"And another thing! After Samuel Hung established his rule in Heavenly Capital (Nanjing), he immediately expanded his original 'Heavenly King's Palace' in the old Two Rivers Governor's compound. The new palace covered over ten miles, twice the size of the Forbidden City! It was basically the 'Little Heaven' of Jiangnan. Samuel Hung spent eleven years in the Heavenly King's Palace, surrounded by beauties, never stepping outside the city gate. He didn't command armies, didn't bother with politics, just drank, wrote poems, and enjoyed music with his harem. Classic case of a small man who got lucky and lost himself in pleasure! How could someone like that conquer all of Jiangnan? It's a miracle!" Quentin Easton shook his head, sighing in disbelief.
"Tsk—looks like Samuel Hung spent all those years chasing pleasure, drowning in luxury and lust! What a hopeless case. With Celestial Peace Kingdom in the hands of a guy like him, no wonder it was doomed from the start!" Shawn Young commented with a touch of sarcasm.
"Exactly! Samuel Hung wasn't much of a scholar—barely scraped through the imperial exams four times, never made the cut. Once he took over Heavenly Capital (Nanjing), he only did two things: First, he sent generals everywhere to loot treasure and stash it in the palace's Holy Vault. Second, he gathered beauties from all over the country to serve his personal desires. Just among the queens, consorts, and ladies-in-waiting, there were over a thousand women in his harem! All of them were expected to share his bed. Talk about excess!"
The Heavenly King's Palace didn't even have a Grand Supervisor, so there were tons of 'female officials' on duty. Between the second-rank managers and other attendants, that's another thousand-plus women! In total, over two thousand beauties served Samuel Hung alone. The only man in the whole palace was him, and every woman was there to please the Heavenly King. He had so many consorts he couldn't even remember their names, so he just gave them numbers—like Consort No. 25, Consort No. 7, and so on. He even wrote a weird poem for his harem every three or four days, ending up with a whole collection called 'Heavenly Father's Verses.' The poems were so bad, they made you want to cry! Honestly, he was the most outrageous emperor in history!" Quentin Easton paused, sipped his tea, and shook his head with a long sigh.
"Whoa—seriously? Samuel Hung was that over the top? Two thousand women just to serve him! If he hadn't been toppled, the whole world would've gone crazy! That's way too much!" Shawn Young exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.
"Yep! Samuel Hung was obsessed with living the high life. After moving into the Heavenly King's Palace, he never led troops or managed politics—he basically never left his palace. Inside, beauties pulled his golden chariots; outside, dozens of attendants carried banners. He even had a thousand 'Heavenly Attendants,' a hundred 'Heavenly Horses,' and a bunch of golden utensils—heck, even the chamber pots were made of gold! He built the biggest bed in the world, called the 'Eight-Step Dragon Bed,' just for himself and his harem. Talk about wild!" Quentin Easton shook his head again, marveling at the extravagance.
Fiona Nangong glanced at Shawn Young on purpose, then chimed in, "Hmph—Isn't every man's dream to be surrounded by beauties? Samuel Hung just got lucky for a while, and then took male ambition and wild desires to the absolute max!"
"Uh—" Shawn Young, Quentin Easton, and Moran Shanhe exchanged glances, momentarily speechless at Fiona Nangong's sharp words. But she wasn't wrong—men throughout history have chased two things: power and women. From emperors to heroes, hardly anyone escapes those two traps!
Quentin Easton noticed the awkward vibe and coughed twice, quickly changing the subject: "Let's get back to how Heavenly Capital (Nanjing) fell. After all, the secret our Three Great Houses have guarded for generations started right before the city was taken by the Qing army."
"Oh! I heard the Battle of Heavenly Capital was brutal, but I don't know all the details. Fill me in!" Shawn Young said, leaning forward.
