usatvline Chapter 1: Starting Out in Northeast China
Chapter 1: Starting Out in Northeast China
December of the eleventh year of the Xianfeng reign (1861 in the Gregorian calendar).
In August of this year, Emperor Xianfeng died at the Chengde Mountain Resort, and Emperor Tongzhi succeeded him. Just last year, the Anglo-French allied forces entered Beijing, burned down the Old Summer Palace, and forced the Qing government to sign another humiliating unequal treaty.
Of course, at this moment, Rock, who had just transmigrated, didn't care about these things. The only thing he cared about now was his own survival.
"Damn it, it's freezing cold today, I'm freezing to death..."
Feeling the biting cold wind rushing towards him, Rock instinctively wrapped his thin winter clothes tighter around himself, feeling as if he were about to freeze into an icicle.
He is currently part of a group of people who ventured to Northeast China, a group of several dozen people who came all the way from Shandong, overcoming countless hardships, and finally arrived in Northeast China.
Before his journey, Rock had been to Northeast China before; he had even visited the Harbin Ice and Snow World.
But compared to that time, he felt that the Northeast was now cold to the bone!
Perhaps it was because he was thinly dressed and had nowhere to rest.
After all, these days, let alone finding a house with heating to rest in, it's extremely difficult for him to even find a warm bed in his current condition.
And he finally understood why a warm bed could be compared to his wife and children.
"Brother Luo, are you alright? If you're really cold, I can lend you my coat for a bit!"
Just as Rock was shivering from the cold, a burly man suddenly strode up behind him, patted him on the shoulder, and asked.
Hearing this, Rock was indeed somewhat tempted, but he still shook his head.
"Brother Lu, thank you for your kindness, but I can manage! Although you are in good health, you can't really lend me your coat!"
The burly man surnamed Lu laughed loudly and said:
"Haha, don't worry, I'm a martial artist after all. Although I haven't reached the point of being impervious to heat and cold, embracing Xue Mian is no problem! I'm not as afraid of the cold as you!"
Without waiting for Rock to say anything, he took off his coat and draped it over Rock's shoulders.
Feeling the warmth of the strong man's body against his coat, Rock couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
"Thank you so much, Brother Lu!"
Even though he knew that Lu Xiong, as a highly skilled martial artist, was not that afraid of the cold, the fact that he was willing to give him his coat at this time was truly a life-saving grace!
Before transmigrating, Rock didn't quite understand what "闯关东" (Chuang Guandong) meant, but after transmigrating, he truly understood why it wasn't called "走关东" (Zou Guandong) but "闯关东" (Chuang Guandong).
Because getting through this journey has been even more difficult than passing through a challenge!
Along the way, chaos, cold winds and heavy snow, hunger and exhaustion, and even various diseases can easily take a person's life.
And for some reason, while everyone else transmigrated with their souls, he transmigrated directly with his physical body.
Even if he was wearing a trench coat when he transmigrated, it was nothing compared to the blizzard raging before him.
If it weren't for Lu Xiong's kindness in picking him up from the roadside when he was about to freeze to death, giving him dry food, and taking some clothes from a dead person by the roadside, he felt that he would really have frozen to death!
"Sigh, everyone else's transmigration system grants them instant benefits, why is mine just a progress bar?"
Looking at the progress bar stuck at 98%, Rock couldn't help but sigh slightly.
He has been in this world for four days, and today is the fifth day.
The progress bar seems to be running at 25% every 24 hours, and now it seems that his system is about to finish loading.
Thinking about how hungry and tired he had been these past few days, and how he had almost frozen to death, even getting frostbite on his feet, Rock couldn't help but feel like cursing. He felt that his transmigration was incredibly pathetic.
Just as he sighed, Lu Xiong suddenly moved closer to Luo Ke and said with a smile:
"Brother Luo, where were we last time? Were we talking about what happened after those Tartar dogs entered the pass?"
"You're a scholar, so tell me more about what happened after those Manchu barbarians entered the pass?"
Rock nodded. When he first transmigrated, he had no skills other than his mouth. After being rescued by Lu Xiong, he gained Lu Xiong's attention because of his eloquent speech during casual conversations.
If it weren't for his respect for his status as a "scholar" and other reasons, he wouldn't have taken such good care of him all the way.
"Speaking of the Tartars entering the pass, we must first talk about Wu Sangui..."
With his limited historical knowledge and some information from marketing accounts, Rock managed to completely fool Lu Xiong.
Hearing about the atrocities committed by the Tartars after they entered the pass, Lu Xiong, who already hated them to the core, beat his chest and stomped his feet, lamenting repeatedly.
Seeing Lu Xiong's indignant expression, Luo Ke shook his head slightly. He naturally knew why Lu Xiong was so resentful of the Manchus.
In October of this year, the Nian Rebellion invaded Shandong, and the anti-Qing forces gained momentum. The Manchu army suffered repeated defeats. In order to protect their own interests, they colluded with the foreign powers' troops stationed in Yantai and joined forces with those foreign devils at sea to strangle the rebels.
