Five days later, Zhao Ziwei, the Xixian General of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led 5,000 southern expedition troops to rush to the Yizhang County Government on the border of Hunan and Guangdong, and flew to the Qing court like snowflakes for help and urgent memorials.

Because it was a military operation that mainly attacked the Qing court, Zhao Kuo did not let his hard-working heavenly soldiers carry forward the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's unique skills: crossing mountains and ridges, and on the contrary, he ordered a great fanfare, and the drums and gongs were ringing and moving forward quickly. Along the way, he also looted all the rich men from the villages, gathered the poor and helpless peasants to join the Taiping Army to believe in God and Hong Xiuquan.

In the vast army, Zhao Kuo was sitting in a large sedan chair carried by 12 people, and 12 boy scouts were guarding with firearms and spears. It was really imposing.

On both sides of the road, there were farmers and women who were ragged like beggars. Some came to join the army with rice bran on their heads, some chanted Buddha's name and prayed for the children of this army, while others just kowtowed, hoping to bring some good luck through worshiping this power.

At this time, a child dressed in a Taiping Army came out of the door of the luxurious sedan chair. He jumped out of the front bumper with a loud noise and landed next to Zhu Qingzheng who was opening the way in front. He was startled and frightened him. He turned his head and saw that it was Dingzi next to Zhao Kuo. Zhu Qingzheng nodded and greeted him quickly.

Although he is much older than Xiao Dingzi, he is not as good as a 12-year-old child, regardless of his years of joining the army, his military achievements, and his relationship with the chief general.

Xiao Dingzi did not return the gift. In his eyes, Zhu Qingzheng, a personal soldier like him, didn't need to pay attention to it. He hurried to the side of the road and helped a little beggar crawling on the ground.

This little beggar is very special in the crowd.

Other farmers were still kneeling, but he was lying on the ground, his clothes were rotten to the point of almost naked, his dirty and black spine facing the sky, lying on the edge of the ground, he wriggled, trying to stretch out his skinny arm towards the Taiping Army. The hand at the end of the arm was spread out, and half a black bean cake like a coal was held on it.

This half of the bean cake that the dog wouldn't smell was undoubtedly all his property at this moment.

"The general asked you to see him." Xiao Dingzi pulled him up, almost half-held and half-hunched, like carrying a starving dog, pushing the child into a high sedan chair with difficulty.

"Do you want to join the army?" In the wide sedan chair, Zhao Kuo, wearing expensive clothes, leaned against a comfortable cotton pad, looking down at the dead dog-like child.

The child seemed to have difficulty raising his head, stammering, but his throat snorted a few times and his mouth opened, but he didn't say anything. His eyes were staring at the pastries on the short table in the sedan chair and couldn't move at all.

"Oh, hehe, hungry?" Zhao Kuo picked up a piece of pastry like a beggar and handed it to the child as black as coal.

Suddenly, the guy who had been dying immediately seemed to have a leopard rushing into his body. He didn't even have time to pick up his hands, so he bit the pastry wildly.

Zhao Kuo suddenly retracted his hand, and his finger was almost bitten down. He laughed at the beggar who was squatting in the sedan chair, who was swallowing like a dog.

A piece of pastry was eaten clean in an instant. He looked at Zhao Kuo, who was dressed in luxury timidly, pulled back his sight that seemed to be stuck to a few short foods. He hesitated for a moment, reached out and picked up the food debris that fell at his feet and put them in his mouth.

"I hope you will give it to you. Let's eat it." Zhao Kuo put all the pastry at the beggar's feet with interest.

The little beggar's eyes lit up suddenly and he grabbed a piece with one hand, but this time he put it to his mouth, he was stunned.

Then he grabbed the pastry with one hand, suddenly turned over and knelt down at Zhao Kuo, crying and shouting: "Master, you are so kind, let me follow you! I'll dig the demon's heart for you!"

"Haha." Zhao Kuo laughed wildly.

An order came from the sedan chair, if half of the children of all sizes along the way were to participate in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they would be allowed to enter immediately.

