As expected, the Divine Cult did not deceive Ma Shiying. After two days, all the captured officers and soldiers were released. Logically speaking, one should be dejected after a defeat and being captured. However, these officers and soldiers were as excited as if they had been given chicken blood. It was okay.
They gathered together and talked about how amazing the magic of the Lotus Mother was and how heroic the holy soldiers were. From time to time they took out a pamphlet from under their clothes and took a look at it.
Ma Shiying also has such a booklet. This is a brochure for the Lotus God Sect. It can be seen that it is written by a famous artist. Both the wording and the calligraphy of the engraving are very particular. The booklet introduces the Lotus God in simple and easy-to-understand terms based on the current situation.
Ma Shiying likes to see the emergence and prosperity of religion, to persuade the world to convert to the religion, and to save the people of the world.
In any case, the battle was defeated, and it would be difficult to make a deal back home. However, this did not bother Ma Shiying. He went to a nearby county to find some death row prisoners, beheaded them, and said they were the heads of traitors, and took them back to hand over the matter.
After returning to Shanghai, he first went to the court to deliver the order. Zhu Youxiao was really easy to fool. When he saw the leader, he really thought that Ma Shiying had won the battle. After receiving a heavy reward, he appointed Ma Shiying as the Commander-in-Chief of the Bandits Crusade, commanding the Jiangsu and Zhejiang land and water armies.
Youxiao was also confused. He actually thought that Ma Shiying was a Confucian general like Yuan Chonghuan, but this was good. He had military power and it would be convenient when there was an uprising in the future.
Ma Shiying returned to the house, confused. He was hesitating whether he should betray Emperor Tianqi. Finally, he remembered a famous saying, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. The current Tianqi regime is already in danger, why should he stand under a tree?
He was about to hang himself. After making up his mind, he felt much better and went to the back hall to rest.
After entering the inner room, he saw his wife worshiping a Buddha statue on the cabinet and muttering something. Ma Shiying felt strange. There is a Buddhist temple for worshiping Buddha, so why worship in the bedroom? He coughed dryly, and his wife noticed it and hurriedly hid the Buddha statue.
, as if he had done something ulterior, Ma Shiying was suspicious, so he went over to take it and took a look, and was shocked. The Buddha statue was the Virgin that he had seen on the lotus platform in the fishing village that day, white, plump and kind.
Unfortunately, Ma Shiying did not dare to neglect, so he quickly placed the statue of the Virgin on a high place and knelt down.
The lady was confused and asked: "Sir, do you also know about Our Lady of Lotus?"
Ma Shiying said: "I still want to ask you, how do you know about Our Lady of Lotus?"
The lady said: "Nowadays, all the dignitaries in the capital believe this. There are many benefits to worshiping the Holy Mother. You can avoid all kinds of diseases, live a long life, have children and grandchildren, and make a lot of money."
Ma Shiying broke into a cold sweat as he listened. The work of the Lotus God Sect has been so in-depth that they, the people who live in the temple, don't even know it. It can be seen that some of Wei Zhongxian's imperial secretaries are also in name only, so he said to his wife:
"If you want to pray, pray seriously. Don't do it secretly. Build a shrine at home specifically to offer incense to the Holy Mother."
From then on, Ma Shiying also actively developed followers among his colleagues and devoted himself to promoting the Lotus Book. Finally one day, there was a knock on the door of Ma's house, and a mysterious man in black said to the housekeeper, tell your master, someone is coming from my hometown."
This was the secret code set by the Lotus Sect and Ma Shiying. After hearing the news, Ma Shiying hurriedly welcomed the man in black into the living room. The man in black didn't waste any time and told Ma Shiying: "Based on the Sect's observation of you during this period, I am basically satisfied.
, I specially appoint you as the leader of the Shanghai Main Altar of the Lotus God Sect. In seven days, the holy soldiers will attack Shanghai, and I hope you can cooperate."
Ma Shiying quickly knelt down, kowtowed to the north, thanked the Holy Mother for the promotion, and then carefully asked the envoy: "Does our religious sect have any connection with the north?"
The envoy was very contemptuous of Ma Shiying's ignorance and said: "The Lotus God Sect is a formal religion approved by Lord Supervisor of the State. It is not those wild fox Zen. The Holy Mother is none other than the wife of Lord Supervisor of the State."
So it turned out that was the case. Ma Shiying breathed a sigh of relief and finally felt relieved. Originally, he was worried that the divine religion would not be recognized by the north, or that the level was too low, which would affect his career. Now it seems that these are all nonsense. The Lotus God Cult should be Liu Ziguang.
It was an important plan to seize political power. As the leader of the Shanghai General Forum, when the world is settled in the future, his official position may be able to reach a higher level. He immediately stood up and patted his chest to assure himself: "
I am here to express my position, I will take care of the Divine Cult’s attack on Shanghai, and there will definitely be no resistance.”
The envoy said contemptuously: "So what if you resist, the holy soldiers are invulnerable and fearless. However, I would like to thank the Master of the Horse Altar for your help, and I will take my leave."
After the envoy left, Ma Shiying studied the defense map of Shanghai. As the governor of Shanghai Road and the commander-in-chief of the rebel army, he had a considerable number of troops in his hands, but he had no control over the imperial guards who defended the emperor and the navy on the Huangpu River.
But it has no jurisdiction, but this is enough. As long as the holy soldiers come in, the overall situation will be basically decided. The emperor's few people are not enough to fill the teeth of other holy soldiers.
