"Devils?"
Shengbao heard his brother say he had encountered devils in Guangxi and forgot all about the time they had hugged and cried together. Instead, he looked at Yuanbao with a look of complaint: "Brother, you can't just make such claims! This is the Beijing city, under the feet of the son of heaven!"
"It's not easy to fight in the south, but if you're just hiding your defeat and pretending to win, and killing the good for the sake of boasting, then we in the court can help cover it up. However, this demon-like monster and the exaggerated bullshitting is just too much. The several top officials in the military affairs office don't know how to help smooth it over either. The emperor has even kicked this problem to Prince Gong, which puts Prince Gong in a very difficult position!"
Hearing his brother say this, Yuanbao was not pleased at all. He said with a serious expression, "Brother, what are you talking about? Do I, your brother, have the kind of courage to do things like hide defeat for victory and kill innocent people to take credit? Besides, those demons are real! I've seen them with my own eyes, and I even fought with them. I almost got killed by the demons. I have evidence! And there's both physical evidence and testimonies!"
As he spoke, he took off his backpack and handed it to his brother Shengbao, opening it and presenting it to him with both hands: "Brother, take a look! This is the physical evidence!"
"Is this mooncake from Lianxiang Lodging?"
Shengbao picked up the mooncake from Lianxiang Lodging that had traveled through time and space to reach the capital of the Qing Dynasty!
"I took it from the demons at the risk of my life!" Yuanbao said as he handed over the packaging box of the mooncake, "Look at this box and bag. Can these be ordinary things from the mortal world? The Ministry of Inner Affairs cannot produce such items, right?"
Shengbao held the mooncake box and then took the gift box bag, looking at them again and again, feeling that these items were indeed extraordinary. However, he was still undecided and handed the box and bag to Baisiwen standing by: "Siwén, as a member of the Board of Rituals, you've seen many Western wonders. Take a look; do you think these were made using Western techniques?"
Baisiwen picked up the mooncake box with both hands and carefully examined it for a while: "The craftsmanship is too exquisite. I doubt even Westerners could make such things. There's also the Western calendar, 1889? That doesn't seem right!"
Shengbao asked, "What's wrong?"
Yuanbao said, "Of course, it's the time that's incorrect! This year is 1852, the year of Jesus Christ's birth in the Western world! The time on the mooncake box indicates it's 37 years in the future!"
Shengbao was stunned. "Thirty-seven years later?" he repeated, "What kind of mooncake will there be thirty-seven years later?"
Baisiwen, upon hearing this question, wanted to open the mooncake box, but after trying to pull the lid, it remained completely undisturbed.
"Don't bother," Yuanbao said, "This box has been sealed with magic!"
Shengbao turned to look at Baisiwen.
Baisiwen shook his head: "Indeed, it can't be opened!"
Yuanbao said, "Brother, now do you believe me? If not, there's another witness here: he's the elder brother of Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Guangdong rebels. Brother, why don't you ask him?"
Shengbao and Baisiwen both glanced over, seeing Hong Quan who was sitting cross-legged in the prison cart with a fierce expression. Both of them secretly trembled — the two had been working on studying ways to suppress demons for the emperor and Prince Gong recently, and had read many reports about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They knew that the three main leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were Hong, Yang, and Xiao, all of whom claimed to be sons of God the Father Almighty. In addition, they had a heavenly brother who was said to have boundless power. They were not sure if this was him.
Never mind, let's not interrogate him. Just hand him over to Prince Gong directly!
Thinking of this, Shengbao shook his head and said, "This is not a place for questioning criminals. Let's first detain him in the Ministry of Justice before proceeding!"
Baisiwen also nodded vigorously: "Right, right, Brother Keqiao, you and your younger brother send this demon to the Ministry of Justice first, and I will immediately go to Saint Nicholas Lama Temple and speak with Lama Tu about the matter involving the second son of God!"
He is a follower of Eastern Orthodoxy, and every 'Sabbath,' Saint Nicholas Lama Temple reads the Bible, so of course, he knows who the first son of God is?
This would make things difficult when he gets down here!
So Baisiwen bowed to Shengbao and Yuanbao after which he climbed into his own carriage and headed straight for Saint Nicholas Lama Temple.
After watching his friend leave, Shengbao turned to Yuanbao immediately and said, "Second brother, the emperor has entrusted the task of slaying demons to our Sixth Marquis. Today, we'll first take Hong Quan to the Ministry of Justice's main prison. When the Marquis returns from the garden, we'll go together with the evidence — the mooncake — to Prince Gong's residence."
