Above Xiao Water, two to three hundred large ships, unfurling sails, break waves and move southward in a row.
On both sides of Xiao River, countless "red-headed" people line up in rows, carrying knives, spears, firepikes, and advancing majestically.
Suddenly, there was a strong drum beat in the ranks of the troops on the west bank of Xiao River: "Dong——dong——dong——dong dong dong dong".
The drumbeat grew faster and faster, reaching its peak, when a man suddenly shouted with the highest pitch: "Boastfully laughing over ten thousand waves, one's hot blood is redder than the red sun! One's courage is as strong as iron, one's bones are as hard as refined steel, one's breadth of mind measures a thousand li, and one's vision stretches ten thousand li."
After his song began, within a short while on both sides of the official road along Xiao River, about a hundred sturdy young men joined in screaming. Then, more and more good men from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom spontaneously sang along with the rhythm of "A Man Should Strive to Be Strong".
Although a bit off-key and the lyrics were not fully memorized, as many as could be sung were done so, with a large number of voices and all men involved, aiming for grandeur and enthusiasm.
The song "A Man Should Strive to Be Strong" followed the surging Xiao River southward, quickly reaching the town of Eetang, which had already become a "Heavenly Kingdom fortress"—a dual fortress of both spirit and physical significance for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!
The town of Eetang originally had a low wall, and there was also a narrow and shallow moat outside the wall, which was enough to withstand the bandits in Yangming Mountain for a while. However, against regular troops, it was not enough.
After Feng Yunshan and Wu Ruxiao took over Eetang, the project of thickening the wall, widening the moat, and building bastions began in full swing. Not only did the Taiping troops under the banner of Nanwang participate in the construction, but also all local people around Eetang who had been allotted land joined enthusiastically in this struggle to "defend the fruit of land allocation".
With land and movable property allocated to them, and having eaten the long-awaited full meals, the farmers transformed into "infrastructure fanatics," their enthusiasm for work was incredibly high!
In less than twenty days, the town of Eetang was fortified into an impregnable stronghold!
After the completion of the Eetang fortress, the reinforcement projects for Shuangpai Town and Shuangpai Pass, located in the Xiao River valley in the Yangming Mountains, were promptly commenced. Those places could be considered as centers for running a base of operations.
However, what truly impressed Lu Da to the core were the "red-headed" people arrayed in a square formation, covering a large area of fields on the west side of the official road north of Eetang. There must have been no less than three thousand people!
The three thousand were just a part of the more enthusiastic workers and poor peasants who had joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's military!
The poor farmers lack a bit in terms of organization and discipline, but the miners, who have nothing, are formidable!
Mining not only involves hard labor and dangerous work but also requires collective strength. Whether it's daily labor or fighting in groups to claim land, everyone has to work together.
Therefore, their organization and discipline are very strong, even stronger than the feudal armies like green-camp soldiers and banners. The uprising in Daozhou a little more than a month ago has already demonstrated their power!
Moreover, among these miners, there are a large number of leaders who emerged from daily production and struggles—similar to figures like Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chao gui!
Therefore, these miners were easily organized into the Taiping Army, and even Su Sanniang, who was originally a leader of the Heavenly Union Society, could easily command them. Just three days were spent, and more than 20,000 people were quickly gathered at Eetang.
In addition to the 20,000 miners from Daozhou, Luoyao Guo issued a "call to gather" to all villages under the control of the local branch of the God's Delight Association in Eetang. He commanded that each village's militia be gathered in Eetang and reviewed by Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's King Hong Xiuquan!
The number of these militia members was not as many as the miners, but it still gathered up about four or five thousand people.
Adding to this the new recruits and surrendered Qing troops recruited by Luoyao Guo in Eetang, Shuangpai, Meihua, Baima Du, and Liantang, as well as the female soldiers led by Su Sanniang and He Damei, a total of about 30,000 people were gathered.
These 30,000 men, under the command of Yu Wanqing, Ceng Tianyang, Su Sanniang, and others, were arranged in a simple formation of one regiment of 500 men each. They spread out across the wild west bank of Xiao River.
Most of them did not have any standardized uniforms, just a red headscarf wrapped around their heads. Most of them did not have any formidable weapons, and most carried nothing more than a long spear. Only a few carried bird guns and held swords and cards.
