C137

Chapter 137 - Rumors of Aversion

After enduring the unbearable midsummer, the Beijing finally had a hint of shade in the morning and night. Seeing the leaves gradually turning slightly yellow during the daytime, people realized that autumn was coming and the clothes that were thicker was finally going to be pulled out.

This year, the Beijing was in harmony with each other. The long hair chaos in the south had completely subsided last year. Although the chaos caused by the Twisted Army in Henan Province was very big, but the imperial government and the Xiang Army already had the experience of calming the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom down, so it shouldn't be a problem to take care of these bandits.

Not only did the dying fires give the people a sense of security, but now the gradually falling prices in the market also proved that the economy had warmed up. After a year of recovery in the south, food and various goods and materials could already be transported along the canal in bulk to the north. This year's first ship, New Rice in the south, was close to the docks of Beijing, causing the price of grain in the entire city to instantly drop by ten percent.

This was something that the people truly cared about. At that time, the streets were filled with the yells of the emperor. All the temples prayed for the Emperor to live for a long time, and even the incense was burning.

This year's festivities were not only over there. Not long ago, there were several merchant ships from the Tanggu bringing in ten thousand stones of Siamese cat and rice from the Fingers Country. Furthermore, they sent the news to the two countries in South Asia to harvest rice this year for an extremely low price. When the overseas rice entered the Beijing along with Hai He, the price of the food had unexpectedly been pushed down by another ten percent.

Since ancient times, China's food prices had always been stable, and the world was always filled with food. Faced with such good news from the old masters of the Hanlin House, it was as if they were playing with unnourished memorials, blowing both the empress dowagers and the Emperor into the sky. However, the empress dowager, emperor and the palace ministers all knew about the details of the incident. This information had a history, and the merchants of Tanggu were trying to curry favor with Fu Qing, they were trying to create momentum for Xiao Letian's sworn brother, Fu Qing.

It had to be said that the Letian Firm had played this hand very beautifully. Fu Qing was a high ranking noble, after all, a man with three flags. With this group of merchants acting up, the number of people who opposed Fu Qing's sudden rise to the top would lessen.

However, the happiness only lasted for a few days. After a shocking rumor spread through the Beijing, the heart of this large empire could not help but become restless. It seemed like there was a sign of coronary heart disease.

"Aiyo, that grandpa!" How's your morning walk? Look at your face, it must be because you don't know what was going on last night... "Come, let me tell you something …"

"Aiyo, your grandmother. You brat, are you trying to tease me?" Who fought who? That Xiao Letian who wrote the books brought people to fight with Little Japan? Damn, where is Ryukyu … "

Ryukyu is an island nation on the sea, and since ancient times, she has been our Subordinate States. I heard that in the past years, Sui and Tang Dynasties had come to pay tribute to you, but you were secretly taken over by the Japanese midgets … "Aiya, just wait for me to explain myself. The things here are complicated …"

The idlers on the street gathered together, not caring about the small autumn wind, each excited to spread all kinds of bizarre rumors.

"You don't understand? The so-called famous Japan doesn't even occupy as much land as we do. Usually, even famous people do not eat much food. That's right! It's because they are poor that they secretly sent troops to take over the Ryukyu King. Damn it, using the seal of the Ryukyu King to secretly trade with Da Ming and Da Qing … "

"Aiyo, this bunch of bastards really know how to play tricks!" "You took advantage of us for hundreds of years without any care?"

"Isn't that so? This group of little imps have already lost their money, the one who plundered Ryukyu is so pitiful. The great king drinks congee everyday and eats sweet potatoes, the money was taken away by Japanese …"

"Aiyo, this isn't the king of the nation of doom? "Tsk tsk tsk tsk …" The crowd surged forward, and the talker purposely stopped and happily sipped on his tea, enjoying the feeling of being urged on by others. Only after pinching it for a long time did he continue speaking.

"To tell you the truth, when the Ryukyu King heard that there was a scholar in the Upper Nation, she did not care whether he was an official or not. The eighteen eunuchs and experts in the palace consecutively broke the seal of four Japanese ninjas, killing almost all of them before sending the blood letter to Xiao Letian's side … "

"Did you know that the battle at the palace of Ryukyu that night had turned the whole city blood-red? Even the flying swords of overseas mutants were drawn out, and the multicolored light had dyed the entire city red …"

Alright, this bunch of rumors sure are boastful. In a short while, they have already turned into a freakish novel. This wasn't the end. When the rumors reached the tavern, it would be even more outrageous.

"Come, come, brothers, come …" "AHH!" When he received Ryukyu Wang Yi's written edict, he could not help but be enraged. He stood at the peak of the mountain with over a hundred Green Forest experts of our Qing Province behind him, and even the tyrant Dragon Lord s of the northern lands are present inside … "

He dares to humiliate the royal family. You must know that Ryukyu is the Great Qing Sect's vassal lords, with that, we, the top elites of the Great Qing Province, borrowed the momentum of the mountain to attack. At the foot of the mountain are thousands of Japanese soldiers. "

The customers in the mutton restaurant were all dumbfounded. They had forgotten to press the charcoal into the copper hotpot. The flames were half a foot high and had almost boiled the soup dry. But like this, no one thought of adding more water and meat.

