Hong Xuanjiao

page views:1 Publication date:2023-04-11

In 1854 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　,
a fierce battle that would determine the fate of the Qing Dynasty unfolded in Zhili (present-day Hebei).

After capturing Nanjing, the Taiping Army dispatched a powerful force, led by Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, on a northern expedition. This force consisted of the elite troops of Xiao Chaogui, the Western King, and was highly effective in combat. They avoided direct confrontation and, in just ten months, traversed Anhui, Henan, and Shandong, entering Zhili and advancing directly towards Beijing and Tianjin. The Qing court was alarmed and mobilized elite troops from the capital and Mongol cavalry under the command of Senggelinqin to intercept them.

Senggelinqin was one of the few brave generals in the Qing Dynasty. Leading his army south, after several maneuvers, he encountered the Taiping Army west of Tianjin. The Taiping Army was stationed in Jinghai, while Senggelinqin's army was stationed at Wangjiakou. The two forces clashed face-to-face, and a fierce battle ensued. In the first battle, the Taiping Army could not withstand the onslaught of Senggelinqin's elite cavalry and retreated.
In the second battle, the Qing army encountered an unexpected setback. That day, the Mongol cavalry charged fiercely, strong men and tall horses, wielding their swords with ferocious force. The Taiping army, though also brave, could not withstand the onslaught, their formation wavered, and it seemed the Qing army was about to win another battle. Just then, something unexpected happened. The Taiping cavalry parted to the sides, and suddenly a group of infantry charged out. This group was shorter in stature, wielding a rattan shield in one hand and a sharp sword in the other, bravely meeting the cavalry head-on. Upon closer inspection, it was astonishing—this unit was entirely composed of women. The Mongol cavalry paid them no heed, spurring their horses forward. Unexpectedly, these women employed a unique tactic. They were nimble and agile; as the horses charged and their swords swung down, they used their shields in their left hands to block the blows, twisted their bodies, and dodged to the side of the horses. With their right hands, they swiftly chopped off the unsuspecting horses' legs. Despite being women, their swords were fast and powerful, severing the horse's leg in a single stroke. No matter how fine the horse, once its leg is broken, it can only fall. The cavalrymen, thrown far by the momentum of the charge, were half-conscious and before they could recover, the second wave of female soldiers had already cut them down with swift strokes of their swords. As

soon as the first rank of cavalry fell, the charging cavalry behind them couldn't stop, continuing their relentless advance. Tripped by the fallen riders, they fell one after another. This cavalry was a battle-hardened force, and their rear guard commander remained calm. With a command, they bypassed the center and flanked the female soldiers, attempting to scatter them. However, the female soldiers were skilled with their swords; no matter how they charged, they always used their rattan shields for protection, focusing their attacks on the horses' legs. The female soldiers had the advantage of being shorter; when the tall cavalrymen swung their swords downwards, their momentum was weakened by the time the blades reached them. The female soldiers' swords were low, almost sweeping across the ground; even if the riders bent down, they couldn't protect their horses' legs, thus suffering heavy losses.

A brave general from the Qing army, wielding a long sword, roared and charged forward. His sword was long and powerful, and his horse was fast. The female soldiers' rattan shields were ineffective, and they had no time to dodge, suffering several blows in quick succession. Just then, a female general from the Taiping Army charged forward. A Qing general swung his sword down, but the female general swiftly dodged to the right, deflecting the blow with her rattan shield. Just before the blade reached her, she suddenly withdrew, striking the blade with a swift motion, deflecting it. With a casual slash, she thrust her sword straight at the Qing general's heart, killing him instantly. Seeing their female general succeed, the female soldiers cheered and charged forward again. This female general, leading several female lieutenants, plunged into the center of the cavalry like an iron cone. In an instant, they had slain two Qing generals and more than a dozen cavalrymen, unstoppable. Even the fiercest Mongol cavalry had never seen such tactics before. Unable to withstand the onslaught, they retreated. The battlefield was left with a large number of broken-legged horses and Mongol men, mutilated and mangled, still groaning and struggling in pools of blood.

Upon receiving news of the defeat, Senggelinqin heard his retreating soldiers recount how formidable the female soldiers were, especially their commander, described as tall, agile, and possessing unparalleled swordsmanship. Even renowned warriors in Senggelinqin's own camp perished under her blade in a single exchange. Those who had met her described her not only as brave but also as young and beautiful, with exquisite features, like a fairy descended from heaven. Since taking command, Senggelinqin, relying on his elite cavalry, had rarely suffered such a humiliating defeat, especially at the hands of a young female general. Enraged, he secretly plotted with his trusted generals that very night, devising a treacherous plan to avenge his fallen beloved general.

The next day, the Taiping army's cavalry, the "Mabiandi" unit, spearheaded the attack, clashing with the Mongol cavalry. In the heat of battle, suddenly, female shield-wielders charged from the flank, directly attacking the Qing army's side. The Qing army resisted for a time but suffered losses, forced to retreat while fighting. The female warriors relentlessly pursued them. Thus, the battlefield presented this sequence: from the Qing army's perspective, it consisted of retreating Mongol cavalry, pursuing female soldiers, then Qing cavalry still fighting the Taiping army, and finally the main force of the Taiping army. The

retreating Qing troops fought their way back, while the female soldiers pursued them fiercely, their momentum unstoppable. Suddenly, a cannon fired, and the retreating cavalry abruptly turned and quickly withdrew from the battlefield. A burst of gunfire followed, felling a group of female soldiers. The female general was startled; looking up, she realized the situation was dire. They had rushed into a small valley, with Qing musketeers lying in ambush on the hills on either side. A pile of boulders had immediately fallen from the main road ahead after the Qing cavalry withdrew, blocking their path. Behind them, a large pile of logs and boulders rolled down, forming a wall that sealed off their retreat. They were trapped in a desperate situation. The Qing troops

surrounding them were the firearms battalion brought by Senggelinqin from the capital, armed with muskets, their firepower fierce, and they opened fire on the female soldiers. The female soldiers' rattan shields protected their front but not their sides or backs. A barrage of fire from all directions felled many of them, leaving corpses strewn across the ground, blood gushing everywhere. The remaining female soldiers were picked off one by one by the Qing soldiers, like ducks being shot. The battle suddenly turned from hand-to-hand combat into a massacre. The rattan shields and sharp blades were completely ineffective against the musketeers far up the mountain; they could only take the hits.

