Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Your Majesty, as expected, my negotiations with the foreigners have broken down this time. They are simply too arrogant. Even though they were defeated by the Heavenly Kingdom in the war, they still act as if they were the ones who were defeated, not the Heavenly Kingdom."

The foreigners not only refused to accept the conditions proposed by the Heavenly Kingdom, but also demanded compensation from the Heavenly Kingdom.

The Heavenly Kingdom, being the victor, naturally could not accept these conditions from the foreigners.

After returning to Tianjing City, Li Hongzhang, the foreign minister of the Heavenly Kingdom, reported the results of the meeting to Hong Tian.

Hong Tian nodded; the foreigners' attitude was not unexpected.

"Foreigners are powerful and have plundered the world for over two hundred years. Naturally, they don't respect other countries. Peace between us and foreigners is impossible."

Foreigners are greedy, and as long as they do not give up their plundering ambitions against us, we must never let our guard down.

Only by relying on overwhelming military force to defeat the foreigners can we fundamentally sever their greedy and wicked influence over our Heavenly Kingdom!

Hong Tian said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Hongzhang nodded.

Through his interactions with foreigners, Li Hongzhang gained a very clear understanding of these foreign devils.

Foreigners are profit-driven and prone to forgetting morality for personal gain. They don't reason, or rather, they only believe in force.

If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanted to avoid being invaded and plundered by foreigners, it had to truly defeat them!

"As for the army, continue to intensify training and prepare. Next time, the foreigners are very likely to use even more troops to invade the Heavenly Kingdom. The Heavenly Kingdom absolutely cannot afford to lose in the war against the foreigners. If it does, the consequences will be unimaginable!" Hong Tian warned.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" all the high-ranking officials of the Heavenly Kingdom replied.

"Your Majesty, what should be done with the foreign prisoners of war we captured?" asked Shi Dakai, the Minister of Military Affairs.

"All foreign prisoners of war who have a skill and are willing to serve the Kingdom of Heaven will be treated better. Those who do not have a skill and are unwilling to serve the Kingdom of Heaven will be sent to work on construction sites and in mines."

As long as we stay focused on one thing and don't exhaust these foreigners, it'll be fine.

Once we finally defeat the British and the Gauls, these foreigners can be exchanged for money.

"The British and the Gauls must pay a sufficient ransom to redeem these foreigners!"

Hong Tian gave the order.

On the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom side, railway and highway construction had already begun. Construction had started on the railway from Tianjing (Nanjing) to Zhonghai County in Songjiang Prefecture.

In addition, many railway construction projects in various provinces have entered the preliminary preparation stage, and a large number of highway construction projects have begun preparations.

In addition, the entire Heavenly Kingdom has a strong demand for steel, which means that the Heavenly Kingdom also needs to increase its iron ore mining and other activities.

This requires more labor.

These foreign prisoners of war are all tall and strong; it would be a waste not to use them for work.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Shi Dakai nodded.

After receiving Hong Tian's instructions, he knew what to do.

"Your Majesty, the Eastern Expeditionary Army has proposed that, having thwarted the foreigners' attack, the offensive against Zhejiang Province can now begin," Shi Dakai continued.

"Your Majesty, Zhejiang Province is wealthy and has always been a major source of revenue for the Tartars. Although the Heavenly Kingdom has now controlled several provinces, apart from the relatively wealthy southern Jiangsu region, the other provinces are relatively poor."

The Tartars, relying on the wealth of Zhejiang Province, have been constantly building up their army and preparing for war. The Heavenly Kingdom can no longer afford to ignore this situation.

If the Heavenly Kingdom could control Zhejiang Province, it would greatly enhance the Heavenly Kingdom's strength and weaken the Manchus' strength!

Prime Minister Hong Jen-gan stated.

Other high-ranking officials of the Heavenly Kingdom also expressed their opinions. Everyone agreed to use force against Zhejiang Province.

With the current strength of the Heavenly Kingdom, taking over Zhejiang Province should not be a big problem.

Even though the Tartars have been frantically expanding their army in Zhejiang Province during this period.

But previous battles have proven that the Tartar troops are utterly ineffective.