"Why does the general like boys so much?" Zhu Qingzheng, who was walking in front, was puzzled.

Since Zhao Kuo's understanding of the way to win the world with his kindness and power, Zhu Qingzheng was like a sudden enlightenment. He no longer had the intention to escape from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He believed that Zhao Kuo was talking about the right way. The Taiping Army was stronger than faith and interests, because this point could maintain strict military discipline and gain the poor people among the people. With his understanding of the brothers of the Heavenly and Earth Association, perhaps the uprising could be successful, but it was almost impossible to build a terrifying army like the Taiping Army. His brothers hated the Qing Dynasty for real, but they usually blackmailed civilians, fought and sucked opium, and they were not morally high, and their discipline was scattered, and they were not tolerated by the gang of the Yumeng Iron Army. How could they realize the lofty ambition of anti-Qing and restoring the Ming Dynasty without political goals and military discipline constraints?

Therefore, the new revolutionary forces should be under the control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, believe in God and follow their military discipline, otherwise they would be just a mess of sand.

However, his doubts about Hong Xiuquan's god did not disappear. Zhao Kuo did not tell him whether such a physical god should surpass all the brothers and enjoy wealth and glory when they were fighting bloody battles.

However, he also realized that Zhao Kuo, like himself, might not believe that Hong Xiuquan was really the son of God who came to earth. He just vaguely realized that Zhao Kuo was knowledgeable and that the name of Western sages was definitely not a false reputation, but seemed to have his own plans.

"What exactly is he going to do? Is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom the Lord of the World?" Zhu Qingzheng shook his head. These questions were not something he could have concluded.

At this moment, two fast horses came running towards us, one in Taiping Army uniform, and the other in blue clothes with long and smooth braids, which was particularly conspicuous among the Taiping Army. When Zhu Qingzheng saw it, it was a few days ago when Zhao Kuo sent a whistle detective to Yichang to contact the local Tiandihui righteous men, and quickly met.

"Good news, Brother Zhu, go and report to the general." The whistleblowed and got out of the horse panting, and couldn't stand up even if he was breathing.

He ordered people to take the little beggar to take a shower and change his clothes. Zhao Kuo listened to the reward in the sedan chair full of food crumbs on the ground and sneered: "The Qing Yao has no courage."

It turned out that as soon as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's long-haired army went south to invade Yichang, the Qing Dynasty general shouted, then walked into the yard without saying a word, got on the horse, went out, and left in the dust. Since then, it has evaporated on earth and no one has seen him again!

The county magistrate even jumped. If the city was lost, his life would be gone. The Qing Dynasty or Changmao would not spare him. At that time, there was no international law that the two armies could surrender against their chiefs.

The family cried all night, and then found a few regiments and soldiers of the Green Camp, crying and letting them defend themselves. But the county magistrate was like this, and the military chief evaporated. Who is stupid to die for you? A few guys with some soldiers came out of the county government and didn't go back to summon people, and they all went to their homes to clean up the fine and flee.

The whole city was panicked, and the rich fled out of the city in panic.

The Yizhang Tiandihui secretly contacted 100 or 200 people, preparing to open the city to welcome the Taiping Army as soon as Zhao Kuo arrived.

"The whole army advances Yichang!" Zhao Kuo waved his hand.

Two days later, 5,000 Taiping soldiers entered Yizhang City without bloodshed.

Zhao Kuo, who was paced back and forth in the county government, kept listening to his subordinates' rewards, while issuing orders. Behind him was the county magistrate's coffin. The guy hanged himself and committed suicide. The other family members escaped from Yichang. Only in this way can the family be preserved until they were dragged off the rope and thrown into the coffin, his face was still full of interlaced tears.

"Send someone to post a notice. The Taiping Army does not ask about poor brothers, but only asks about unscrupulous officials and unscrupulous rich men. If brothers and sisters are robbed by bandits, come to me for justice."

"Send 200 people to maintain the security of the county town and prevent any bandits from catching fish in troubled waters, robbing and setting fires."

