Jingcheng, Imperial Palace, Hall of Mental Cultivation.
"Master, the Taiping rebels failed. All those people we and the foreigners had won over had their homes confiscated. Even the foreigners were beheaded."
Upon hearing this dreadful news, Xianfeng painfully closed his eyes on the bed.
Ever since he had heard that the foreign masters had been beaten into a panicked rout, Xianfeng had scarcely risen from his sickbed, because the bad news had never stopped afterward.
The battlefronts had suffered defeat after defeat, territory was constantly being lost, and seeing that the Qing Dynasty was about to fall, people elsewhere had begun stirring up trouble with their own agendas. Taxes could not be collected, troops were insufficient, the Bannermen were useless, the Green Standard Army had long since become worthless, and no one could be recruited for new armies.
When people were forcibly conscripted, they merely muddled through on the battlefield. They would not fire more than a few shots, nor would they flee when they could not win. As long as they avoided the artillery fire, they considered it a success. All they waited for was the chance to surrender.
But if they had a choice, they actually wanted to go home. Yet there were supervising troops behind them, and anyone retreating would be executed. They could only wait until they had avoided the bombardment, then surrender cleanly. That was the best option...
In short, the Qing Dynasty was now basically finished. Because it was weak, those local wealthy families below had seen its weakness. These people had never been loyal to begin with. Since this regime was no longer viable, naturally they would no longer support it. They would even seize this opportunity to intensify their efforts and dig graves for the Qing masters.
On one hand, they could