet stable.

Nevertheless, the south was being conquered faster than the north; because the Central Plains in the north were entirely Great Qing territory, whereas the south was different, containing the Heavenly Kingdom and regions in Yunnan, Guizhou, and even parts of Guangxi that Wang Yan had long expanded into, leaving only Hubei, Hunan, and the two Guang provinces to the Great Qing, and those in a scattered state; with relatively insufficient troops, the conquest naturally proceeded faster.

At the same time, there was the factor of Lords Di and Jiang going through the motions; ever since being beaten badly at the start of the war and betraying the foreigners, and then watching Shi Dakai and others effortlessly wipe out most of the foreigners, they had not fought seriously, simply lying flat and accepting their fate.

Because they had no answer to artillery; one explosion took out a whole group, the bombardment never stopped, and even sturdy city walls could be collapsed shot after shot by cannonballs; under such circumstances, how could they fight? They felt utterly desperate with no mood to resist, yet constrained by their families in Jingcheng, they could not surrender, so they could only retreat step by step while fighting fake battles.

This also benefited Wang Yan, as the regions he received remained largely intact; although various resources were inevitably plundered somewhat and the common people did not fare well, stable order was preserved.

This undoubtedly saved much trouble, but simultaneously created serious hidden dangers.

Because Wang Yan lacked sufficient talented personnel, even though new laws were implemented locally, they were not thorough; currently, his rule differed little from the past, merely compromising on some local regulations while keeping the same framework; if no further actions were taken, before long these modified regulations would revert to what they were before, as if all those who died had died in vain.

No! They did not die in vain! With so many deaths, various contradictions were alleviated, and the entire society entered an era of growth, falling into a new cycle...

Lord Jiang sighed heavily: "Lord Chen sent word saying they have reached Baoding and are about to attack Jingcheng... Although the situation was bad before, it could at least be maintained; but once forced to provoke Wang Yan into using military force, who could have imagined that in less than a year, the Great Qing would be finished..."

"What, do you think not forcing Wang Yan to use military force would be a good thing?" Lord Di sneered. "You know well the past events in Bashu and Guanzhong; even after fighting them for a year, in every city along the route, and even in Guangzhou City right now, countless people are their agents; if we had let him develop peacefully, he might have destroyed the Great Qing without deploying a single soldier."

"Of course I know that, but as for how many of their people are currently in this city, I do not believe it; only a few years have passed; he occupies such vast territory that his manpower cannot keep up; look how fast he is fighting now, finishing off the Great Qing in less than a year; but after the Great Qing falls, that is when their real difficulties begin; you and I both wield great power in our regions; how could we not know the filth beneath the surface?

He lacks usable people, so those below will obey outwardly while disobeying inwardly; even if he possesses heaven-piercing abilities, he cannot control so many people below; he cannot possibly watch every person and every matter, can he? Therefore, whoever gains the empire faces the same situation; Lord Di, perhaps you and I still have a chance to rise again."

Both were top-tier intelligent individuals; Lord Jiang, having nothing to do now except retreat and fight fake battles, spent his days studying Wang Yan, keenly discovering that the redistribution of interests within Wang Yan's new laws benefited the common people, suppressed landlords and gentry, and encouraged factory owners, which clashed greatly with existing rules.

Glancing at him, Lord Di laughed: "Do not forget that this Wang Yan is only in his twenties; I hear he can eat three jin of rice and ten jin of meat in one meal, consort with numerous women, draw a five-shi bow, and is strong and robust; moreover, he has been assassinated eight hundred times over these past few years, proving both hard to kill and able to survive; as long as he lives, he can stabilize the situation; with troops in hand, who would dare disobey?"

"Indeed, he is too young..." Lord Jiang realized. "For him, no one is indispensable; looking at it this way, I fear things will be difficult for the two of us."

"As long as we do not starve to death, let us not say more; at least we are literate, so we can return to our hometowns to teach at the Jiao Sect."

"You have truly come to terms with it, Lord Di."