Most of the formations did not have any cannons in front. Only one formation, led by Yu Daba, the adopted son of Yu Wanqing, and Ji Dakuang, who led the cannon attack on the Daozhou government, had twenty-four cannons of various types. These were mostly small cannons with limited power.
Although this army was equipped with outdated gear and had a low level of training, it still proved that the route Luoyao Guo was executing was correct—at least in the current Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, "correctness" still had value! Especially when it comes to the "correctness" backed by divine authority.
The status of Yang Xiuqing today is not just due to his excellent performance in conducting divination ceremonies. He was able to bring one victory after another to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, contributing to his current position.
Luoyao Guo, with his magical artifact, Tung Tian Jing, has a knack for divination ceremonies. If his abilities in winning battles are not inferior to those of Yang Xiuqing, then his "route" would be more convincing.
"Your Highness, listen, it's 'A Man Should Strive to Be Strong'!"
Having long become convinced of Luoyao Guo, Su Sanniang's ears were exceptionally acute and could hear the "A Man Should Strive to Be Strong" far in advance. She quickly approached the end of the platform, where Luoyao Guo was seated under an overhang in Di Jie Gaddage, to report.
Luoyao Guo glanced at her and noticed she was a bit nervous, so he smiled and told her, "No worries, the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Brother are both reasonable!"
While talking, he was playing with a purple bronze cauldron—said to be "purple gold," but actually just purple copper. Originally, it had four Buddhist "ten thousand" symbols engraved on its surface. Luoyao Guo then asked Zhang Bao to find a blacksmith in Eetang and replace the "ten thousand" symbols with "cross" symbols, also slightly making it look aged.
"Zeng Attendant!"
After Luoyao Guo and Su Sanniang finished speaking, their gaze turned to Zeng Tianyang, the Zeng Elder.
"Your Highness, what would you like me to do?" the old man knelt with one knee and then bowed.
He had not fully agreed with Luoyao Guo's approach at first, but now he was completely convinced.
They can really win!
The Zeng family of Zijing Mountain has put everything into the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If they win, they will become successive public officials for generations. If they lose, they will have nothing left.
And in his opinion, the series of measures Luoyao Guo has implemented in Daozhou are indeed effective, so he has submitted.
"Zeng Attendant, you have a loud voice. Go and lead the others in singing 'Welcome the Taiping'!" Luoyao Guo instructed.
"Yes!" Zeng Tianyang took the command, got up and left the dock, climbed onto his horse, and went out of the north gate of Di Street.
In no time, the resounding and sonorous voice of "Welcome the Taiping" began to ring along the banks of Xiao River.
Although "Welcome the Taiping" cannot compete with "A Man Should Strive to Be Strong" in terms of lyrics or melody, it can sing the hearts of the hard-working masses in China at this time who are struggling to survive!
With the voices of three thousand people raised in unison, the thunderous chorus drowned out "King Xiao's" rendition of "A Man Should Strive to Be Strong."
"The rent is heavy, the interest is high, and the poor have a hard time surviving these days. Open your doors early to welcome Taiping, and everyone will be joyful. Kill the Qing bandits, murder the evil nobles, open the city gates to welcome Taiping. When Taiping comes, they will distribute land and wealth! Distribute land and wealth; it will make everyone well-fed and warm. No rent to pay, no debt to repay, there will be equality everywhere in the world."
"This is."
Hong Xiuquan, who was sitting on a large boat and humming "A Man Should Strive to Be Strong," was interrupted by the sudden appearance of songs with Hunan accents. He was slightly annoyed and couldn't understand the Hunan dialect, so he asked Feng Yunshan beside him, "Mountain folk, what's happening?"
Feng Yunshan smiled and said, "This is 'Welcome the Taiping,' a song composed by our countrymen. The lyrics are."
Hong Xiuquan listened as Feng Yunshan recited the lyrics of 'Welcome the Taiping,' stood up, walked out of the cabin, and stepped onto the prow of the boat, facing south, where he saw the vast army of "red-headed" people spread across the plain.
"He is," Hong Xiuquan subconsciously asked.
Feng Yunshan said with a joyful voice, "Heavenly King, they are all new brothers in our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! They are new brothers who joined us in Daozhou."
"So many!" Hong Xiuquan muttered.
Feng Yunshan nodded, "Yes, they are. They all became new brothers because of Eight Brother's 'Welcome the Taiping'."
