This is indeed the famous Yellow family home of Master Huang in Huang Village, Jianshi District... It has such great research value!
By dusk, the bustling Gaotang Town had returned to its usual tranquility. The Taiping troops had thoroughly taken control of the town, with sentry posts set up on both the southern and northern gate towers of the town walls. Along the dike street built alongside the Xiao River, bags of rice from Huang family's granary had been piled up to form a long low wall, also manned by Taiping troops.
The several large houses within Gaotang Town, including the magnificent ancestral hall of the Jingsha Yellow family branch in Lingling, the Guan Di Temple, the Confucius Temple, and a small temple dedicated to Huang Gai, had all become the residences for the Taiping female soldiers.
However, Luo Yaoguo himself and Su Sanliang lived together in Huang Shijing Huang Laoren's mansion!
At this moment, he is wandering around the luxurious mansion, led by a maidservant who was "stolen" back by Mr. Huang, surrounded by four female guards carrying lanterns and equipped with swords and handguns.
The Huang family mansion is a typical "Hunan-style residence of wealthy families". It can't be said to be luxurious or particularly large, but it is definitely strong! The perimeter of the mansion is surrounded by high walls, and many shooting holes are also opened on the walls. The courtyard is square-shaped, and there are stone fort towers at each corner, which are as high as three or four floors and have excellent vision.
Within the courtyard, in addition to the areas for daily living, studying, and life, there are granaries, money stores, silk warehouses, equipment warehouses, gunpowder stores, opium warehouses, even a dungeon! Inside are filled with all sorts of terrifying instruments of torture...
If it weren't for Mr. Huang's "kind-heartedness" opening a soup kitchen on the dike street, attracting too many poor people, and causing the situation to become dire inside, he might have been able to hold out for some time with the help of Gaotang Town and his Huang family mansion.
After "delving into the history" of the mansion, Luo Yaoguo returned to the dining hall of the Huang family mansion, where a large eight-person table had been set. The table was covered with several cold dishes, two old wines, and some bowls and utensils.
Beside the large eight-person table, there was a smaller one, piled high with account books, boxes of land contracts, IOUs, silver bills, and gold and silver jewelry.
Su Sanliang was sitting next to the small table, and upon seeing Luo Yaoguo, she quickly stood up and kowtowed in respect.
"Get up, sit down." Luo Yaoguo was very excited, gesturing to Su Sanliang to rise and take a seat while also pulling up a chair for himself, then smiling and looking at Su Sanliang, "How many good things did you find?"
"Reported to the angel, it has been counted," Su Sanliang said. "It was personally counted by me and my men. From Huang's mansion, we have seized over 25,300 taels of silver in cash, more than 80 bamboo baskets of copper coins, over 2,000 rolls of silk and cotton fabrics, and more than 200 boxes of opium... all of the highest quality East India Company tobacco!"
"Phff, indeed a drug lord!" Luo Yaoguo gritted his teeth.
"Moreover," Su Sanliang continued, "there are also several thousand IOUs, a full box of land contracts, and a box of silver bills from the Guangzhou Thirteen Markets that can be redeemed immediately, totaling 13,800 taels!"
Moreover, we also found thirty imported English firearms in the Huang family's arsenal, each of which was accompanied by a pound of black gunpowder from the English and a bag of lead balls... none of them had been opened or cleaned with gun oil, so they should be brand new!"
"Haha," Luo Yaoguo smiled, "This Huang family must have known that they were in trouble and had already bought Western guns from Guangzhou. If we had come a few days later, it might have been difficult to capture Gaotang!"
Su Sanliang smiled, "These Western guns are indeed good items. If they can be matched with our hundred-yard bullets, they would truly be formidable!"
"Can they be used?" Luo Yaoguo asked, "Can we modify our white bullets? The lead bullets are relatively soft, can they be cut and shaped? Does the town of Gaotang have blacksmiths? Can they do this work?"
"I have no knowledge of blacksmithing," Su Sanliang laughed, "But those who were particularly active today are from Gaotang, so I'll talk to them later. Additionally, the several tea houses on the dike street are all places of Tian Ti Hui, should we go and make contact?"
"Tian Ti Hui's hall? Let's make contact first," Luo Yaoguo nodded, then asked, "What about the female relatives of Huang Shijie and his brothers? How many were captured in total? How many died?"
Luo Yaoguo asked this question because, according to historical records, when the Taiping Army conquered many large cities, a large number of female intellectuals who had been poisoned by the Confucianism of the Qing Dynasty committed suicide...