The female commander, recovering from the shock of the attack, acted decisively. With a command, the well-trained female soldiers quickly formed a long line. Two rows of female soldiers, back to back, wielded their rattan shields and sharp blades, protecting their front and the rear of the row behind them. This tactic proved effective, and the number of female casualties immediately decreased. The scattered female soldiers quickly formed three more long lines, creating a square formation, and led by their commander, they turned and charged back the way they had come.
The female soldiers quickly reached the valley entrance, where they were met by a wall several meters high made of logs and rubble. The female commander, with her two valiant female lieutenants flanking her, climbed up the wall. With swords in their mouths and shields hanging from their backs, they gripped protruding logs, stepping into the cracks in the rocks, and scrambled upwards with incredible speed. In a short time, they had climbed two or three zhang (approximately 6.6 meters). The interlocking logs and rocks created a blind spot, making it difficult for the muskets on either side to hit them. Seeing that she had succeeded, the female commander raised an eyebrow, gave a sharp shout, and also began to climb upwards, using both hands and feet. Her two lieutenants followed closely behind. Then, the female soldiers also climbed the wall. Some of these female soldiers were not as agile as the commander, and a few fell, but those below continued to climb.

In a short while, the two leading lieutenants were near the top of the wall. Suddenly, another cannon shot rang out, and countless grappling hooks suddenly appeared from the top of the wall and the mounds on either side. Caught off guard, the two were caught by several hooks, some catching their clothes, others digging into their flesh, instantly rendering them powerless and dragged upwards. This turned out to be another elite force that Senggelinqin had ambushed—the Jianrui Battalion, which usually guarded the capital and captured thieves. While their offensive fighting prowess wasn't as great as the Mongol cavalry, their close-quarters combat and thief-capturing skills were unparalleled.

Two female lieutenants were dragged onto the wall, and the ambushing Qing soldiers swarmed in, ten to a dozen against one. One of the female lieutenants on the right had her arms and legs caught in grappling hooks, the hooks digging deep into her flesh. Unable to struggle, the Qing soldiers twisted her arms behind her back, one grabbing her hair while the other looped a rope around her neck and over her shoulders, binding her two strong upper arms. They then looped the rope around her back, binding her two forearms that were folded behind her back. The rope was then pulled tight, tied in a knot, and the valiant female lieutenant was immediately bound tightly.

The other female lieutenant's upper body was only held by her clothes by grappling hooks. After being dragged onto the wall, she drew her knife and severed two grappling hooks. She then used her swordsmanship to cut down several Qing soldiers who approached her. However, she suffered a setback when one of her thighs was caught in the hooks. Seeing her struggle, the Qing soldiers pulled her forcefully, spinning her around several times. Even the fiercest female warrior couldn't withstand this attack; a large section of her thigh muscle was torn open, blood flowing everywhere. She was also covered in cuts and bruises from the jagged rocks, and was left dizzy and disoriented. The Qing soldiers then used the grappling hooks to hook her arms behind her back. They then bound her tightly with a rope made of cowhide.

As the two female lieutenants were hooked by the grappling hooks, the second wave of female commanders and their flanking lieutenants had already reached the top of the wall. Seeing the hooks close, the two lieutenants quickly removed their rattan shields from their backs and extended them to cover the commander. Unexpectedly, several thick wooden pillars emerged from the top of the wall and struck them head-on. The two lieutenants, clinging to the wall with only one hand, were unable to block or dodge. They were immediately knocked to the bottom, their heads bleeding, and they could no longer move.

At the same time, several grappling hooks swiftly reached out from the top of the wall, aiming for the now-protected commander. The commander cried out, advancing instead of retreating, deflecting the hooks with her sword and lunging towards the top of the wall. She was fast, but the hook-wielding hands were even faster; one hook from the side had already pierced her right thigh. The commander tried to use the momentum of her charge to escape the hook. Unexpectedly, the hook had barbs on its tip, which had already hooked tightly into her leg muscles. The grappler was a master; seeing her resist, he spun the grappling hook swiftly, instantly tightening it around her muscles, and then violently dragged her upside down. The heroine, though her clothes were stained with blood and her face was deathly pale with pain, still fought desperately. She pulled in her stomach, her upper body arching upwards, and swung her knife at the grappling hooks with her right hand. Before the knife could strike, several grappling hooks came down simultaneously, fast, accurate, and ruthless, grabbing her shoulders and arms. Worst of all, one hook pierced right through her full left breast, pulling upwards with deadly force. This breast was such a delicate and sensitive spot. Even the heroine, with all her courage, nearly fainted from the pain, letting out a scream and losing her fighting ability. She was immediately dragged up.

