The Travelers of the Heavens

In the Old Summer Palace, Li Xiaoman and Concubine Yi had a pleasant conversation, but Concubine Yi remained silent when it came to Emperor Xianfeng's illness.

Li Xiaoman also knew about these broken rules of the Qing court, so he changed the topic

"The eldest brother is really like a dragon and a phoenix. If he ascends the throne in the future, he must be a promising king." But Li Xiaoman's new topic was even more deadly. After hearing her words, Concubine Yi did not dare to take up the topic.

Xianfeng The emperor is ill now, but you are talking about Zaichun's accession to the throne. Isn't this deliberately causing trouble for the emperor?

"Uh, this thing.. seem"Concubine Yi looked embarrassed

"I was presumptuous, and I hope your concubine will forgive me." Li Xiaoman apologized.

"It doesn't matter, I won't mind if Madam is quick to talk to you," said Concubine Yi.

"Thank you, Concubine Yi, for your forgiveness," Li Xiaoman said.

Walking to a small pavilion, Concubine Yi, her son, and Li Xiaoman sat down respectively.

"I don’t know what Jiangning’s situation is now." Li Xiaoman thought of Jinling.

"Although the long-haired bandits are rampant, I heard that Zeng Guofan and the others are working hard to suppress them, and I think there will be good news soon," said Concubine Yi.

But what she didn't know was that the Taiping Army Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng's two hundred thousand troops The Qing army's Jiangnan camp was also wiped out. Zeng Guofan's hundreds of thousands of Hunan troops were defeated. Zeng himself fled in panic. The Taiping army was now preparing to besiege Anqing.

"I hope this protracted war can end soon, the Qing Dynasty needs peace so much now," Li Xiaoman said

"Yes, it has been almost nine years. If the bandits are wiped out as soon as possible, the emperor will be relieved of his worries." Concubine Yi agreed very much with Li Xiaoman's words.

"The emperor is really too tired for the Qing Dynasty. He needs to rest for a while to recuperate his body. The Qing Dynasty cannot do without him," Li Xiaoman said again.

Concubine Yi nodded after hearing this

"I wonder what the emperor and his concubine think of Westerners?" Li Xiaoman asked

"Those Westerners are so ambitious," said Concubine Yi.

"Haha, it’s true. My husband can’t stand these unreasonable but civilized Westerners," Li Xiaoman said with a smile.

"oh? mrs means"Concubine Yi seems to have heard the implication

"Oh, it’s nothing, I just heard that the Gauls are very aggressive recently, which makes my husband feel very distressed," Li Xiaoman said

"Gauls? Didn’t your army repel them last year?" said Concubine Yi.

"Hey, the Gauls are very evil. My husband said that they will never be willing to fail, and I'm afraid they will come back again," Li Xiaoman said.

"So your country is going to war again?"Concubine Yi was secretly alarmed. If the news is true, the Qing Dynasty will encounter another military disaster. The Taiping

Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty regiment in the south were fighting the Hunan Army and the Huai Army in darkness, but discord arose among the foreigners in the north, and they started fighting on the land of the Qing Dynasty.. Oh ancestors, please open your eyes and see the troubled Qing Dynasty, and bless our descendants to tide over the difficulties smoothly, Concubine Yi thought in her heart.

"I am a woman, how dare I talk about national affairs, I just said it casually," Li Xiaoman said

"Madam, my eldest brother and I have to go to see the emperor, so we’ll take our leave first." When I was young, Concubine Yi said

"Concubine, please excuse me," Li Xiaoman signaled.

Concubine Yi took Zai Chun back.

About two-quarters of an hour later, the sky suddenly became overcast with clouds.

"Madam, it seems like it’s going to rain. Should you go back to your bedroom?" the maid asked

"Well, go back." Li Xiaoman returned to the palace surrounded by six maids.

"husband.. Prince, guess who I just saw?"Li Xiaoman came back and said to Wang Qi

"Who?"Seeing that Li Xiaoman seemed excited, he asked in confusion.

"Empress Dowager Cixi is Concubine Yi," Li Xiaoman said.

"Oh, it's her, I saw it when I saw it, what's wrong?" Wang Qi disagreed

"She will be the future ruler of the Qing Dynasty, and her time is coming," Li Xiaoman said

"She's just a harem woman, no big deal." Wang Qi still disagreed.

"How about you.."Ignore you." Li Xiaoman was furious. He left these words and went back to his bedroom.

In the evening, Wang Qi came to Li Xiaoman's residence.

