Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 195 Li Yi: Stealing another superstar’s girlfriend!
Yi heard this and said with a wry smile.

"Mother, this kind of thing is not something you can get just by wanting it."

"I have been trying my best recently."

"My waist still hurts a little now!"

As he spoke, Yi subconsciously supported his waist.

Upon hearing this, Borjigit simply spoke.

"I have some old mountain ginseng sent from my hometown in Liaodong, as well as tiger penis, deer antler and other supplements."

"Take them all when you leave the palace later, and continue to work hard when you return."

If Xianfeng was in good health, these supplements would generally not have reached the hands of the concubine Borjigit.

But now Xianfeng has been deposed.

People did not take these supplements too seriously, so Borjigit had the opportunity to enrich himself at the expense of the public interest and give some to his son.

Yi nodded and agreed, and said that he would continue to work hard after he returned.

Borjigit continued.

"If those wives are really quiet, you can take a few more concubines back to your house."

"It's easier to get results if you cast a wide net."

Upon hearing this, Yi nodded and said that he understood. His mind went blank and he couldn't help but recall the graceful figure of Concubine Lan.

Seeing her son's agitated look, Borjigit asked.

"Why, my son, do you have a favorite woman?"

"Whose girl is this? Tell me about it."

Yi felt a little embarrassed when he heard this, but he felt that there was nothing to hide from his mother, so he spoke.

"In reply to mother's words, I think Lady Lan should be easy to give birth to."

When Borjigit heard this, his face was full of surprise and he suspected that he had heard it wrongly.

A pair of eyes stared at Yi without blinking, and asked in disbelief.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Lady Lan?!"

Yi nodded somewhat embarrassedly, indicating that Borjigit had not heard wrong.

The corners of Borjigit's mouth twitched, and then he spoke.

"It's not impossible, but this matter still needs careful planning."

"The emperor has started smoking opium, and the amount he smokes is increasing. His health is getting worse day by day. I don't think he will live for many more years."

"And I think Lady Lan is not someone who would settle down."

"If you are interested, you can try to seduce her. If you can seduce her, we will have an extra spy beside the emperor."

"It may be of great use for future matters!"

It is obvious that the reason why Xianfeng became addicted to opium was due to Borjigit's calculations.

As we all know, animals often live longer after castration, and the same is true for humans.

In order to make Xianfeng die earlier and let her son take the throne, Borjigit used some means to induce Xianfeng to become addicted to smoking.

As we all know, once a person becomes addicted to smoking, he will not live long.

Borjigit is now looking forward to the day when Xianfeng dies suddenly, her son ascends the throne, and she is honored as the empress dowager...

……

Guangzhou, Tang Palace!

In the study, Li Yi looked at the person in front of him, rubbed his eyebrows and asked.

"You said you are Hong Rengan? A brother of the Heavenly King?"

Yesterday, Li Yi hosted a banquet to welcome Yang Fuqing and got drunk.

I had just sobered up this morning when I saw the servant coming to report.

A man who claimed to be the cousin of the King of Heaven came to ask for a meeting.

Li Yi thought that there was nothing important to deal with today and he was free anyway, so he ordered someone to bring the person in to see him.

So this scene happened!
Upon hearing this, Hong Rengan clasped his fists and said.

"In reply to your Majesty, I am indeed the younger brother of the Heavenly King."

Li Yi rubbed his brows and asked.

"Is there any token that can prove it?"

Hong Rengan said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"When the Jintian Uprising broke out, I was still teaching at a private school in my hometown, so I didn't catch up with the uprising."

"Later, because of the Qing Dynasty's hunt for demons, I could no longer stay in my hometown, so with the help of a foreign missionary, I went to Hong Kong for refuge."

"In order to avoid trouble, I threw away all those tokens on the way."

"I don't have any token on me right now!"

Hong Rengan hid in Hong Kong for a long time. Even after the Tang Dynasty captured Guangzhou and recovered Hong Kong, he did not come forward to reveal his identity.

It was not until the news of the alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Heavenly Kingdom spread that he set out for Guangzhou to meet Li Yi, preparing to go to Tianjing to join Hong Xiuquan through the Tang Dynasty's channels.

Li Yi snorted coldly.

"Without the token, how can you make me believe your identity?"

Hong Rengan spoke.

"I swear to God that if I have ever lied to the king, I will die a miserable death and go to hell forever."

Li Yi didn't believe in oaths, but asked anyway.

"Then why did you come to see me today?"

Upon hearing this, Hong Rengan straightened his expression and began to speak.

"I want to go to Tianjing to seek refuge with the Heavenly King. I hope that the next time the King sends an envoy to Tianjing, he can take me with him."

"When I arrive in Tianjing and meet the Heavenly King, I will definitely be rewarded handsomely in the future."

After hearing this, Li Yi began to believe in Hong Rengan's identity.

If he was a fake and came to me in the name of the Heavenly King's cousin, he should be asking for money or an official position, instead of asking me to send him as part of the delegation to Tianjing.

Given Hong Xiuquan's temper, if someone pretended to be his cousin and then fell into his hands, the outcome would definitely not be good.