Seeing her fierce and uncontrollable nature, and with two grappling hooks piercing her shoulders and another grappling hook pulling her thighs in the opposite direction, the Qing soldiers stretched her body taut, rendering her immobile. Then they stepped forward, and the two groups worked together. One group grabbed her hair, pressed down on her shoulders, and then used a cowhide rope to loop around her neck and bind her arms, tightly binding her strong arms and breasts. The other group straddled her back, passing the cowhide rope under her crotch, with both ends going upwards, passing it through the rope loops in front of her bound chest and back, then folding it downwards, crossing it at her genitals, and pulling it tightly to tie a knot. Then they separated her legs and bound her two slender thighs from the root, binding them together at the thighs, knees, calves, and ankles. After binding them, they tied a knot, tightly binding her round and elastic legs. The rope dug deep into her flesh, causing the muscles to bulge. Only then did they remove the grappling hooks and add several more iron chains to her body. In this way, the heroine, with her superb martial arts skills and stunning beauty, finally fell into their trap and was captured alive.

Seeing that they had succeeded in their mission and fulfilled Senggelinqin's orders, the Qing troops dragged the three captured female generals to a nearby hilltop, leaving only a small force on the top of the wall to deal with the remaining female soldiers. The female soldiers below, seeing their generals being dragged to the top, cried out and desperately climbed upwards to rescue them. Instantly, the wall was filled with female soldiers climbing upwards. Just then, three barrels of boiling oil were poured down on them from above. Although the female soldiers were brave, they were still made of flesh and blood; scalded by the boiling oil, they fell downwards with screams. Before the others could recover, torches, sulfur, and gunpowder were thrown down from above, instantly creating a wall of fire. The female soldiers on the wall were burned by the raging flames; first their clothes caught fire, then their beautiful bodies were burned into torches, burning alive with screams. The fire immediately spread along the thrown diesel and sulfur to the female soldiers below. These young female warriors, their martial arts skills rendered useless, were burned and rolled on the ground, their flesh scorched and torn apart, burned alive into charred pieces. The fleeing female soldiers were riddled with bullets from the mountain muskets. In less than an hour, this once valiant, strong, and unstoppable female army was completely annihilated. Outside

the
valley, Mongol cavalry continued to fight the Taiping army. Seeing the female soldiers ambushed, the Taiping army immediately launched a desperate charge to their rescue. The Qing army fought fiercely, killing many. But the Taiping army outnumbered them, surging forward wave after wave. The Qing army had never seen such reckless fighting and could only retreat around the two hills. The Taiping army did not pursue them, charging straight towards the wall at the valley entrance. Musketeers ambushed on both hilltops opened fire, a volley of shots felling the leading brave soldiers. But then the Taiping army's drums sounded, and wave after wave of warriors charged forward. The artillery battalion had also moved their cannons to the front lines, unleashing a devastating barrage of fire, each shot carving a bloody path through the dense ranks. The Taiping soldiers, like madmen, used the fallen as cover, charging relentlessly. Just as they reached the valley entrance, a reinforcement of Chahar cavalry arrived, flanking them from both sides, brandishing their sabers and hacking and slashing. The Taiping army,

already weakened by their earlier frenzied attack, was no match for this fresh force and collapsed immediately. The cavalry charged right up to the Taiping camp before being stopped by gunfire from the fortifications. By then, night had fallen, and the Qing army retreated, bringing the fierce battle to an end. The Taiping army suffered heavy casualties, with many of their veterans from Huguang losing their lives, severely weakening them. For several days, they were unable to fight and could only hold their positions.

After a day of fierce fighting, Senggelinqin repelled the Taiping army, achieving a great victory and completely annihilating the female shield-wielding troops he so deeply hated. He also captured three incredibly brave female generals, described as angels descended from heaven, which greatly boosted his spirits. He ordered his tent to be opened that very night, and the three female prisoners brought in. He wanted to see what these three women looked like, interrogate them about their origins and the true strength of the Taiping army, and then have them mutilated and their hearts sacrificed to the fallen soldiers to boost morale.

The tent was brightly lit, and a group of Qing soldiers brought in the three captured female generals. They had been stripped of their armor, wearing only thin clothing, and were tightly bound with cowhide ropes. But they still stood tall and fearless. The woman in the middle appeared to be no more than twenty-three or twenty-four years old. She was tall and athletic, with high, firm breasts and a slender, graceful waist. Her beautiful face was slightly elongated, with high cheekbones, two sword-like eyebrows that slanted upwards and reached her temples, and a pair of phoenix eyes that blazed with anger. Her nose was straight, and her thin, red lips were tightly closed, exuding a fierce and imposing air amidst her beauty. The Qing soldiers tried to force her to kneel, but she stood firm, refusing to kneel even at the cost of her life. An officer kicked her hard in the back of the knee, and she lunged forward, but her foot got caught in the iron shackles, forcing her to kneel. But she still struggled desperately to stand up, but the two Qing soldiers on either side each kicked her in the back of the knee. These two burly Mongolian men weighed at least three or four hundred pounds. She was also injured and unable to exert any strength. She struggled a few times, but still couldn't stand up and could only kneel upright.

The two female lieutenants, the one on the right, was slightly shorter than the female commander but very sturdy. Her eyes were small and single-lidded, but they appeared strong and spirited. While not as strikingly beautiful as the commander, she possessed a captivating and spirited air. The one on the left was similar in build to the commander but taller and stronger. She was very young, seemingly not yet twenty, with delicate features and a beautiful appearance. Although bound hand and foot and shackled, her heroic spirit remained undiminished.

