Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Your Majesty, I have another plan that can deal with the Eastern King!"

Chen Chengrong racked his brains to help Hong Xiuquan kill Yang Xiuqing.

He did this hoping that after successfully eliminating Yang Xiuqing, Hong Xiuquan would reward him with the title of king.

But Chen Chengrong could never have imagined that in another timeline, after the Tianjing Incident, in order to appease Shi Dakai and other generals, Hong Xiuquan directly ordered the execution of the Northern King Wei Changhui, the Yan King Qin Rigang, and the Zuotian Marquis Chen Chengrong.

Chen Chengrong was never granted the title of king before his death.

"Your Majesty's consideration for the overall situation is a fortunate thing for the entire Heavenly Kingdom. It can also minimize the harm this matter will cause to the Heavenly Kingdom."

Your Majesty may secretly order His Highness the Prince of the North to lead a group of elite troops back to the capital.

At that time, I will open the city gates and, together with the Northern King, launch an attack on the Eastern King's residence.

Once the Eastern King's Mansion is dealt with, the Eastern King and his confidants will all be beheaded.

The entire Eastern King's faction will inevitably crumble and scatter. As long as His Majesty issues an edict to appease them, they will not resist. After all, His Majesty is in the right!

Chen Chengrong then revealed his second plan.

Hong Xiuquan nodded repeatedly, very satisfied with the plan.

"Very good, let's do it! This way, we can eliminate the ambitious Eastern King while preserving the Heavenly Kingdom to the greatest extent possible. Marquis Zuotian, I'm entrusting this matter to you. Rest assured, after success, I will surely bestow upon you the title of King!" Hong Xiuquan said.

"Your Majesty, I thank you for your grace!" Chen Chengrong was overjoyed.

The reason he keeps jumping around and working so hard is simply so that he can become a prince.

"This matter must be kept secret. Absolutely no word of it can be leaked. Otherwise, the Eastern King will definitely resort to desperate measures!" Hong Xiuquan instructed.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand!" Chen Chengrong nodded repeatedly.

If word gets out and Yang Xiuqing learns that Hong Xiuquan actually wants to get rid of him, he will definitely act sooner rather than later. And he will do so using the most drastic methods.

Hong Xiuquan was likely doomed, and Chen Chengrong, who had become a traitor, would not fare well either.

Unfortunately, in order to maintain the overall situation, Hong Xiuquan wanted to kill Yang Xiuqing at the lowest possible cost.

But he would never have imagined that Wei Changhui, the King of the North, was also an ambitious fellow.

After successfully killing Yang Xiuqing, they did not want to stop there.

Instead, he used this opportunity to unleash a reign of terror in Nanjing, eliminating dissidents and seeking to replace Yang Xiuqing as the de facto ruler of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Even the Wing King Shi Dakai was almost killed.

Even though Shi Dakai managed to escape Tianjing, many of his family members were massacred.

This is also why Hong Xiuquan ordered the execution of Wei Changhui, Qin Rigang, and Chen Chengrong in order to appease Shi Dakai, who held considerable military power.

By this point, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had already suffered a severe blow.

Especially after this incident, Hong Xiuquan became increasingly suspicious.

In order to restrain Shi Dakai, they did not hesitate to appoint their two foolish brothers as kings, thereby forcing Shi Dakai to lead his troops away, which truly dealt a fatal blow to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

After the Tartars returned and besieged Tianjing again, Hong Xiuquan went so far as to bestow titles of kings upon the emperor in an effort to stabilize the situation.

As a result, in the later stages of the Taiping Rebellion, more than three thousand people were granted the title of "King." It truly became a situation where princes were treated worse than dogs!

Given the strength of the Taiping Army at the time, any officer commanding dozens or hundreds of men could be granted the title of king.

As you can imagine, this is incredibly absurd.

While undercurrents were swirling within Tianjing City, Hong Tian remained hidden in the orphanage, focusing on his development.

On the one hand, it was to urge the three battalions of the Heavenly Kingdom Guard to intensify their training.

Once the Tianjing Incident begins, whether the incident can be suppressed and the overall situation stabilized will depend on the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Guards.

Although the Imperial Guard was well-equipped, possessed strong fighting spirit, and was very well-trained, they were ultimately raw recruits who had never seen combat and had never tasted blood. It was difficult to predict how they would perform once they were actually on the battlefield.

Another aspect is to increase the production of weapons in the arsenals.