"you you you! What are you going to do!"Li Xiaoman saw Wang Qi approaching her like a hungry wolf, and she kept retreating.

Finally, there was no way to retreat, and Li Xiaoman sat on the bed.

"My mother wrote another letter urging you to give me a son as soon as possible." Wang Qi threw Li Xiaoman down and said

"this matter.. Not urgent.. Not urgent"Li Xiaoman hesitated.

She has been married to Wang Qi for almost sixty years, and Li Xiaoman’s belly seems to be too long. She can’t get pregnant no matter what. She can’t help but wonder if there is something wrong with Wang Qi.

"But the mother is very anxious, she wants to have a grandson." After Wang Qi said this, he brought Li Xiaoman to justice.

This time the"crusade" was more fierce than before, which made Li Xiaoman unable to resist, and she finally shed tears. Begging for mercy with tears, Wang Qi gave up.

The next day, Li Xiaoman lay in bed until the afternoon and had to be supported by the maid.

In March of the thirty-sixth year of Chengkang (1861 AD), the eleventh year of Xianfeng's reign.

The Gallic fleet arrived at Tanggu, and the ten steam-driven sailing battleships in the fleet began to bombard the fleet stationed in the Bohai Sea. However, the fleet stationed abroad did not entangle with them, so they turned around and sailed to the open sea, preparing to take a detour to the overseas dependent country Liuqiu for temporary refuge.

Originally, a squadron of the Gallic navy wanted to pursue it, but it was ordered to work with the main fleet to cover the army's landing and protect the landing site and sea lanes.

Gallic soldiers began to land in Tanggu one after another.

When the news came back to the Old Summer Palace, Wang Qi was unusually calm, Wang Duo was also very calm, everyone was calm, only Li Xiaoman was restless

"There are only 100,000 Gauls, I can still handle it." Wang Qi comforted Li Xiaoman

"Prince, the Gauls are coming this time. I think we should ask my father to send reinforcements to help us," Li Xiaoman said.

"What the second sister-in-law said was true, so the second brother sent a message to his father and asked him to send troops for reinforcements," Wang Duo said

"Haha, there are also hundreds of thousands of troops from our seven divisions around the Old Summer Palace and the capital, what is there to be afraid of?" Wang Qi said

"But we don’t have much advantage. What if something unexpected happens? The Gauls must be fully prepared before they dare to declare war on us," Li Xiaoman said.

"You are shaking the morale of the army," Wang Qi scolded.

Li Xiaoman said nothing and left the conference room angrily.

"Second brother, this"Wang Duo said

"Leave her alone, women are short-sighted," Wang Qi said

"Okay, everyone can tell you what you want, how can we annihilate all these 100,000 Gaulish troops?" Wang Qi said

"Commander Liu, please speak." Seeing that Commander Liu seemed to have something to say, Wang Qi signaled.

"My two princes, the Gaulish thieves have landed in Tanggu. They will definitely pass through Jincheng and attack my troops in the capital. The subordinate believes that two divisions of troops should be sent to move towards Jincheng and block the attack layer by layer between the two places. It will consume the morale and strength of the Gauls," Commander Liu said.

"Well, that makes sense." Wang Qi nodded after hearing this.

"Prince, I have something to say." Another military commander wants to speak.

"Commander Fei, please speak," Wang Qi signaled.

"I don't agree with Commander Liu's plan. The Gauls have come a long way and are already a tired force. Our army should wait for a decisive battle with them in the capital. We should divide our forces to block and command to make our army exhausted," said Commander Fei.

"Second brother, what Commander Fei said is right. The Gauls have come all the way, and they are already tired no matter what. Our army is waiting for work in the capital and we will be able to wipe them all out under the city walls." Wang Duo agreed with Commander Fei's plan.

"Director, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and his court have escaped." A small official came to the conference room and whispered in the ear of the Director of Foreign Affairs Huangfu Weiyan. After speaking, he handed Huangfu Weiyan a document.

"Well, let's go down." Huangfu Weiyan took the document and read it while motioning for the junior officials to go out.

"Director Huangfu, what happened?" Wang Qi asked after seeing Huangfu Weiyan's little movements.

"Prince, when Emperor Xianfeng heard that the Gauls were coming back, he was so frightened that he took his harem and court and ran to the summer resort; while the people in the capital heard that the emperor had escaped, they also fled in panic, and the order in the capital had completely collapsed." Huangfu Wei After finishing speaking, he handed the document to Wang Qi

""Okay, very good. I decided to fight the enemy in the capital and fight in the streets," Wang Qi said.

"Yes." All civil and military officials responded.