"Tell me quickly, what happened behind …"

"Hahaha, then how could a small country like Japan be a match for us? Don't just look at how they bullied a small country like the Ryukyu, when the Green Forest experts made their move, half of the cities would be dead … Xiao Letian held a white feather fan in his hand, and like Zhuge Kongming, he laid down the Eight Inner Golden Lock Formation on the mountain peak … "

"Little Japan has never seen the might of the military formations of the upper countries. The Gate of Wonder's Escape Armor left behind by the Gesun Marquis is not something they can break. The moment the Japanese army enters the formation, ghost soldiers immediately arose and the world changed color …" In the end, not a single one survived! "

Alright, in just half a day's time, Xiao Letian's image as a Western Scholar turned into a demon that could summon the wind, rain, and turn into an army. No matter what, superstitious thoughts had a market at that time. Otherwise, when they were in a ruckus group, there wouldn't be that many people who believed that drinking water from talismans could block bullets, while swallowing incense ashes could prevent weapons from being pierced.

Xiao Letian tried his best to suppress this news, but no matter how powerful he was, he was unable to control all of the foreign merchant ships. This information was first sent to Shanghai by the foreign people, and also spread into the interior of the Great Qing Empire from Shanghai.

The truth was that there were no secrets hidden under the Emperor's feet. When the intelligence report from the foreigners was sent to the Forbidden City, it had not even been one night and the entire Beijing was already in an uproar.

The citizens of Beijing, regardless of whether they were men or women, all jumped in joy. For the next three days, the sales of alcohol in the capital increased by 30%. Everyone had gathered to talk about Xiao Letian, and when they were excited, they would dance around as if they saw it with their own eyes.

Look, our country still has capable people. Although we have suffered a few losses in front of the foreigners, but don't we still have a few white jade pillars in the sky and a purple gold beam in the sea? The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had woken up with Ceng Guofan's help, it was said that the current chaos in the Twisted Army was not too bad for Li Hongzhang.

The Master of Western Studies had actually brought a few tens of green wood elites to pacify the capital city. Although the Japanese little scumbag could not be compared with the western devil, they were still foreigners after all. Furthermore, I heard that the foreign citizens had obediently listened to Xiao Letian's orders and started to support the Chinese people with their cannons.

Great Qing was not done yet, Xiao Letian was indeed good. It was in the late autumn of 1865, when Tongzhi had once again stirred the hearts of the Great Qing once again. It was as if a storm had struck their capital, and everyone had gone insane.

When the citizens heard that Little Japan had plotted to kill all the Chinese in the city, they even led their armies to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom, and in the end, they even dared to blast the city. This could be considered stabbing the lungs of the citizens.

The scene of British and French combined forces entering Beijing was still lingering in front of everyone's eyes, as they had not forgotten how he was bullied. Now that the Ryukyu had also suffered such a tragic fate, and the perpetrator was actually the Japan, they became even more fervent.

The commoners stayed in teahouses, restaurants and even brothels, scolding the Japan for her shamelessness.

Amidst the fanaticism in the city, the leader of the Qing Liu faction, Weng Tonghe, was no longer as calm as he used to be, and instead, he was excited to be a former official of his own family's banquet, and during the banquet, the Imperial Advisor practically brought Xiao Letian up to the sky.

"This is the same achievement as Chen Tang and Ban Dingyuan. A thousand miles out in the open is the distance to pacify a nation's capital. This is the achievement of a marquis …" I want to get on the paper, you guys need to get on the paper too, get credit for Xiao Letian, and give him the title of marquis … "

"When Xiao Letian returns to the capital, I will have to personally apologize to him. All of these things that happened in the past were due to my shortsightedness, no matter what dispute exists between us in the field of study, I will definitely not stand idly by the side and watch the results of the national war. Everyone, are you willing to join my name?"

These people who had their tails stuck up were all clear monkeys, who had nothing to do all day to research on how to trick people. When they heard Weng Tonghe's words, they were all so excited that they were rubbing their fists and wiping their palms.

"How dare you disobey! With Xiao Letian in the empire, Master Xiao would probably be able to stand on equal footing with the Great Marshal Zeng in a few years time … " The words that sounded neither too sinister nor too sinister in the crowd caused all of the scholars present to laugh out loud as they shouted in agreement.

Xiao Letian, you are really courting death, are you even worthy of such a great contribution? Did you know that there are four hundred ways to write fennel? Then do you not know the four hundred ways a scholar can kill a man without a knife? Hahaha, you are just a commoner without any achievements, how could you settle a country? You just wait for the imperial power to cut you to pieces.

Right now, we want to praise you to the heavens and make you suffer from the jealousy of tens of thousands of people. Forget about the empress dowager, even if Great Marshal Zeng was in a bad mood, he could still easily squash you to death.

The liveliness of this group of people was really as if they were laughing and talking until their oars turned into ashes, as if they could easily kill Xiao Letian if they moved their eyes.

However, there had never been a scholar who was willing to study, so what was the Japan like now? What was the situation in Ryukyu? including how Xiao Letian instigated the trend of 100,000 Chinese people. In their eyes, those were all lowly affairs of an inferior Subordinate States, it was simply not enough to sully his revered ears.

It was a glorious clear day, and all empires came and went … Yes, although the westernization did not give him face, but in Asia, especially East Asia, the Great Qing was always the boss. The fight between the two Subordinate States s was probably like two villages fighting over water sources, what's there to be concerned about, men don't have the patience to study those barbarian countries that drink blood.

"Xiao Letian is really lucky, to think that he would encounter something so coincidental with the barbarian internal strife. If I was there at the time, I would have never forget the scholar's straightforward guidance of the arena for the rest of my life …" "Come, come, let's drink this cup!"

These scholars were all drunk. In their drunken dreams, they transformed into the Marquis of Gelou, the white-feathered fans of the wild disappeared in a puff of smoke. In their drunken dreams, the noble title bestowed by the Emperor was so high that it was beautiful.