Senggelinqin, a nobleman, had seen many beautiful women. He was from Mongolia, where women were skilled in riding and archery and possessed a certain martial spirit. However, he had never seen such a beautiful and spirited woman before, and he was quite surprised. He immediately demanded her name and rank. The three female captives ignored him. He asked again, but still received no answer. Enraged, Senggelinqin ordered them to be tortured. The Qing soldiers took out leather whips and first lashed the two female lieutenants several times, tearing their clothes and revealing their snow-white flesh. A few more lashes left thick, bloody welts. But the two women were incredibly fierce; they didn't utter a sound, let alone confess. Seeing that the two female lieutenants refused to confess under torture, Senggelinqin ordered the female commander to be tortured. Just as the whip-wielders stood beside the female commander, the two female lieutenants suddenly rushed forward to protect her. Despite being bound and gagged, and having just been brutally beaten, they still managed to break through the Qing soldiers' guard. The taller woman on the left even collided with the whip-wielder, and both fell to the ground. The Qing soldiers were shocked and rushed to subdue them. Although their hands were bound behind their backs, the two women still banged their heads against each other and bit each other, struggling fiercely. It took a long time to subdue them and force them to kneel.

Seeing the two female generals so bravely protecting their lord, Senggelinqin's heart stirred. He wondered if this female commander was no ordinary person, but perhaps a rebel leader. Seeing that the female deputy was subdued, the whip-wielder began to torture the female commander. Two lashes tore her outer garment, revealing a golden-yellow dress beneath. Senggelinqin's heart skipped a beat. This bright yellow was the exclusive color of emperors; no one but the emperor and empress could wear it, or it would be considered a grave offense. The Qing court was like this, and the Taiping rebels must have been the same. This beautiful woman wore royal robes underneath—could she be a princess among the rebels, or one of Hong Xiuquan's consorts? Thinking this, he ordered the torture to stop and the three female captives stripped naked for a thorough search.

Upon this order, a group of elite soldiers from the Jianrui Battalion entered the camp. These men were skilled in interrogation and torture, and several were top experts at dealing with female prisoners. No matter how brave and strong a female thief, female bandit, or female assassin was, they wouldn't get away with it. Usually, within an hour, they were all subdued and forced to confess. Even the strongest, most skilled female thief would eventually beg for mercy under their hands. They considered themselves the best fighters in the world and didn't take these three female bandits seriously. They quickly erected three racks with rough wood, bound the three women's hair with hemp rope, and suspended them from the racks. The three female captives' entire weight was on their scalps; the pain was excruciating. Even though they were strong and endured it without groaning, their pretty faces turned pale with pain. Then, their thighs were split open and tightly bound to the wooden posts on either side with sinew rope. Only then were they untied, and while their arms were still numb from the binding, they chained their wrists to the wooden posts above the racks. Thus, the three women were stretched out in a spread-eagle position and bound to the racks.

3.
Then came the stripping. The three female generals, who had been filled with anger and unyielding spirit just moments before, now had faces flushed red and struggled desperately. But their hands and feet were firmly bound to the rack, and even their hair was tightly twisted and hoisted up; how could they break free? In an instant, their clothes were stripped off. During the stripping, it was discovered that each of the three women had a dagger strapped to their calves. The female general's dagger was inlaid with gold and jade, extremely ornate, and was presented to Senggelinqin. Senggelinqin saw that the dagger was not only inlaid with pearls and gems, but the blade also gleamed coldly; at a glance, he knew it was a rare and priceless treasure. Senggelinqin loved swords the most, and had handled countless precious swords, but he had never seen such a fine one. He knew that this sword must be one of the top weapons in the Taiping Army, and he also knew that this female general was of extraordinary status.

The three female generals were stripped naked and hung in the tent for all to see. The shorter female general was muscular but not bulky, rather petite and delicate. The other female lieutenant had fair skin and full, well-developed muscles, a tall and imposing figure. Both had firm breasts with slightly upturned nipples, clearly indicating they were still virgins. If the two lieutenants' figures were exquisite, then the female commander's figure could be described as superb. Her limbs were long, well-proportioned, and strong. Her breasts were fuller than the two lieutenants', round and smooth, incomparably beautiful. Her abdomen was flat, her buttocks round and firm; from head to toe, she was truly flawless, and her snow-white skin, illuminated by the flickering firelight, shone even more brightly, like a goddess statue sculpted by a master craftsman. Her exquisitely beautiful face was filled with both shame and anger. She struggled desperately to hide herself, but she was tightly bound by skilled guards, and despite her strength, she couldn't break free, helplessly allowing herself to be watched and mocked. The Qing soldiers in the entire camp had never seen such a stunningly beautiful woman before, and they were all dumbfounded. Even the skilled officers of the Jianrui Battalion, who had dealt with countless beautiful female prisoners, were stunned and it took them a while to recover. Now it was time to get down to business and examine her body. The executioner stepped forward, parted the dark pubic hair, and then parted the labia to examine the woman's mysterious treasure, her hymen. The two female deputy generals had never been so humiliated. They struggled fiercely, their hands and feet bleeding from the ropes and chains binding them, but to no avail. In a short while, they were determined to be still flawless virgins.

When it came to examining the female commander, the fiercely beautiful woman who was hanging there was almost driven mad with anger and couldn't help but curse. This was the first time she had spoken since being captured. Her voice was clear and sweet, and even her cursing was very pleasant to hear. Cursing as she was, she still couldn't escape the fate of being examined. In the same way, the pubic hair was parted first. The executioners, not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, first caressed her soft labia, then pressed and twisted her mons pubis. These executioners from the elite battalion were experts at toying with female prisoners; their skill was uncanny. Even in her fury, the female commander felt waves of strange sensations piercing her from her genitals, causing her heart to race and her expression to change, rendering her unable to utter a curse. The soldiers throughout the camp watched, their desire unbearable, their own bodies involuntarily hardening. Finally,

after much difficulty, they managed to pry open the barrier, and just as the clouds parted, a major surprise occurred. The female prisoner's breasts were round and firm, remarkably like those of a virgin. Since the two female adjutants had already confirmed she was still a virgin, they all assumed she was also a virgin. However, upon closer inspection, they discovered she had already been defiled. Moreover, judging from the tattered hymen, it appeared she had given birth. The two experts were taken aback, realizing they had misjudged her. They were glad they hadn't spoken first, or they would have been in serious trouble. Regaining their composure, they examined her abdomen more closely. Her abdominal wall had been soft and flat, but upon closer inspection with a torch, several fine lines became visible. The two men then stroked her abdomen again, confirming that she was not only no longer a virgin but had also given birth, before formally reporting their findings.