After the Tianjing Incident, the Imperial Guard had to undergo a large-scale expansion, from three battalions to three regiments. Then, artillery, cavalry, engineers, and supply troops were formed, creating an infantry division.

The Imperial Guard will also be reorganized according to this plan.

Therefore, whether the weapons supply from the arsenal can be guaranteed is extremely important.

To ensure the supply of raw materials for the arsenal, Hong Tian emptied his coffers, purchasing several steam engines at high prices from the British and the Gallic peoples. He also bought large quantities of steel, copper ingots, saltpeter, sulfur, and grain, among other things.

In addition, the intelligence organization controlled by Zhou Yufeng was also closely monitoring the movements inside and outside Tianjing City.

Although Wei Changhui, the Northern King, was considered a subordinate of Yang Xiuqing of the Eastern Sea, he was equally dissatisfied with Yang Xiuqing's arrogance and domineering attitude.

Even before Yang Xiuqing replaced Hong Xiuquan, he already stopped treating them as human beings.

If Yang Xiuqing replaces Hong Xiuquan, what will become of us?

Moreover, as one of the eight kings who started the uprising, Yang Xiuqing was able to seize power and even had the ambition to replace Hong Xiuquan.

So why couldn't Wei Changhui, as the King of the North, do the same thing?

After receiving orders from Hong Xiuquan, Wei Changhui led three thousand elite soldiers back to Tianjing from the front lines.

On the way, they encountered Prince Qin Rigang of Yan, and the unsuspecting prince was also drawn along.

In the early morning of September 4, 1856, Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang led their troops to Tianjing City.

Chen Chengrong, who was prepared, opened the city gate.

Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang immediately led their troops straight to the Eastern Prince's Mansion.

At this moment, Yang Xiuqing was completely unprepared and was still dreaming of replacing Hong Xiuquan and truly taking control of the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

After Wei Changhui and others surrounded the East Prince's Mansion, chaos erupted inside, and Yang Xiuqing finally realized what had happened.

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! The Northern Prince has surrounded the palace with his men, intending to kill you!"

Hou Qianfang, a trusted confidant, looked panicked.

"What? Wei Changhui, how dare he! Who gave him the guts! I want to see who in the entire Heavenly Kingdom dares to oppose me!" Yang Xiuqing was furious.

He had been in charge of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for some time now, and no one in the entire army dared to rebel against him!

"Your Highness, it's the Heavenly King! They claim they are acting on the Heavenly King's orders to kill Your Highness!" Hou Qianfang replied.

"Heavenly King?" Yang Xiuqing was immediately dumbfounded.

He seemed not to have expected Hong Xiuquan to be so ruthless as to directly order his execution.

Even if he wanted to replace Hong Xiuquan, it was merely to use the pretense of "the Heavenly Father descending to earth" to force Hong Xiuquan to abdicate, so that the power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could be transferred smoothly and not cause turmoil, thus benefiting the Manchus.

But now, Hong Xiuquan doesn't care about any of that.

This infuriated Yang Xiuqing. Didn't Hong Xiuquan know that this would severely damage the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and ultimately benefit the Tartars?

"Your Highness, please leave quickly! Let the guards protect you, leave Tianjing City, and return to the army. There is still hope then," Hou Qianfang advised.

"No! I want to see if anyone in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom really dares to kill me!" Yang Xiuqing insisted.

He believed that with his prestige, no one in the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could compare to him, and even if Wei Changhui led men to kill him, those soldiers would absolutely not dare to lay a hand on him.

As long as he can turn the tables on Wei Changhui at the crucial moment.

Then he could immediately lead his men to attack the Heavenly King's Palace and kill Hong Xiuquan.

In this battle, he will be able to turn defeat into victory.

However, when Yang Xiuqing climbed up the watchtower, the scene before him infuriated him.

Xu Zongyang, whom he regarded as a trusted general, directly opened the gates of the Eastern King's Mansion, allowing Wei Changhui's troops to enter.

Thus began a bloody massacre.

Wei Changhui's soldiers killed anyone they saw.

Despite their desperate resistance, the soldiers inside the Eastern King's Palace were ultimately no match for him.

Although the entire Eastern King's Palace had several thousand people, only about a thousand were actual soldiers.

Apart from that, they were all family members, maids, and the families of ministers, etc.

How could they possibly be a match for the elite troops led by Wei Changhui?