"A total of 28 were captured, six of whom were Huang Shijie's wives, twelve were the wives of Huang Shijie's brothers, and the rest are Huang family daughters," Su Sanliang said. "When they were captured, none died. However, Huang's wife is now on a hunger strike."
"A hunger strike?" Luo Yaoguo laughed, "It seems that Huang Shijie's wife is quite loyal... Let's release them all later!"
"Release them?" Su Sanliang was taken aback.
"Right," Luo Yaoguo nodded. "Release all of them... Let them go and find Huang Shijie! Let Huang's servants who want to follow him also go! Have them use a stretcher to carry Huang family women with small feet to tell Huang that there is only one regiment of female Taiping soldiers in Gaotang Town! This Huang is not an ordinary person, he might be some sort of scholarly leader, and he can speak for himself in the state bureau."
"Yes!" Su Sanliang immediately understood Luo Yaoguo's intention.
This Huang Shijie, with his substantial wealth, must have connections, and losing his family's assets would undoubtedly make him eager to regain them... Having him go and do some legwork at the headquarters of General Yu Wanqing and the prefectural governor of Daozhou Wang Kuiyi will ensure that these two fellows are lured in.
Luo Yaoguo then addressed one of his female guards, "Cuihua, go and call everyone from Gaotang Town in."
"Yes!"
The female guard agreed and left the dining hall, returning shortly with eleven men and women. Among them were Wang Huoxiu, Wang Xier, and Xiaozhang Bao, who showed great enthusiasm today. The other nine men were also poor peasants from Gaotang Town. Today, when they rushed into Huang's mansion, they all showed great enthusiasm - this battle to rush Huang's mansion today was not only to prove their worth, but also a test.
Through this test, Luo Yaoguo can know who among the rebels in Gaotang Town are the most committed. Moreover, Huang Laoren, who has fled, should also know who among the "bad" people in Gaotang Town is the most responsible.
If these people can withstand the test of Huang family's wealth and beauties, they will have a great chance to become the backbone of Tian Guo...... And they will also be Luo Yaoguo's personal protégés and confidants who have been personally introduced into the Tian Guo ranks!
"The lowly one pays respects to the angel!"
"The lowly one is paying respects to the angel!"
"Angel, a thousand years, a thousand years..."
The twelve "new revolutionary figures" are now kneeling in front of Luo Yaoguo.
Luo Yaoguo looked at them one by one, and indeed, they were all fit for rebellion. They were all thin and malnourished... especially Xiaozhang Bao and Xihier, who are still in their growth period. They are all starved to the point where their three bones support their brain, but their heads are actually quite large. From the look of it, they seem to be smart and capable.
"Are you all willing to follow me and rebel?" Luo Yaoguo asked in a friendly manner.
"Will do!"
"We are willing!"
"We can't live anymore, so we're willing to rebel!"
"......"
Indeed, they are all naturally rebellious! When talking about rebellion, everyone seems to be full of vitality!
Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile: "Good, all are willing to rebel... Do you know who you are now rebelling against?"
"We are rebelling against the Qing Dynasty, no, against the Qing demons!"
"And against Huang Laoren, the thief..."
"And against the corrupt officials who eat people and don't spit out bones!"
"And... and against this dog of a world order that makes it impossible to live!"
"......"
All of you have spoken well, and you all know who the enemy is!
Luo Yaoguo asked again, "So, for whom are you rebelling? And how do you plan to rebel? Will this rebellion definitely succeed? What is your reason for doing so? What can you do for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom now? Do you all know?"
A series of questions indeed left these twelve new rebels bamboozled.
How could they possibly answer these questions?
They haven't studied history, nor have they read any Marxism, and they can't even recognize a few characters, so how could they understand so much?
Seeing the twelve people below all looking puzzled, Luo Yaoguo smiled - he was getting the desired effect!
He paused and continued, "Don't know, that's okay. Because I do. I...... know the most about rebelling! Will you twelve follow me to learn how to rebel?"
Learning how to rebel... That's quite an art!
"Will do!"
"Ancient Angel! Please accept your disciples!"
"Pupils willing to follow the master and learn skills..."
These twelve new rebels, once they heard that someone was willing to teach them, were naturally eager to learn.
"Good! Now, each of you will report your name one by one. From now on, you will be my disciples!" Luo Yaoguo said as he took out three bound volumes and placed them on the eight immortals table, "I have three volumes of 'The Art of Rebellion' to pass on to you!"