Senggelinqin, who was most fond of strong and graceful women, was also captivated by this female general. However, as a prince, he disliked eating leftovers. Now, hearing that this beautiful woman was a married woman, he felt a pang of disappointment. He had initially guessed she was Hong Xiuquan's favorite daughter, a Taiping princess; now he guessed she was one of Hong's concubines. But this was his first encounter with the Taiping army, and he knew little about them, so he couldn't immediately guess who she was. Looking at her again, the female general, seeing that her identity had already been exposed, raised her head again, regaining the trembling expression she had when she was brought into the tent. Only now, a blush appeared on her pretty face, making her even more radiant. Senggelinqin pondered for a moment, still unable to guess her identity. However, having fought fiercely all day and just now been through so much, he was somewhat tired and ordered the tent to be cleared. The three female captives, because of their high martial arts skills, were not to be neglected; they were left naked and hung on the rack, with several groups of guards assigned to watch over them, to be interrogated again the next day.

This
captured, stunningly beautiful female general was none other than Hong Xuanjiao, the sister of the Heavenly King, the concubine of the Western King Xiao Chaogui, and the most beautiful woman in the Heavenly Kingdom. Her two female lieutenants were her personal bodyguards, Zeng Mingying and Zhou Yuyan. Hong Xuanjiao had practiced martial arts since childhood and was a female hero with exceptional skills. Before the Jintian Uprising, she had already roamed the martial arts world, befriending heroes and uniting the people, making contributions to the Heavenly Kingdom. When Yang Xiuqing, under the guise of the Heavenly Father descending to earth, announced the rankings of the people, she was ranked first among women, even above Lai, Hong Xiuquan's first wife; among all living beings, she ranked sixth, only after Jesus, Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, and Feng Yuxiang, and even before Shi Dakai. Xiao Chaogui only became the son-in-law of the Heavenly Emperor and the brother-in-law of the Heavenly King because of his marriage to her. This shows her extremely noble status.

After the Taiping Rebellion began, she personally led a battalion of elite female soldiers, charging into battle with unparalleled bravery. However, by the time they entered Hunan, their military strength had increased, and manpower was plentiful, so the female soldiers saw less action. After Xiao Chaogui's death in Changsha, she wanted to go to war to avenge her husband. But by then, the Heavenly Kingdom's system was strict, and they had lost the Southern and Western Kings; fearing another mishap for this extremely noble sister of the Heavenly King, she was no longer allowed to fight. After the capital was established in Nanjing, the rules and regulations became even more strict, and she could only reside deep within the palace, rarely seen by ordinary soldiers and civilians, let alone leading troops into battle. In her spare time, she could only train female soldiers in the palace, eventually building a highly skilled team of female swordswomen. She was naturally forthright and competitive, which often led to conflicts with Yang Xiuqing. However, since Yang Xiuqing was able to descend to earth in place of the Heavenly Father, she was always the one who suffered losses. Although she had Hong Xiuquan's protection, she was often depressed.

When the Taiping Army decided to launch a northern and western expedition, Hong Xuanjiao, unwilling to be left out, insisted on joining the campaign. Because the main generals of the northern expedition, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, were both close subordinates of Xiao Chaogui and her, and had shared life-and-death experiences, she chose the northern expedition. Both Hong and Yang initially felt it was inappropriate. However, she was strong-willed and persisted. Over time, both Hong and Yang wavered. Finally, they couldn't resist her entreaties and had to agree. However, neither trusted her abilities and not only refused to appoint her as commander-in-chief but also gave her no other appointment. Considering her status as the eldest daughter of the Heavenly Father, the sister of the Heavenly King, and the widow of the Western King—a position of immense prestige—any mishap would greatly damage the Heavenly Mandate. Therefore, strict secrecy was maintained regarding her participation in the northern expedition; only Hong and Yang, along with Lin Fengxiang and other main generals, knew this top secret. She also knelt and swore to Heaven that she would never reveal her identity under any circumstances before they finally agreed to let her accompany the army.

Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, originally subordinates of the Western King, held her in high esteem, reporting all important matters during the Northern Expedition to her. Because the expedition progressed smoothly, she didn't need to fight. She only participated once, during the crossing of the Yellow River, where she annihilated an entire Qing army, leaving no survivors. Few in the north knew that the Taiping Army possessed such a formidable female force. The breakout from Jinghai was crucial for the army's survival. Unable to break through the Mongol cavalry on the first day, she was sent to lead her female shield-wielding infantry. These women, honed through rigorous training, proved to be a nemesis to the Mongol cavalry, achieving a decisive victory. Therefore, they were sent into battle again the following day, hoping to overcome this obstacle and regain their freedom. However, they fell into a trap, suffering total annihilation, and Hong Xuanjiao was captured alive. Lin and Li, shocked by the loss of their female soldiers, desperately tried to rescue them, but they were no match for the artillery and the Mongol cavalry, losing many of their men in the process, and were eventually pushed back.
That night, Hong Xuanjiao, Zeng Mingying, and Zhou Yuyan were all hung naked on the rack. Exhausted from a day of fierce fighting, and having not eaten or drunk anything since their capture, they had been forced to stay awake by anger and agitation. Now, as the night deepened and quiet fell asleep, they felt utterly drained. However, the Qing soldiers guarding them were restless, making lewd and mocking remarks, touching their thighs, and twisting their nipples. They would wake them, claiming they were ordered to be executed by slow slicing immediately, leaving the guards utterly exhausted. In the latter half of the night, this group became even more audacious, first shamelessly pulling down their trousers to display their thick, hard penises, then rubbing them against Hong Xuanjiao's delicate body, and finally attempting to break in. Terrified, Zeng Mingying and Zhou Yuyan screamed, and Hong Xuanjiao, in her rage, also shouted curses. The battalion commander came upon hearing the commotion, but because Senggelinqin was scheduled to personally interrogate them the next day, he stopped the violence. Hong Xuanjiao and the others were allowed to sleep for several hours.
The next day, after handling routine military affairs, and because the Taiping army remained secluded, there was time to interrogate the three captured female generals again. Although Hong Xuanjiao and the others were exhausted, they remained remarkably steadfast and refused to confess. Senggelinqin, knowing Hong Xuanjiao's special status, did not want to harm her, so he ordered the two female deputy generals to be subjected to brutal torture. Among the elite troops were many skilled in female torture; they first used ordinary methods, taking rattan canes and whipping them mercilessly until their skin was torn and bleeding, but they still wouldn't confess. Then they brought out a finger-crushing device, put the two female prisoners down, made them kneel on the ground, and subjected them to relentless torture. Zeng and Zhou had fought many battles and had been wounded, enduring great pain, but ordinary injuries were nothing compared to this cruel torture. The two young heroines were tortured until their faces were deathly pale and their foreheads were covered in cold sweat. Fortunately, the two women were quite strong-willed; though they were being tortured to the point of near death, they didn't utter a sound.

The skilled torturers, however, remained calm and used their usual methods of female torture, hanging the two female warriors upside down, spreading their legs, and inserting spiked clubs into their vaginas. These two women were still virgins, and the pain of their hymens being pierced was brief. But then came even greater agony; the sharp spikes on the clubs relentlessly scratched and clawed inside their tender, untouched vaginas, causing them to faint from the pain. They were revived with cold water and then had their mons pubis twisted and clamped with iron clamps. This was the most sensitive part of a woman's body, and the clamping caused them to break out in a cold sweat, even urinating, but they still gritted their teeth and remained silent.
Seeing their endurance of the torture, the torturers dared not underestimate them, piercing their labia with iron needles until they bled profusely, then applying coarse salt to the wounds and rubbing them violently. These two young heroines, however strong, were still mortal. Zhou Yuyan was the first to succumb and screamed in agony. Then Zeng Mingying also spoke. Her screams were extremely shrill. But when asked about the female commander's identity and name, she still refused to confess. The two beautiful female prisoners were tortured to the point of death by these cruel forms of torture, and they fainted countless times. Eventually, they were so drowsy that even splashing cold water couldn't wake them, and further torture had no effect. Seeing that they were on the verge of death, the supervising officer feared that if they were killed, he would silence them, so he had to stop.

Senggelinqin
was very displeased that he couldn't get the two female deputy generals to talk. He also remembered that there was another group of Taiping Army prisoners of war. Several female prisoners were female soldiers who had been seriously wounded but hadn't died when cleaning up the battlefield, and there were also more than a dozen Taiping Army male soldiers. He brought them all in for interrogation, starting with the female soldiers. Although these female soldiers were all seriously wounded, they were very brave and strong, but they wouldn't confess. Senggelinqin was furious and had one of them executed on the spot. He was a Mongol, decisive and ruthless, intolerant of slow, painstaking methods. He simply had the female prisoner's limbs spread out and nailed to the rack. First, he cut off her breasts with two strokes, then ripped out her genitals with one. Next, amidst screams, he severed her lower legs at the knees, then removed her arms from her shoulders. By this time, the female soldier was bleeding profusely and could no longer scream. The executioner then chopped off her thighs at the groin, then inserted the knife below her sternum, pulled downwards, opened her abdomen, and reached in to pull out a bloody heart. Finally, he cut off her head and announced it outside the camp.

While this female soldier was being tortured alive, the other female prisoners were terrified, but they gritted their teeth and refused to confess. Thus, they were questioned one by one; if they didn't confess, they were tortured one by one. Before long, only one remained. This female soldier was very beautiful and strong. Although she was trembling all over, her face was deathly pale, and even her lips had turned white, she still remained silent. Senggelinqin, enraged, ordered an even more gruesome torture: dismemberment by five horses. The young female warrior was immediately stripped naked and dragged to an open field. Iron chains were tied to her hands and feet, each chain attached to one of the four horses. At his command, the four horses galloped off in four directions. Although the female soldier was strong and muscular, she was no match for four horses. With screams of agony, her two strong arms and two powerful legs were torn off. But she was resilient and did not die immediately. Her severed torso continued to roll on the ground, her cries extremely agonizing. Eventually, she bled to death, could no longer roll or scream, but she still breathed, finally dying after half an hour.

