Chapter 526- Hong Xiuquan Perishes
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Of course, Concubine Chen was naturally not the only one that the Black Snake Guards had planted in the palace.
This was because no one could confirm how long they needed to wait to use this trump card.
The only way was to ensure that when the time was right, no matter it whose turn it was to sleep with the king at night, they could turn that person into Concubine Chen; that was their goal.
The manipulation involved was enough to make one dazzled.
Unknowingly, it was the seas of night.
However, Concubine Chen’s eyes only grew brighter and brighter. In the brightness, there was a sliver of death.
She lightly reached into her mouth and pulled out a pearly white tooth. Upon closer inspection, this tooth was actually a fake tooth that contained a small wax pill.
This wax pill was the size of a green bean and completely whole with a slight crack on it.
To avoid the strict checks of the palace, the Black Snake Guards had really expended a lot of effort.
Concubine Chen carefully took out the pill and pressed it, causing it to burst open. Instantly, a small green smoke wafted out.
Hong Xiuquan, who slept next to her, instantly sucked in the green smoke.
This green smoke was a unique poison that the mountain barbarians had presented to Ouyang Shuo. It was called the Yanluo Miasma, a highly rare item. One could only find it in the deep mountains and forests where the miasma was thick. It could be found near some old ponds or trees.
Using a secret technique, one could seal the poison into a pill.
When using this poison, no medium was needed. The pill only needed to break open, and when a normal person took it in, in less than an hour, they would definitely die.
Hence, even the mountain barbarians needed to pay a hefty price to obtain a little of it. Basically those who went to try and hunt for the poison would most probably not survive.
However, such a poison, the moment it was produced, if it was not collected within ten minutes, it would merge into the pool of water and disappear.
Hence, to collect this Yanluo Miasma, both luck and sacrifices were required, neither could be lacking.
Such strict requirements were just the cycle of the heavens.
If not, someone could harvest large amounts of Yanluo Miasma and a huge loss of life would occur.
After all, the strength of the Yanluo Miasma was in it being a formless and silent killer, unlike other poisons that needed to be injected through blood or water to be effective.
In olden times, they did not have gas masks. Hence, if the person who released the poison was not careful, they would also die. However, Concubine Chen had never expected to be able to walk out of the palace alive.
As the Yanluo Miasma wafted over, the both of them immediately got poisoned.
As for Hong Xiuquan, he was sleeping soundly and did not notice a thing.
Such a way of dying was probably the best and most fortunate way for him.
The one that had it tough was Concubine Chen.
After taking in the Yanluo Miasma, Concubine Chen could only close her eyes and wait for her death, slowly welcoming its arrival. The most beautiful flowers often withered at their best time.
….
The next morning.
When the palace maids entered the king’s sleeping quarters in preparation to serve the king and Concubine Chen, they only found two corpses.
Yanluo Miasma, the name was beautiful, and the effects were too.
If one was poisoned, there would be no weird signs on their bodies. It was just like they had fallen into a deep sleep.
All of a sudden, the news that the king had died spread through the entire Tianjing City.
All of a sudden, the entire city was shocked.
The numerous officials and generals, who had gotten ready and packed everything overnight, all stood still on the spot. They did not know how to react.
An unexpected storm had swept up the entire Tianjing City.
The fate of Taiping Country, how would it proceed on, no one knew.
9 AM, king’s palace, main hall.
No matter what, since the matter had already occured, the officials and generals obviously needed to discuss a solution.
This was because the empress was basically a stick figure and was absolutely useless.
Hence, the ones that truly held power were the officials and generals in the hall. They would decide the fate of Taiping Country.
Of the group of generals, Shi Dakai was naturally their leader.
As for the civil servants, it was also another historical talent, Su Zhe.
Su Zhe was a North Song writer, poet, official, and deputy prime minister, a member of one of the eight big families of the Tang and Song Dynasty. Moreover, along with his father, Su Huang, and his brother, Su Shi, they were known as the Three Su.
When Hong Xiuquan appeared in the wilderness, apart from Yang Xiuqing, he had no other decent administrative personnel. However, how could he actually let Yang Xiuqing have a hand in administrative and government matters? As such, the only way was to use outsiders.
Su Zhe was a talent that he had recruited when he destroyed the territories of some players.
Apart from him, there were two other historical officials, but as they were not really famous, there was no point in mentioning them.