"Okay!" Yuanbao nodded, "I haven't seen the Sixth Marquis in a while. This time, I must bow respectfully several times."
"Teacher in chief is here! Everyone, please stand!"
"Teacher in chief, how do you do!"
"Hello, classmates. Please take a seat!"
"Thank you, Teacher in chief!"
In Daizhou City, inside a courtyard with a pair of couplets hanging at the gate that read, "Seeking official promotion and wealth, please go elsewhere; Fear of death and aversion to danger, do not enter this door," the sounds of greetings between teacher and students could be heard.
At this time, Luo Yaoguo, the top instructor of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Divine Heavenly Army, stood in a classroom that seemed familiar, standing on a familiar stage, looking at the instructors' trainees sitting behind several desks, unable to suppress the surging emotions in his heart!
He glanced at the faces of the instructors' trainees seated in the classroom, varying in age, gender, and experience.
Among them, there are two elderly gentlemen: one is Yu Mieqing, and the other is Zeng Tianyang.
There are also several young children, among whom the youngest is Little Zhang Bao.
There are also eight female students in this class, namely Su San, Xu Yuegui, Xu Xianggui, Wang Xier, Li Cuihua, Wei Xuelian, Zeng Jiuniè, and Ji Chunhua. Among them, Su San is the class monitor of the "Instructor Training Class."
Among Ro Yaoguo's "Twelve Disciples," excluding Zhang Bao and Wang Xier, the other ten are also in the class.
Huang Shijie's two close relatives Huang Shicheng and Huang Shenren, as well as the major figures of Daozhou Tianzhihui, Jiao Hong and Zhang San, the adopted son of Yu Wancheng, Yu Daba, and Ji Dashao, who fired cannons at the Daozhou magistrate's office, are all in the instructor training class and are all first-year students!
Additionally, Ro Yaoguo asked Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing for several old brothers from Guangxi to join the class, including Li Shoucheng, Li Mingcheng, Li Shixian, and Chen Bicheng — the three Li's are all cousins. Among them, Li Shixian is the son of He Dashai and the brother of Li Cuihua. In the original history, Li Shoucheng would change his name to Li Xiucheng! As for Chen Bicheng, he is the nephew of Chen Chengyong and would later change his name to Chen Yucheng!
In addition to the thirty-plus people mentioned above, Ro Yaoguo instructed Jiao Hong to select more than a dozen "cultured youths" from the newly enlisted Taiping Heavenly Kingdom soldiers who were miners in Daizhou. These youths were clever, had been involved with Tianzhihui, and could write their own names. He also instructed his "Twelve Disciples" to select dozens of new enlisted soldiers from the area around Eco Pond who had recently joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Together, they accumulated a total of one hundred students.
To Ro Yaoguo, these one hundred people were one hundred sparks that could ignite a great conflagration!
As long as they are taught well, a month later, they will be able to split into four routes: one going to the countryside to establish basic political power, one going to the army to lead troops, one going to areas controlled by the enemy to collect people and act as insiders, and one staying on campus to teach.
"Classmates!"
Seeing that all one hundred students were seated, Ro Yaoguo picked up the three textbooks placed on the lectern. "These three textbooks are named 'Volume One of Against the Canon,' The People's Rebellion; one is titled 'Taiping Army Instructor Manual'; and the other is titled 'The System of Tianchao's Field Measures.'"
We only have one month, and we must finish all three textbooks. Then we will have an exam. The instructor will assign you work based on your performance, as our time is limited. Therefore, the course schedule will be very tight. We will have two classes in the morning and one class in the afternoon, each lasting one hour.
After the three classes, there will be an hour-long military training session for Western drills and firearms. The western drills and firearms are not very familiar to me, as the military studies in heaven do not require these. However, I have still invited Brother Heaven to bestow us with the military maneuvers of Western Emperor Napoleon, and we will explore them together. Our goal is to achieve a rudimentary understanding within one month.
For the next two months, some of you will be going down to the army to lead troops. I will arrange for them to first enter the Upper Army Instructional Detachment and try to practice with the new brothers or sisters of the Heavenly Kingdom using Emperor Napoleon's western maneuvers. Once we get the hang of it, we can then gradually promote it throughout the entire army!"
After saying these things, Ro Yaoguo put away the "Taiping Army Instructor Manual" and "The System of Tianchao's Field Measures," leaving only "Volume One of Against the Canon" on the lectern. "Classmates, now please take out Volume One of Against the Canon and flip to the first page. I will explain to you why the common people of the world should 'why they should rebel.'"