"After Anqing fell in 1862, the Qing army kept conquering city after city. By 1864, Heavenly Capital (Nanjing) was surrounded, and the Celestial Peace Kingdom was on the brink. Prince Loyal Lee advised Samuel Hung to retreat, but Samuel was too far gone—he actually believed he was a 'True Dragon' and refused to leave his palace of pleasure. He ordered his troops to defend the city, and tried to borrow soldiers from 'Heavenly Father' and 'Heavenly Brother' to drive out the Qing devils, but of course, that went nowhere. Food ran out, even Samuel Hung himself was starving. He got so crazy, he had people pull up grass from the lawn and make 'sweet dew' soup. That stuff was even worse than dirt or pumpkin stew—eating it made you sick! Samuel Hung kept throwing up, his strength faded, and after months of misery, he suddenly snapped out of it for half a day. He handed the throne to the Young Heavenly Prince, then secretly summoned the heads of our Three Great Houses and gave them a top-secret mission. He had them lead an elite squad out of the city under cover of darkness, and not long after, he died. That secret mission is the biggest mystery of the Celestial Peace Kingdom!" Quentin Easton explained, his face growing serious.
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"Oh! So if Samuel Hung hadn't snapped out of his madness for those few days, your ancestors from the Three Great Houses might've all died in the Battle of Heavenly Capital!" Shawn Young asked.
"Yep, that's right! If Samuel Hung hadn't recovered for half a day, our ancestors would've met a heroic end!" Quentin Easton nodded in agreement.
Then Quentin Easton continued, "The Battle of Heavenly Capital was the last big defense fight of the Celestial Peace Kingdom, and also the bloodiest. After nearly two years of siege, in July, the Xiang Army took the last stronghold outside the city—Dragon's Neck Hill. From there, they could overlook everything inside the city. The Xiang Army built dozens of cannon towers on the hill, bombarding the city day and night, while their engineers dug tunnels to breach the walls. They even filled the gap between the hill and the city wall with reeds and grass, then covered it with sand, making a ramp for the final assault."
Half a month later, the Xiang Army was ready to attack. Prince Loyal Lee, seeing the city was about to fall, sent over a thousand men disguised as Xiang soldiers to break out and destroy the ramp near the Taiping Gate, but they were discovered and forced back inside.
On the morning of July 9th, the Xiang Army gathered outside Taiping Gate for the final assault. By noon, they used tons of explosives to blow open the city walls and stormed in. The defenders fought back with guns and cannons, killing many attackers, but couldn't stop the Xiang Army's advance. At the same time, Xiang naval forces took the Water West and Gan West gates. By evening, every gate in Heavenly Capital (Nanjing) had fallen.
The Xiang Army, crazed by two years of revenge, unleashed their fury after breaking into Heavenly Capital (Nanjing). They burned, killed, looted, and ravaged the city for three days straight. The whole city was practically wiped out!
After Prince Loyal Lee was forced to retreat from Taiping Gate on July 9th, he returned to the Heavenly King's Palace with the Young Heavenly Prince, escorted by thousands of loyal guards. He tried to break out through Gan West Gate, but was blocked by General Chen Xun of the Xiang Army, so he switched to Qingliang Mountain. That night, he disguised his men and tried to escape again, heading toward Xiaoling Guard. Soon after, Prince Loyal Lee and the Young Heavenly Prince got separated and fled in different directions. On July 22nd, Prince Loyal Lee was captured near Fangshan. On July 7th, after finishing his last will, he was killed by Zeng Guofan's men at age forty-four. Inside the city, the defenders and the Xiang Army fought street by street; most of the defenders died, and the few survivors refused to surrender. Every battle was a bloodbath, savage beyond belief. After Heavenly Capital (Nanjing) fell, the Celestial Peace Kingdom was finished." Quentin Easton said, full of emotion.
"Sigh—That's what they mean by 'Ten thousand soldiers' blood dyed the Xiang Army's hats red, and poor white bones filled Heavenly Capital (Nanjing).'" Moran Shanhe added with a deep sigh.