In theory, after the death of the king, the most important matter would be to decide a successor.
However, Hong Xiuquan had appeared in the wilderness for less than a year, and he had not left any children. Furthermore, Taiping Country was in chaos. Even if he had a young child, they would not be able to take up responsibility.
Hence, the officials felt that they should choose a person that spawned by the king’s side in the wilderness to take over for him.
The most important matter right now was obviously leading everyone out of this danger.
The first person to be suggested was expectedly Shi Dakai.
Shi Dakai was a Taiping Country elder, and he was also a general that held power in the military. During such a chaotic time, he was naturally the most capable. Last night, the king had also met him alone, so one could see how well he was being treated.
Logically, there was no one that could compete with Shi Dakai.
As for he himself, due to the defeat yesterday, he still wavered and did not speak a word. His silence was naturally understood by the others as having quietly accepted the role.
At this very moment, a lanky official stepped out and said loudly, “General Shi naturally is suitable, but I feel that there’s one other person that is more suitable.”
“What a joke, is there anyone in our country that’s more suitable than General Shi?”
The supporters of Shi Dakai instantly stepped out to disagree, their expressions arrogant.
“There obviously is.” The official said at a decent speed, “General Yang Xiuqing, be it in experience or ability, he’s better than General Shi.”
Needless to say, this official was a strong supporter of Yang Xiuqing’s camp.
Last night, after Yang Xiuqing sent away the soldier from the Military Intelligence Division, he started to contact the various officials to discuss a coup. Originally, these people were highly doubtful.
After all, the king had high prestige and to openly challenge it was not something anyone had the ability to do.
But just this morning, the news that the king had died started to spread. When these allies got the news, they let out a breath of cold air.
If one said that between the two there was no correlation, you could beat them to death and they still would not believe it.
At that moment, they had all made their decisions.
At this time, they naturally needed to help Yang Xiuqing garner support.
“Haha, what a joke!” The one that retorted was the official from just now, “A losing general and one that was locked up by the king, how can he succeed the previous king?”
“That’s right, so? If I did not remember wrongly, General Shi is also a losing general. And his defeat buried the fate of our country.”
“….”
The entire hall fell into total silence.
The expression on Shi Dakai’s face turned into one of remorse and embarrassment. If it was not for the people beside him pulling him down, he would have just turned around and left.
“This, how is this the same?”
The supporters of Shi Dakai were speechless. Even they themselves were not confident in their own words.
The lanky official chased for the winning shot and loudly said, “General Yang was ordered to attack Mulan Stronghold. He even requested to retreat but was rejected. What about General Shi? Leading 150 thousand troops and being sneak attacked on our own front door, is that not more amusing?”
The moment his words sounded out, more officials looked at Shi Dakai with doubt.
“Hey, no matter what, Yang Xiuqing was locked up and General Shi was not. Is that not enough to say something? Aren’t their positions in the king’s heart obvious?”
“What locked up? It was just to protect him from words and discussions.”
“Bullsh*t!”
“Shameless!”
……
Such speech techniques caused numerous officials to be dragged into the debate.
Within the hall, a flurry of debates began.
The supporters of Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai quarreled and neither side was able to convince the other.
In this debate, Su Zhe and the other civil servants were complete bystanders. He was clear that as outsiders, they had no right to decide the fate of Taiping Country.
At this moment, only the other generals and the officials had the ability to decide.
When Shi Dakai saw this scene, he could not take it, so he stood up to leave.
Just at this moment, outside the main hall, a casual voice sounded out, “Brother Shi!”
When Shi Dakai heard this call, he immediately stopped and looked out.
Only to see the one who came was Yang Xiuqing that had been locked up.
His appearance caused an uproar in the hall. His supporters were delighted, while the supporters of Shi Dakai were all furious.
“Yang Xiuqing, how bold are you? The king gave orders that you are not to leave your manor. Now that he’s dead, you actually immediately disobey him.”
The one who scolded out was Ji Xianfeng from Shi Dakai’s camp.
When Yang Xiuqing heard these words, a cold glimmer appeared in his eyes, but a wide smile remained on his face, “After the king’s death, as a minister, isn’t coming into the palace to pray expected?”
“You!”
When Yang Xiuqing heard this response, he shook his head and turned to Shi Dakai, “Brother Shi, can we have a word?”
Shi Dakai looked at Yang Xiuqing in surprise before nodding his head in the end.