"You took your people to search the treasury and the Green Camp Army."

…………….

Zhao Kuo ordered one by one to be familiar with the command, and these are the standard procedures for occupying cities in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Now he is waiting for Zhu Qingzheng to come back with his only innovative order.

"Report to the general that his subordinates found 22 scholars in the city, all scholars and private school teachers, and 18 of them participated in the Qing Dynasty imperial examination." Zhu Qingzheng came back hurriedly, followed by a series of Confucian disciples.

These people were taken to Zhao Kuo, looked at the long hairy head tremblingly, and began to kneel down one after another.

Zhao Kuo was also looking at them. These scholars were all dressed in cheap clothes. This is normal. The rich and the children of officials were often well-read, but they had the capital to run away. They had already run away at this moment. The rest had no money to run away. They could only squat in the war and leave fate. They were all poor men waiting to jump into the dragon gate.

In the past, when Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing captured the city, they would not make things difficult for scholars. They only smashed the Confucius Temple. In the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Confucius Temple was no longer smashed. Confucius was invited back to the temple and even held a test like the Qing demons they hated, because Hong Xiuquan and others found that Confucianism was very beneficial to their control of the people. This was a whip and sweat medicine that had been used for thousands of years, which was very useful.

Therefore, Zhao Kuo's action to capture scholars this time was a precedent for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Zhao Kuo looked at the group of people and pointed at the last two in dissatisfaction: "Why did the old man in his seventies and eighties come to him? What should I do if this old man died on the road? Let them get out!"

Then he coughed and said to the rest: "Please come, sorry. I need some scholars to teach my officers and soldiers to read. Do you join the kingdom of heaven and shave your braids. According to your wishes, I will not force you. You only follow me for a year, and I will give you 100 taels of silver as a reward. Just treat it as going to a private school in another place for one year."

This is also the practice of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rarely makes craftsmen, and they do not force them. In history, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Nanjing, it urgently needed a doctor, so it gave 1,000 taels of silver to recruit doctors a year. Moreover, these people did not force themselves to join the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

A group of people looked at each other, and suddenly a Confucian scholar howled: "Good king, please spare my life. Xiaomin's family has an 80-year-old mother and three hungry children under him. It's really hard to bear the king's mistaken love. Please spare my life."

The shout suddenly seemed to be in a bad mood, and everyone begged for mercy.

You should know that Confucian scholars are the civil servant preparatory class of the Qing Dynasty. No matter how miserable you are or how poor you are, as long as you pass the exam, the poor will immediately turn into a golden phoenix. Confucian classics are a ladder for class flow. Being qualified to climb this ladder is the wish of all lower-class people. Of course, after climbing up, do those benevolence, righteousness and morality that were previously crazy about, and love the people as if they were children? Who cares? This is just a ladder, "If you don't get rich, you won't come if you ask me!"

So no matter how poor these people are, their social status is far higher than that of ordinary businessmen and are elites.

Who wants to follow the rebels? Not to mention whether to give money or not, will the Qing Dynasty be cut off by the Qing Dynasty as a hair? Besides, there is no Qing civil servant exam in the rebels.

"Shut up!" Zhao Kuo roared, and all the Confucian scholars who were kneeling down from the ground were tactful and shut up.

"How much money do I have to give you? Since you are all so hard, I'll add 50 taels to you, 150 taels per person a year! How many years can you earn back from a private school?! Whether to go or not? It's not that you have the final say! If you don't go, you are the accomplices of Kong Laoer, the friend of the Dragon. Let me go out from here alone!"

"What!" The crowd suddenly became in a state of great emotion. Now the group of scholars were really anxious - this was kidnapped by the bandits.

"Please let us go..."

"The whole family of my family has kneeled down for you..."

Zhao Kuo looked at them crying and crying coldly. With his hand stretched out, Xiao Dingzi immediately handed a flintlock pistol filled with ammunition to his hand. He held the pistol and crossed his hands in front of his abdomen. The long pistol muzzle drooped and fell into the eyes of the group of down-and-out scholars kneeling on the ground.