"The military affairs department should begin preparations. Once the time is right, we will launch an attack on Zhejiang Province!" Hong Tian did not oppose the attack on Zhejiang Province.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Shi Dakai replied.

Before we knew it, it was January 1858.

In the provinces controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as well as the prefectures of Henan, Hubei, and Hunan provinces, various reforms of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were being carried out.

Many people have already been allocated their own land.

In particular, the land was distributed first in the southern Jiangsu region.

Therefore, after a year of hard work, people only need to hand over 10% of their harvest to the Kingdom of Heaven; the rest belongs to them.

This made the farmers beam with joy as they saw their granaries overflowing with grain.

Many farmers have never had so much grain in their entire lives!

With grain in hand, don't panic in my heart.

They no longer worry about going hungry during the lean season.

There's no need to worry about having to sell your children because of a lack of food.

This also led these people to wholeheartedly support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In other provinces, many people have only recently been allocated land.

Although there has been no harvest yet, everyone is full of hope for the future.

The rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had been consolidated.

The Tartars' desire to compete with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for the hearts and minds of the people in these regions was nothing but wishful thinking.

On January 8, Hong Tian summoned Shi Dakai, Minister of Military Affairs, General Chen Yucheng, Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards, General Li Xiucheng, Commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, and General Lin Qirong, Commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army, to discuss plans to launch an attack on Zhejiang Province.

"Your Majesty, according to the intelligence we have, Zhejiang Province has now built up an army of 100,000 after a frenzied expansion. Among them, there are about 10,000 Manchu Eight Banner soldiers, mainly Manchu soldiers in the city of Hangzhou. The remaining Green Standard Army numbers about 90,000."

However, the troops in Zhejiang Province were mostly hastily assembled rabble.

Not only were their equipment terrible, but their training was also severely inadequate, resulting in very limited combat effectiveness.

The Military Affairs Department planned to use the Eastern Expeditionary Army Corps as the main force to launch an attack on Zhejiang Province. In addition to the 1st Infantry Division of the Eastern Expeditionary Army Corps, which was undergoing reorganization, the 2nd Infantry Division, the 3rd Army, and the newly formed 4th and 5th Armies under the Eastern Expeditionary Army Corps would all be deployed to the attack on Zhejiang Province.

In addition, the 4th Infantry Division of the Guards Corps, which has been formed, will also be deployed to the operation.

The newly reorganized 1st Infantry Division of the Southern Expeditionary Army, along with the newly formed 3rd Army, will also advance from Jiangxi Province into Zhejiang Province!

Shi Dakai reported.

In this battle, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom planned to deploy three infantry divisions and four armies, with a total force of more than 4 men.

In terms of troop strength, the Taiping army had deployed troops that were no less than the Tartar troops in Zhejiang Province.

In terms of combat strength, the Tartars were completely no match for the Taiping Army.

The reason for deploying so many troops was that the high command of the Heavenly Kingdom hoped to take over Zhejiang Province in the shortest possible time.

Then, they would face the British and the Gauls.

Although the British and the Gauls were defeated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom this time, they would definitely not give up easily.

In a few months, the armies of the British and the Gauls will likely attack again.

This time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would have to face at least 30,000 or even more British and Gaulish landing troops.

Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also needed to make preparations.

"How long will it take to complete this offensive against Zhejiang Province?" Hong Tian asked.

"Your Majesty, if everything goes smoothly, we expect to be able to take over Zhejiang Province in three to four months," Shi Dakai replied.

Hong Tian nodded: "In this battle, we must annihilate the Tartar troops in Zhejiang Province as much as possible. As for the Southern Expeditionary Army, after the battle begins, we must quickly capture Quzhou Prefecture, Chuzhou Prefecture, and Wenzhou Prefecture in southern Zhejiang Province to cut off the Qing army's escape route. At the same time, we must block the Qing army's route to the north from Fujian Province to reinforce them."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" replied General Lin Qirong, commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army.

"Then, this battle will be commanded by General Li Xiucheng, commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Army. I hope you all will achieve a resounding victory and conquer another province for the Heavenly Kingdom!" Hong Tian commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the high-ranking military officials of the Heavenly Kingdom replied in unison.