After the female captives were killed, it was the male captives' turn. During interrogation, the first one also refused to confess, and Senggelinqin, impatient with the interrogation, had him dragged out and beheaded. The second one was even more defiant, laughing loudly, "Even girls aren't afraid of death, so why would a real man be afraid?" and beheaded him too. Five were beheaded in this way. By the time the sixth was dragged up, Senggelinqin was already impatient. He only asked one question before raising his hand. Just as he was about to wave it away, the male prisoner saw him raise his hand and shouted, "I'm willing to confess!" He then added, "I am Zhang Ronggui, originally a subordinate of Governor-General Lu of Liangjiang. I was wounded and captured by the Taiping rebels when Nanjing fell. But my heart is with Liu Bei, even though I'm in Cao Cao's camp. Meeting you, Your Highness, is my good fortune." Seeing Senggelinqin looking at him with a mixture of belief and disbelief, he quickly added, "In the Northern Expeditionary Army..." Just as he finished speaking, he quickly changed his tune, saying, "Among the Taiping rebels who fled north, there was only this one female Taiping unit. They never went into battle normally, only fighting once on the banks of the Yellow River in Henan against General Tuoming'a of Jiangning. They were the Lin bandits' prized possession. Who knew that as soon as they clashed with Your Highness, they were completely wiped out. Even the female bandit leader was captured alive by Your Highness. Your Highness is incredibly brave, no ordinary person, but a celestial being descended to earth." Seeing that he spoke so eloquently, Senggelinqin put away his murderous aura and asked him if he knew the origins of this female Taiping rebel. Zhang Ronggui didn't know either, but pretending to be mysterious, he climbed half a step forward and replied, "If Your Highness wanted to know, it would be very easy." Senggelinqin's heart stirred, and he asked him what method he had. Zhang Ronggui said, "Your Highness is so powerful; as long as you use torture, what is there to worry about not confessing?" Senggelinqin frowned, snorted, and said, "The Jianrui Battalion has already been interrogating us for a day."

Zhang Ronggui replied, "As long as the methods of torture are appropriate, there is no reason why they won't confess." Then he said, "When I was in the Longhai stronghold for a long time, I know quite a bit about what kind of torture those female Longhairs fear the most."

Senggelinqin thought what he said made sense, so he asked him what kind of torture the female Longhairs feared the most.

Zhang Ronggui said, "The Taiping rebels used two kinds of cruel torture, the most brutal of which no woman, no matter how fierce, could withstand. They would all cry and beg for mercy." He continued, "The first torture was live skinning. This was used specifically on those the Taiping rebels hated most. I witnessed it once. The victim was a beautiful woman from Jiangnan whom Yang Xiuqing had captured. Yang Xiuqing, seeing her stunning beauty, wanted to defile her. However, she was the daughter of a military family, skilled in martial arts, and had come to assassinate the Taiping rebels to avenge her father's death. That day, taking advantage of Yang Xiuqing's drunkenness and catching him off guard, she pulled out her gold hairpin and stabbed him in the heart. Unexpectedly, he had soft armor inside, and the attack missed. She fought desperately with the guards who came up to her, but ultimately, her hands were no match for their fists, and she was captured alive. Yang Xiuqing was furious and had her skinned alive. At first, she cursed loudly during the torture. The Taiping rebels then slashed her body from her neck to her genitals." One cut. Then, skinning her from both sides until the front skin was completely removed, she was turned over and nailed to the door. By this time, she could no longer curse. Then they turned her over and continued skinning her. When almost all the skin was peeled off, she couldn't bear it any longer and screamed in agony. Even after the skin was peeled off, she was still alive. The long-haired bandits were truly ruthless, constantly rubbing coarse salt onto her bloodied flesh. The woman endured for a long time, but she couldn't bear it any longer. She cried out, "Kill me quickly!" The long-haired bandits, however, wouldn't let her die. They forced her to drink ginseng soup, dragging her out for a whole day and night. In the end, the woman kept begging for mercy, saying every word she could think of, only wanting a quick death. Imagine, such a brave and chivalrous woman, burdened with national and personal hatred, able to risk her life to assassinate the bandit leader, cursing incessantly while being skinned, yet in the end, she couldn't hold on any longer. Could these two female long-haired bandits be stronger than her?

6.
Zhang Ronggui continued, "The Taiping rebels were extremely cruel to their own people. They forbade their soldiers from intermarrying, with violators to be executed. There was a young and beautiful female Taiping rebel, a long-time notorious bandit from Guangxi, who killed without blinking an eye. During a battle, she was stabbed in the stomach, her intestines spilling out. She gritted her teeth, pressed her hand against the wound, and still managed to slash her opponent before collapsing. Later, she stitched up the wound herself with a stiff needle and thick thread used for tying shoe soles, and miraculously survived. She continued to fight as before, her ferocity reaching its peak, known to all. However, this female bandit was promiscuous by nature and had an affair with a young male Taiping rebel." They had an affair. Knowing they had committed a capital crime, they fled Nanjing together, only to be caught by the Taiping rebels who came to capture them. A fight broke out. The female Taiping rebel was highly skilled in martial arts, killing more than a dozen of them. However, outnumbered by pursuers, she was finally stabbed in the thigh and captured. She was taken back to Nanjing and executed by being burned alive. The female rebel knew she was doomed, thinking that at most she would be beheaded and displayed to the public, and was not afraid. But when she heard that she was to be burned alive, she was terrified and paralyzed, desperately kowtowing and begging for mercy, preferring to be slowly sliced to death rather than be burned alive. But she was already in the hands of the Taiping rebels, and had no choice in the matter.

"That day, when they paraded her naked through the streets, she was so terrified her face turned blue, and she even urinated on herself, only crying and begging for mercy. All the old rebels in the street were dumbfounded; no one knew this fierce and shrewish woman could be so cowardly. The more afraid she was, the more torture she suffered. When they lit her like a sky lantern, they used less oil and burned her slowly for several hours before she finally died. They even forced all the female soldiers and generals to watch. Those female rebels, usually extremely fierce, were terrified to death by the sight of this female bandit's screams and her gruesome death. Some trembled all over, some fainted, and some even urinated. The two the prince has captured are also present, and they are all pale with fright. I think if we lit one of them like a sky lantern and the other skinned alive, there's no reason they wouldn't confess."