Moreover, the experiences narrated by Hong Rengan in front of him and the experiences of Hong Rengan in history that Li Yi knew about were also consistent.

Li Yi touched his chin and spoke.

"Adding one more person to the delegation will naturally not be a problem."

"But, Rengan, don't you consider staying in the Tang Dynasty as an official? I have always been willing to use talented people like you!"

Now that Hong Rengan's identity has been confirmed, Li Yi naturally wants to recruit him.

Being respectful to the wise and eager to seek talented people are part of Li Yi's personality and cannot be abandoned casually.

Li Yi knew very well Hong Rengan's abilities.

You know, Hong Rengan was one of the main leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in its later period.

Historically, after the Tianjing Incident, Yang Xiuqing and Wei Changhui died, and Shi Dakai fled.

The situation of the Heavenly Kingdom was entirely supported by Hong Rengan, Li Xiucheng, and Chen Yucheng.

Now Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng had both been captured by Li Yi. Since Hong Rengan had taken the initiative to come to Li Yi, there was no reason for Li Yi not to recruit him.

Well, it can also be considered an alternative form of stamp collecting!
Compared with stamp-collecting beauties, Li Yi prefers to collect stamps of famous officials and generals.

Hong Rengan smiled awkwardly when he heard this.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty, but I am the younger brother of the Heavenly King, so I should submit to him..."

Hong Rengan refused Li Yi's recruitment.

Li Yi didn't find it strange because this was a very normal thing.

Hong Rengan was Hong Xiuquan's cousin, and the relationship between the two was as close as that of brothers.

No matter how much Li Yi valued Hong Rengan, it was impossible for him to be more important to him than Hong Xiuquan.

It was a perfectly normal decision for Hong Rengan to choose to join Hong Xiuquan.

If Li Yi were put in Hong Rengan's position, he would most likely make the same choice as Hong Rengan.

Li Yi just smiled and said.

"It doesn't matter!"

"I just hope you remember, Rengan, that no matter when, I will always have a place for you here."

"As long as you are willing to come and join me, I will definitely make use of you."

Although it was a bit unkind, Li Yi still didn't give up the idea of ​​poaching.

Since we can’t dig it out for the time being, we might as well bury a hook first.

You never know when it might come in handy!
Seeing this, Hong Rengan could only clasp his fists and say something.

"Ren Gan thanks the king for his respect."

Li Yi nodded and said.

"In three to five days at most, a delegation from the Tang Dynasty will be heading to the Heavenly Kingdom. When the time comes, Ren Gan will go with them."

"Now you can start preparing."

The reason why there happened to be an envoy going to heaven was not because Li Yi was taking care of Hong Rengan.

But now that the New Year is approaching, the Tang Dynasty needs to send envoys to the Heavenly Kingdom to wish them a happy new year, and then the two sides will discuss jointly advancing into Jiangxi and Anhui after the new year.

Therefore, an envoy was needed to set off for Tianjing.

Hong Rengan happened to catch up.

Upon hearing this, Hong Rengan clasped his fists and said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

……

After Hong Rengan resigned, Li Yi began to handle government and military affairs.

After lunch, Li Yi set out from the palace to inspect the arsenal and machinery factory in Foshan.

There has been good news coming from Foshan's arsenal and machinery factory recently. In order to show his attention to industrial development, Li Yi naturally had to go and inspect them.

Encourage your subordinates in their work!
Li Yi arrived in Foshan that afternoon.

However, it was already late, so Li Yi did not do such a shady thing as inspecting the site overnight.

Instead, he chose to find a manor in Foshan to stay, prepare to rest for a night, and then go for inspection early the next morning.

That night, after dinner, Zhao Ke, Director of the Industry Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the Tang Dynasty, came to report to Li Yi.

Zhao Ke's original position was the director of the arsenal, responsible for the production and expansion of the arsenal.

But because he did a good job, Li Yi promoted him to be the director of the Industry Department.

"Zhao Ke, Director of the Weichen Industrial Department, pays respect to His Majesty!"

Zhao Ke came to Li Yi's study and bowed.

Li Yi put down the documents in his hand, looked up and said.

"Uncle, please take a seat."

I didn't dare to say a few polite words to Zhao Ke, but I finally sat down.

Then start reporting.

"Your Majesty, this is the production capacity report of the arsenal in the past month. Please review it."

As he spoke, he handed a report to Li Yi.

Li Yi took the report and began to read it, while Zhao Ke began to dictate.

"Since moving to Foshan, the production capacity of our military arsenal has begun to grow rapidly."

"So far, in the latest month, our military arsenal can produce 4,000 rear-loading rifles per month."

"Five hundred pistols, two hundred cannons, and three hundred thousand pounds of gunpowder."

"One million rounds of breech-loading rifle ammunition, one hundred thousand rounds of pistol ammunition, twelve thousand rockets, and twenty thousand grenades."

"As well as bayonets, steel helmets, and other cold weapons and protective gear."

Looking through the report, Li Yi nodded with satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)