317 Hong Xiuquan (1/2)

Xunzhou, Taiping Country Base.

Compared to the other peasant uprisings, talents filled the movement that Hong Xiuquan led in Taiping Country. At the start of the uprising, there were Yang Xiuqing, Feng Yunshan, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Changhui, and Shi Dakai—these five core members. Out of the five, Shi Dakai was really good at war and a much-needed general.

The five of them had met their ends in similar manners.

Feng Yunshan and Xiao Chaogui died in battle at the start of the uprising. During the middle portion, Yang Xiuqing grew arrogant from his victories and Feng Changhui murdered him. Not long after, Hong Xiuquan executed Feng Changhui.

The only lucky survivor, Shi Dakai, left because of Hong Xiuquan's jealousy toward him. Shi Dakai brought away his forces and fought independently. But due to his distance from the base, he couldn't escaped death.

Apart from the core five, there were the Tian Official Lin Fengxiang, Di Official Li Kaifang, Chun Official Hu Yihuang, Xia Official Lai Hanying, Qiu Official Zheng Lichang, Dong Official Xu Zhongchang and more. These people were all capable leaders.

Near the end of the uprising, Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, and the like appeared in Taping Country. These were young leaders, Li Xiucheng was the most elite among them. Moreover, he was very loyal.

Based on the settings that Gaia created, these core members would appear too after the leader of the uprising appeared in the wilderness.

Of course, Gaia removed their negative experiences like jealousy, betrayal, arrogance, and biases.

The members of the uprising group that appeared in the wilderness all had the same dream and motivation.

They aimed to build their ideal country in the wilderness.

Hence, the moment Hong Xiuquan appeared in the wilderness, he had tens of generals besides him. In addition to his nearly bug-like refugee recruiting skill, he had three thousand refugees in less than five days.

Because of his appearance, the lords in Xunzhou found that their refugee spawning rate had dropped. In truth, Hong Xiuquan had taken them all away.

With three thousand refugees, Hong Xiuquan had the basic strength required to stand up in the wilderness.

As it was an uprising group, they were naturally all soldiers.

Over 10 generals, one main one deputy, split into units. They had split the three thousand refugees into six units. The generals made use of this time to give these refugees some basic training.

Next, they needed to take down a territory and build their base.

The player territories in the wilderness that survived till this day had at least reached grade 3 town, so their population had reached 10 thousand. The better ones had upgraded to grade 1 County and had a population upper limit of 20 thousand.

In addition to the subsidiary territories, the lords had a more optimistic situation.

If the three thousand refugees in the uprising army tried to take down a player territory, it would be akin to throwing an egg at a rock. The refugees were using vegetable knives to fight against a proper army—merely courting death.

In history, the uprising army used their numbers to gain an advantage. They had limited chances to create upsets as underdogs against bigger forces.

However, Hong Xiuquan had no choice but to take the chance.

One could describe the recruited refugees as a bunch of locusts. They could not produce grain, they brought too little food, and they were about to die in a few days.

Thankfully, their identity gave the uprising army a good cover.

As the leader of the uprising army, Hong Xiuquan had many ideas. After many days of observation, he chose a suitable territory and prepared to act the next day.

Early in the morning, he arranged Shi Dakai to lead a unit. They would act as new refugees and walk toward the city gates. When the guards saw the shabbily dressed refugees, they didn’t pay much attention despite the wrong numbers. After all, the numbers in these few days didn't have a pattern. It could suddenly increase by a hundred and no one would care. They would just allow them in.

The moment he entered, Shi Dakai made use of the chance to lead the troops to attack. The vegetable knives in their hands killed the guards, and they successfully took down the city gates.

The troops that hid outside the gates swarmed out and entered the city after they saw the plan succeed.

When he saw the army enter, Shi Dakai made the decision to gather the weapons the guards had left. Then, they rush toward the armory. He clearly knew that the strong forces were at the barracks. If these men came to reinforce, they wouldn't stand a fighting chance with such noob equipment.

Hence, they would only have a chance of winning if they managed to take down the armory.

The generals took down the various important points and were ready to fight. As the leader, Hong Xiuquan didn't slack off. He started to spread his beliefs and faith to recruit the masses.

In this territory, the people didn’t have a high level of patriotism and happiness. The lord was violent and the residents and commoners held a lot of resentment toward him. After Hong Xiuquan tempted them, many of them joined his forces.

Hence, with both things considered, victory was in their sights.

Shi Dakai's forces successfully took down the armory, but they had suffered heavy casualties.

The refugees couldn't bother to celebrate and just entered the armory. They simply took any weapon they saw. Besides, they wouldn't know how to use them anyways. They also randomly wore the armor.

After they equipped themselves, the leader gathered the refugees outside the armory, and they prepared for battle.

With such a delay, the proper army from the barracks had finally started to move toward the uprising army.