In this way, Zhao Kuo slowly walked forward, and his gloomy muzzle hit one pitiful person after another with braided hair.

"Don't be shameless! Whoever wants to die? Let me stand up, leave a ready-made coffin here for you! It's only been a year, I'll figure it out! I won't owe you any compensation, I'll get the cash bank now and say goodbye to my family later..."

In official positions, benevolence, righteousness and morality are not as good as gold and silver; similarly, under the gun, benevolence, righteousness and morality are also farts, and a group of people dare not howl and cry loudly anymore, all turned into low sobs.

After looking at the group of scholars kneeling at their feet, Zhao Kuo turned around proudly, turned around in the room, and waved, "Children, all come out and meet your teacher."

With this greeting, the thirty and forty children in their teens walked out of the main hall, all wearing brand new Taiping Heavenly Kingdom costumes and shy. These people were selected by Zhao Kuo from his own scouts, and were all given their own life, ready to teach them to read and some ulterior lies that this shameless speculator wanted to instill in them.

"Tonight I will learn the "Good Words to Encourage the World" to let the Heavenly King convert to Christ, and I will explain geography to you in the future." Seeing these children, Zhao Kuo seemed to have seen these people become his loyal "human bombs" a few years later, and he couldn't help but smile, but his face immediately became gloomy again, and he snorted coldly: "If anyone dares to be naughty with me, don't study hard, or can't understand, I will peel him off!"

"General, don't worry! I'll learn it for you if I die!" A thin boy with black skin at the front immediately knelt down and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Puppy?" Zhao Kuo couldn't help laughing. This was the little beggar he picked up on the road a few days ago. He didn't remember his parents and had no name. He had been wandering around since he was a child, and people called him "Puppy".

"Okay, please take my surname, Zhao, and your name. Let these teachers give you a brave and loud voice and kill the Qing Yao for me." Zhao Kuo was happy and gave him his surname.

"My surname is Zhao?" The little beggar was stunned for a long time as if thunder was blowing. Suddenly tears came out, and he choked and said, "General, you are my father!"

"Haha." Hearing the little beggar's excited speech, the soldiers of the Taiping Army next to him laughed, and Zhao Kuo also shook his head and smiled bitterly.

There was only one person who didn't laugh much. This person was Zhu Qingzheng. He looked at the group of half-grown children thoughtfully and had a positive judgment in his heart. This judgment made him vaguely have a thought that made his spine chill.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has always had boy soldiers. They are orphans who follow their parents to join the army or simply starve to death if they don’t join the army. They act as chores and attendants in the army, and they also participate in battles in emergencies, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not take in children like Zhao Kuo.

During this period, from his voluntary demand for children to recruiting them on the road, it was shown that the general was very interested in the Boy Scouts. If these children grew up, what is the difference between Zhao Kuo and his adoptive father?

In history, Zhao Kuo did not know that the Turkish Sultan's Imperial Guards were the generals of China from ancient times to the present. These people usually seemed to be his slaves, and they were his private army when they fought. An Lushan, Shi Siming, military town generals in the late Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui and others were experts who knew adopted sons. Although these people recognized them brave adults in war, there was no difference in Zhao Kuo's approach in nature, and the army he had raised since childhood was afraid of being more terrifying than their adopted sons. The most terrifying fact is that An Lushan and others later became rebels.

Zhao Kuo deliberately built a scout and tried his best to find scholars to ask them to recognize their words. Zhao Kuo, who was named Xixian, had the strength of the evil demons and heretics who made him speak the knowledge of the evil spirits and heretics. He gave these children his own private kindness. Isn’t this trying to build his own private army?

"Is this General Xixian also aspiring to be disobedient? It's impossible. Zhao Ziwei's strength is only a gap between stones and mountains compared to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." Zhu Qingzheng felt that this thought made him chill, as if he saw that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was now ruled by faith, collapsed in front of him.

Just then, a loud roar brought Zhu Qingzheng back from the cold war to the yard where he had stopped the coffin.

"You beasts grow hair!"
Chapter completed!