Seeing that his sister was about to become angry, Li Shimin quickly waved his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, tell me, tell me, my second brother is not joking anymore."
Li Xiuning's face instantly became extremely serious, and she said in a deep voice: "Second brother, Emperor Ming Zhang Sheng is a woman."
"Well, yes, he is... what? You said Zhang Sheng is... a woman?"
After Li Shimin reacted, his eyes widened with disbelief on his face.
Although Li Shimin also felt that Zhang Sheng was not as handsome as a human man, he never thought that Zhang Sheng would be born as a girl.
What is the concept of a woman becoming an emperor? This is simply a challenge to the ethics of society, so Li Shimin never thought of this possibility.
"Is Zhang Sheng a woman? Little sister, second brother knows that you want to do something, but you can't say nonsense."
Seeing Li Shimin's disbelieving look, Li Xiuning sighed in her heart. She knew this would be the reaction.
If he wasn't absolutely sure, Li Xiuning wouldn't believe it. After all, it's ridiculous for a woman to be the emperor.
"Second brother, this is true. Zhang Sheng has deceived everyone in the world, but he cannot deceive me, Li Xiuning."
There are basically no flaws in Zhang Sheng's disguise skills, but Li Xiuning is also an expert at disguising women as men, and she was able to confirm it after repeated observations.
"Xiu Ning, are you really sure? You can't tease your second brother with this kind of thing."
Although Li Shimin said he didn't believe it, he hoped in his heart that his sister could convince him, because if the news was true, once it spread, the Ming army would definitely be in chaos without a fight, and the Han army would naturally win without a fight.
Li Xiuning knew that it would be difficult to convince people without proof, so she explained slowly.
After listening to his sister's analysis, Li Shimin swallowed his saliva subconsciously and said bitterly: "What a shocking scam!"
Suddenly Li Shimin seemed to remember something again, and said with a wry smile: "So that's it, Zhang Sheng is Dongfang Sheng, Zhang Jiao, you are so courageous!"
Li Xiuning only saw through Zhang Sheng's female identity, but did not think of her original identity, and was shocked when she heard what her brother said.
"It turned out to be her. No wonder Dongfang Sheng completely disappeared after Zhang Sheng appeared. Who would have thought that she would disguise herself as a man and become the Ming Emperor."
Speaking of this, Li Xiuning couldn't help but admire Zhang Sheng very much. She was obviously just a woman, but Zhang Sheng not only used her strength to become the empress in the world, but now she has become the first female emperor in the world.
Regardless of Zhang Sheng's final outcome, just looking at her current achievements is enough to make all women in the world worship her.
"Dongfang Sheng, you are a role model for our daughters, and you are truly worthy of the title of empress."
Li Xiuning sighed secretly, even considering him as an idol in her heart, and if she could, she wouldn't want to plot against Zhang Sheng, but the two sides were destined to be hostile.
"Second brother, we have no evidence. Just spreading rumors alone may not be enough to defeat Zhang Sheng, right?"
After hearing what his sister said, a strange look flashed in Li Shimin's eyes, and then he sneered: "No, rumors alone are enough."
——————
Kuaiji County, Shanyin County, Hong Xiuquan Army Station.
However, in just a few months, Hong Xiuquan was swept away by Sun Wu like a garbage collector, and was directly driven to Kuaiji County, the southernmost county of Yangzhou.
Kuaiji County is the largest county in Yangzhou, encompassing 14 counties including Shanyin, Yuji, Shangyu, etc. However, its location is too far south, and the land is vast and sparsely populated, so the local families are far less wealthy than those in Wu County, Danyang and other counties.
Of course, it is a good supplementary place for Hong Xiuquan.
Wu County was Sun Jian's base camp. In the battle to pursue Hong Xiuquan, Sun Wu put in a lot of energy, but Kuaiji County was not Sun Wu's territory, so naturally he didn't have to work so hard.
In the past few months, Hong Xiuquan's army swept through most of Yangzhou like locusts, but it did not grow as expected. The reason was that Hong Xiuquan underestimated the Yangzhou family.
The local aristocratic families in Yangzhou are different from those in the Central Plains. They have perfect control over Yangzhou.
Historically, three generations of the Sun family have been suppressing the Yangzhou family, but Sun Quan failed to suppress it in the end, and was forced to switch from suppression to guidance.
It took three generations of the Sun family to fail to tame the Yangzhou family, and Hong Xiuquan, a toothless tiger, could not be swallowed up in one bite.
The Yangzhou family has a strong foundation. Although Hong Xiuquan could do nothing, it also dealt a huge blow to the Yangzhou family.
Nowadays, most of the small and medium-sized aristocratic families in Yangzhou have been wiped out by Hong Xiuquan, but the strength of their army has not increased much. Instead, they have consumed a lot of elites on the way to attack the aristocratic families. Of course, the number of people has increased a lot.
"Lord, the entire army is now ready. We only need Commander Qu's order to leave Yangzhou and enter Jiaozhou." Yang Xiuqing said.
Of course, Sun Jian will not let Hong Xiuquan wreak havoc in Yangzhou forever. Sun Wu's army is about to attack again. If Hong Xiuquan doesn't run away, the family wealth he has so much "accumulated" will be wiped out again.
Hong Xiuquan did not answer Yang Xiuqing, but looked at the vast land behind him, his eyes full of determination and said to himself: "Yangzhou, Central Plains, I, Hong Xiuquan, will definitely come back."
"Send the order and the entire army retreats."
Following Hong Xiuquan's order, the 30,000 troops under his command, as well as 100,000 civilians who volunteered to accompany the army, left Yangzhou as quickly as possible for Jiaozhou, where they would build a 'Kingdom of Heaven'.
"My lord, Liu Dai, the shepherd of Jiaozhou, is a clan member of the Han Dynasty. He has many soldiers and horses under his command. I'm afraid there will be a fierce battle after we enter Jiaozhou." Shi Dakai said worriedly.
No one knew that Hong Xiuquan had actually met Liu Dai, and after hearing what Shi Dakai said, a sneer flashed across Hong Xiuquan's lips.
"Don't worry, Liu Dai is a complete idiot. He is ten times worse than Liu Yao. He will definitely not be our army's opponent. The biggest opponent in Jiaozhou is Baiyue."
"What do you have to fear from the barbarians of Baiyue? The Qing Dynasty will destroy them for the Lord."
Yang Xiuqing smiled and said, Hong Xiuquan also smiled after hearing this, and then said seriously: "It is easy to defeat a hundred people, but it is difficult to win over them."
Shi Dakai looked surprised and asked: "My lord actually wants to conquer those barbarians in Baiyue?"
"Jiaozhou is barren. If we don't surrender the people of Baiyue, we will never return to the Central Plains."
Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai looked at each other, then stood up and said: "My lord, you have a far-sighted vision, and we will bow to you."
Hong Xiuquan nodded, and then said bitterly: "Zhang Sheng was afraid of me, so he used despicable means to harm me. It's a pity that God will not destroy me, Hong Xiuquan. Zhang Sheng has no tolerance for others, and he is not qualified to inherit the master's legacy."
, I, Hong Xiuquan, should be the true successor of Master’s will.”
"I'm afraid other Qu Shuai will not support the lord."
"I, Hong Xiuquan, do not need the support of those guys. I, Hong Xiuquan, will re-establish the Yellow Turban Heavenly Kingdom in Jiaozhou, no, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and I will be the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from now on."