At the same time, Wei Zhongxian also noticed something was wrong. According to the report of the Imperial Secret Service, it was popular among the Shanghai navy and civilians to believe in the Lotus God Sect, and this Lotus God Sect was an indispensable cult that promoted the reactionary idea of having no king or father.
It may be a conspiracy of the Xuzhou regime.
But now the Imperial Secret Service no longer has the power to curb this momentum among the people. When the news came that the Red Shirt Army defeated the Xixia in Henan, no one in the Shanghai court applauded because they originally expected the Xixia people to disrupt the situation. Who knew?
Erdan was so unhelpful and gave such a great contribution to Liu Ziguang. In this way, the status of the Xuzhou regime will be more stable. It will be just around the corner to go south and clear the capital of Shanghai. Who will work for Tianqi?
In addition to the threat from the north, the sea is also not calm. The warships of the Song Dynasty have all sailed to Hangzhou Bay. If Shi Lang of the Zhejiang Navy hadn't tried his best to block it, they might have sailed into the Huangpu River. Shanghai has a complex population, a large number of overseas Chinese, and private
There are underworld organizations and reactionary Taoist sects such as the Ax Gang, the Tiandihui, the Lotus God Sect, and even ordinary people have their hearts set on Liu Ziguang. With internal and external embarrassment, Shanghai seems to be unable to stay any longer.
After Liu Ziguang lost his face, the people in Song Dynasty became anxious. As soon as the typhoon passed, the fleet immediately left the port and fought all the way to the East China Sea. They cruised on the sea to demonstrate and did not land. On the one hand, it was because Bu Yong, the navy stationed in Song Dynasty, went too far.
Weak, you may not be able to get any benefits if you land. On the other hand, because you have not reached an agreement with Liu Ziguang, you are suspected of stealing the fruits of the revolution if you come ashore rashly. There is also another reason that the people in Song Dynasty have been keeping secret, that is, the princess of the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Wen and the Crown Princess Zhao Jiao's mother and daughter have been stolen.
Stealing people from under the eyes of the capable imperial guards of the Song Dynasty showed that the other party had extraordinary abilities. The imperial court of the Song Dynasty searched through Xin Bianjing and sent out warships and airships to search around, but still found nothing. When Empress Zhao Jing was unable to do anything, she
He said: "Stop looking for me, my husband's family is here to pick me up."
The so-called husband's family, of course, refers to Liu Ziguang. Only Liu Ziguang in the world has this motive, the courage, and the ability to send people to Xinbianjing to take people. Zhao Jing understands that this is Liu Ziguang expressing his attitude to her. At the beginning,
It's you who persuaded me to rebel, but if I really want to rebel, it doesn't matter why you are so cowardly. At worst, I will do it alone.
Zhao Jing naturally couldn't let Liu Ziguang do it alone. She had been planning this for a long time, and she would go all out if she really got started. Shiploads of arms and coal were sent to Nagasaki to re-arm the Beiyang Fleet, and then sail to Tianjin, Qingdao, Haizhou, and the Song Dynasty.
The warships cruised in Hangzhou Bay in a showy manner, without firing cannon attacks, but only threatening with force. The navy in the Song Dynasty was the best in the world, and even the Beiyang Navy was at the apprentice level. Compared with Shi Lang's Zhejiang Navy, it could only be regarded as a copycat navy.
How dare we seriously resist, we can only do our best.
The people in the Song Dynasty were waiting for the opportunity to attack. They had to participate in the Battle of Shanghai, because in this way they could regain Liu Ziguang's trust, but they could not launch an attack on their own initiative, which would mess up the situation even more, so they asked Xuzhou to supervise the country in advance.
The regime sent a telegram requesting coordinated operations.
At this time, Liu Ziguang had received the news that Zhao Wen and her daughter were brought back by the seal camp led by Wen Getao. There were no dangers along the way. The people in Song Dynasty seemed to have deliberately let them go back. He naturally knew that this was what Zhao Jing was doing.
To show goodwill to myself, the fleet in the Song Dynasty was also very well-behaved. It stayed at sea and did not attack without permission. It also actively asked to accept command. This was good. I was worried that I did not have enough troops to launch a southern expedition. It was better to overthrow the Tianqi regime.
Leave it to the Jiangnan people themselves and let the fleet in Song Dynasty cooperate.
As a regular church recognized and personally inscribed by the Supervisor, the Lotus Church is qualified to have its own armed forces. Moreover, Liu Ziguang also sent a message to the whole country, conferring the title of Mother Lotus as the national teacher and the Heaven and Earth Society as the first patriotic gang, authorizing them to organize
He used his strength to wipe out the eunuchs in Shanghai to gain strength and serve as the vanguard for the imperial army.
What kind of thing is this? The bandits were able to clear out the officers and soldiers. When Zhu Youxiao saw the power on, he was so angry that he laughed. He was overestimating his capabilities. It was extremely ridiculous. Wasn't this religious cult wiped out by Ma Shiying?
It has resurfaced again. Please tell me about Ma Shiying as soon as possible.
Ma Shiying couldn't come because the holy soldiers of the divine sect had already arrived at the city. The officers and soldiers were unable to stop them. Many of the officers and soldiers themselves were followers of the Lotus Sect. There was no reason for a junior brother to attack a senior brother. There was almost no warning.
Shanghai is on the verge of collapse.
The fleet in Song Dynasty also received Liu Ziguang's secret order and fully cooperated with the holy soldiers to attack the city. They shelled the Wusong Fort and sailed straight into the Huangpu River. For a time, the sound of cannons rumbled and smoke billowed inside and outside the city of Shanghai.