At that time, the hometown of Lu Xiong, a big man from Shandong, suffered a calamity.
After the foreign powers' armies entered Yantai, they quickly tore away the mask of civilization.
Because the Anglo-French allied forces had previously looted a great deal of wealth in Beijing, the subsequent Anglo-French allied forces stationed there were extremely envious.
In the blink of an eye, they found a pretext and began to plunder the surrounding villagers.
During this process, Lu Xiong's parents also perished, killed by the bayonets of the Anglo-French allied forces.
Faced with this situation, how could Lu Xiong, a tough Shandong man with a strong sense of justice, and his fellow villagers tolerate it?
They already disliked these foreign devils, and when they saw them killing and looting everywhere after coming ashore, they also organized militias and began to cause trouble for these foreign devils.
Despite the rebels' outdated equipment, consisting only of old-fashioned weapons like broadswords, spears, and bows and arrows, their familiarity with the terrain and their burning grief and indignation allowed them to kill quite a few members of the Anglo-French allied forces, making them hesitant to even leave their encampment!
As a result, the Anglo-French allied forces were also enraged.
They thought about how they had just stormed into Beijing and even forced the Manchu emperor to flee in panic, only to have many of their people killed by a group of peasant militia. How could they swallow this insult?
Britain and France immediately sent envoys to pressure the Qing court, demanding that they deal with these local rebel armies as soon as possible. Otherwise, they would have to carefully consider the previous ceasefire agreement and think about whether to continue to maintain this peace.
Having suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, the Qing court, already trembling with fear after being defeated by foreigners, was immediately frightened upon hearing this. So they quickly dispatched troops to both suppress the Nian Rebellion forces that had entered Shandong and assist the Anglo-French allied forces in suppressing these local rebel armies.
As the fighting went on, the Qing army decided to pay a fine to avoid further trouble, begging the Anglo-French allied forces to help them suppress the Nian Rebellion.
Thus, the Nian Army, which had just entered Shandong, was immediately attacked by the British and French allied naval guns and land forces.
Lu Xiong, who was involved in the rebel army, was utterly disillusioned with the Qing government after witnessing this scene.
They originally only wanted to drive the foreign devils out and did not intend to oppose the imperial court. However, the imperial court chose to join forces with the invaders to massacre its own people!
They also demonstrated through their actions what it means to be subservient to outsiders but strike hard at home!
At that time, several brothers who joined the righteous army with Lu Xiong and went to kill foreign devils were tricked by the local Qing army.
They had thought that the Qing army would join forces with them to drive out the Anglo-French allied forces, but they never expected that these Qing soldiers would take advantage of their unpreparedness and wield their swords against them!
From that time on, he hated both the foreign devils and the Qing government, which only turned its butcher's knife against its own people!
"Sigh, Brother Luo, I finally see the truth! These damn Tartars don't consider the people as their own. They're no different from those foreign invaders—they're all bandits who came to invade us!"
After listening to Luo Ke recount the entire process of the Qing army's entry into the pass, Lu Xiong couldn't help but sneer, his eyes filled with disappointment.
Rock nodded, a hint of resentment also appearing in his eyes.
"That's right. From the very beginning of the Qing Dynasty, all the systems they established were ultimately designed to suppress Han rebellions!"
"In reality, they are no different from those foreign devils, except that they successfully established a court and completed their rule, while the foreigners failed to do so."
Lu Xiong patted Luo Ke on the shoulder with a heavy heart and sighed repeatedly:
"Brother Luo, speaking of which, although we are both irreconcilably opposed to the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty is now very powerful. They are even colluding with foreigners to bully and exploit the people. What should we do?"
"The world is in utter darkness, the people are suffering terribly, when will we ever see the dawn again?"
When Luo Ke first transmigrated, he only had a neat buzz cut and did not have the spiky haircut required by the Manchu Qing dynasty. In addition, when he referred to the Qing court, he would unconsciously refer to it as the Manchu Qing dynasty instead of my Great Qing dynasty.
Therefore, Lu Xiong immediately regarded Luo Ke as an anti-Qing patriot who came from nowhere, and thought that Luo Ke was a Nian rebel or some other similar figure.
After all, there were too many anti-Qing rebels in Shandong. Since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there had been various anti-Qing rebels in the area. In addition, many rebels from other places also entered Shandong. Lu Xiong naturally could not distinguish the differences between these rebels.
In response to Lu Xiong's sigh, Luo Ke offered words of comfort:
"Yes, things will get better. Whether it's the Qing Dynasty, some kind of corpse plague, or some other demon or monster, everything will be alright!"
"One day, all these demons and monsters will vanish into thin air!"
Of course, despite this, what Rock was really thinking was:
Whether he can recover or not depends on how well his system performs.
He now only hopes that his system can provide some support; otherwise, he feels that relying solely on his own strength, let alone being able to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, it would be difficult to even survive in this damned chaotic world.
Especially after he transmigrated, many things he learned from Lu Xiong made him realize that the world he had transmigrated to was definitely not the same world as the late Qing Dynasty in history!
This lousy place has been completely transformed by some unknown force!