Lord Di laughed heartily: "Even if I did not come to terms with it, I would have to; even the mighty foreigners have come to terms with it, let alone you and me."

Lord Jiang also burst into laughter, as if it were the greatest joke in the world, and for a moment, the two of them laughed so hard they could not stop...

Because Wang Yan's army was unstoppable, all measures failed, and with Wang Yan's troops already at the gates of Guangzhou, the foreigners, knowing they would not be spared, naturally made preparations early.

Long before, after twenty thousand troops were beaten into a panic, the foreigners retreated all the way to Guangzhou; while trying every method to make various attempts, they had already prepared to flee, and over several months, all foreigners in this area had evacuated; now that Wang Yan's army had arrived in Guangzhou, the foreigners in Hong Kong and Macau had also fled.

In fact, they had previously sent envoys multiple times to negotiate with Wang Yan, hoping to preserve their current rights and interests, but all such attempts were rejected by Wang Yan.

However, Wang Yan never intended to drive all foreigners away; after all, trade would continue; local specialties like tea and silk remained quite popular internationally, allowing some foreign earnings; at the same time, they could purchase foreign goods and other necessary raw materials, requiring deep participation in international trade.

It was just that these foreigners feared Wang Yan would break his promises and find opportunities to kill them all; lacking a sense of security, most chose to leave, planning to wait until Wang Yan settled the outcome before returning.

This was unavoidable; they had exhausted every trick yet could not stop Wang Yan, and their military forces could not project hundreds of thousands of troops over such a vast distance; even if they could project hundreds of thousands of troops, it would still not be enough to defeat Wang Yan.

After all, there were tens of millions of potential soldiers here; simply piling people could bury them to death; the Chinese do not fear war; their thick history books are essentially a history of warfare...

The great trend of the world: after a long period of unity, there must be division; after a long period of division, there must be unity.

As time passed, most of the southern Qing resistance forces were driven to Guangzhou; Shi Dakai was deliberately encircling the Guangzhou region, turning it into a graveyard for those diehards. Those who did not wish to die had no choice but to leap into the sea—let us hope they possess the swimming prowess of the White Stripe in the Waves.

In the north, Jiang Wuyang finally led the great army to the outskirts of Jingcheng; not only Jiang Wuyang, but Wang Yan himself had also arrived outside the city.

This was a decisive, pivotal battle, the final moment to extinguish a dynasty; of course, Wang Yan had to appear.

Yet the situation on the ground was not tense in the slightest, with no swords drawn or bows bent.

Fifty thousand troops were deployed outside the city, encircling Jingcheng; just beyond the city walls stood a massive crowd of soldiers without weapons, sporting queue hairstyles. Barbers, wielding their knives, were shaving those men right there outside the city, turning them one by one into bald heads.

All gates of Jingcheng stood wide open, with people still coming and going. Even many bold commoners, sporting great bald heads, stood aside watching the spectacle, laughing and chattering while pointing and commenting, utterly lacking any tension over the impending change of heaven and earth.

They were even expecting it.

Propaganda is an important means of action, and Wang Yan has always attached great importance to its role. As far back as the days of the Shunfeng Escort Agency, he was already promoting concepts, publicizing the important exemplary role of the Huoshan Demonstration Base.

Once the war began, the propaganda intensified, broadcasting what good lives the common people under their rule enjoyed—very realistic, tangible realities that could be achieved by simply switching sides...

Thus, under this persistent propaganda, coupled with the soldiers' refusal to disrupt local order, the result was that commoners treated the war as if they saw nothing; knowing Wang Yan's army was approaching, they actively shaved their heads.

Indeed, in recent times along the advance route of Wang Yan's great army, the most booming profession was that of the barber. Within Jingcheng at this moment, no one knew how many had followed the army all the way from near Wuchang, getting their heads shaved along the journey; many had grown rich...

"Li Wantang pays his respects to the Eldest Master; after many years of separation, the Eldest Master's demeanor remains as impressive as ever. Now that the great undertaking is accomplished, congratulations!"

Li Wantang, having already shaved his head, walked over with a face full of smiles, greeting them warmly...

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