Senggelinqin was somewhat puzzled, as he had never heard of the sky lantern torture before, but he didn't dare ask. He could only ask if the prince knew these two cruel tortures. Zhang Ronggui replied, "I've seen people light sky lanterns a few times, so I should know how. As for skinning people alive, that requires years of hard work and real skill. To be honest, I don't know how." A

battalion officer from the Jianrui Battalion standing next to Senggelinqin interjected, "Your Highness, we have a remarkable person in our camp who is extremely skilled in skinning. He can even recreate a lifelike image from the skinned human, making it look exactly like a living person. I heard he learned it from the barbarians." Upon hearing this, Senggelinqin was delighted and said, "Then let those two female rebels, one light a sky lantern and the other skin someone alive, and see if they confess."

The next day, he brought three female generals from the Taiping Army and first asked the slightly shorter female deputy general if she would confess. That female deputy general was Zeng Mingying, the strongest and bravest Hakka woman from Guangxi in the Taiping Army. She raised her head and didn't even look at Senggelinqin directly. Enraged by her arrogance, Senggelinqin roared, "Light this female rebel's lantern!" Zeng Mingying was shocked and her face paled, but she still couldn't believe that Qing soldiers would light lanterns. He immediately stripped her naked, bound her tightly, and dragged her out of the tent. An iron pole had already been erected in the open space outside the tent, and a large barrel of tung oil and a pile of cloth lay on the ground. Zeng Mingying looked at them and her face turned deathly pale; she knew she couldn't escape this fate. Even this fierce woman's legs went weak; if it weren't for two strong men supporting her, she would have collapsed.

Senggelinqin, seeing this, thought that this method of torture was indeed effective, immediately breaking the arrogance of this fierce female rebel. He then ordered her dragged back, saying, "If you reveal the name and identity of the female commander, I will spare you; otherwise, once you're lit a lantern, it will be too late." Zeng Mingying was now trembling all over, her face as white as a sheet, but she gritted her teeth and remained silent. Seeing that she was still defiant, Senggelinqin waved his hand and said indifferently, "Alright, let everyone witness the 'lighting of the sky lantern'."

By this time, the area outside the tent was already crowded with Qing soldiers. Most of them had never seen the "lighting of the sky lantern" before, and having heard that it was the most cruel torture in the world, and that the one being tortured was a beautiful and brave female general, they all came to watch. At this moment, Zhang Ronggui stepped forward, ordered the Qing soldiers to knock Zeng Mingying down, and then took a piece of cloth and went forward. Zeng Mingying recognized him and angrily said, "So it's you, you traitor! Today you killed me, but the day you are captured by the Heavenly Army, I'll make sure you're also lit on the sky lantern!" Zhang Ronggui smiled and said, "I'm afraid you won't see it." As he spoke, he stepped forward, and Zeng Mingying kicked wildly with her legs. Zhang Ronggui ordered the Qing soldiers to tie her legs with hemp rope. Zeng Mingying was quite skilled with her waist and legs; even with her hands tied behind her back and being pressed to the ground, her two bare thighs still managed to kick down several Qing soldiers, preventing them from getting close for a moment. Without a sound, the skilled men of Jianrui Battalion thrust their iron spears down. Zeng Mingying, bound to the ground, had no chance to dodge. Her two strong thighs were pierced by the spears, pinned to the ground, blood flowing freely. She then came to a stop, and in an instant, she was tightly bound with hemp rope.
Seeing that she was subdued, Zhang Ronggui approached and wrapped her in a cloth soaked in tung oil, starting from her bare feet, then her ankles, calves, and thighs, pouring tung oil over them as he did so, but sparing her too much. Bound tightly and held down by several burly men, Zeng Mingying could only watch helplessly as he wrapped her. Seeing that he had poured so little tung oil, she sighed, her face pale, and tears streamed down her face. She simply closed her eyes, awaiting her death.

It turned out that the key to this sky lantern was the amount of tung oil used. If more was poured, the fire would burn fiercely, and she would be burned to death quickly, suffering less. If less oil was poured, the person would be slowly roasted alive over a fire, suffering excruciating pain until death. Zhang Ronggui had been in Tianjing for a long time, and he would watch every time the sky lanterns were lit. This man was quite clever, and after observing so much, he had figured out the tricks without a teacher. Today, he was determined to show off in front of Senggelinqin, so he poured very little oil.

7
In no time, her abdomen and chest were wrapped, leaving only her head unwrapped. The Qing soldiers carried her to the iron pole, tied her head upside down with iron chains. After Zhang Ronggui saw that she was tied up, he said again, "If you confess, it's not too late." Zeng Mingying kept silent, closed her eyes, but couldn't hold back her tears. Seeing that she wouldn't confess, Zhang Ronggui took a torch and lit the cloth around her feet. There was plenty of oil here, and it ignited instantly, shooting up a burst of flame. Below were female warriors wrapped in white cloth like candles, resembling large, lit candles or lamps from afar. The crowd suddenly realized that this was the "Sky Lantern."

As soon as the fire was lit, Zeng Mingying felt a burning pain in her feet. The fire burned down the cloth, the flames pointing upwards. After a moment, when it reached the cloth at her ankles, Zeng Mingying's bare feet were on fire. Her pristine white feet first turned red, then countless small blisters appeared, and then they burned to a reddish-brown color, the skin cracking open. Zeng Mingying felt excruciating pain, finally understanding the power of the "Sky Lantern." She tried to struggle, but her body was tightly wrapped in oilcloth and bound with iron chains. Even with immense strength, her arms were useless. She could only watch helplessly as her feet were burned to a crisp.

Onlookers watched as the flames spread downwards, the muscles of her calves sizzling and crackling as they burned. The subcutaneous fat ignited, fueling the fire. Soon, her smooth, rounded calves were deformed, resembling the burnt wick of a candle. The aroma of roasting meat that had filled the air was now replaced by a nauseating stench. Zeng Mingying's face first turned bright red, then bluish-purple, her features contorted in pain. Her brows furrowed, her eyes tightly shut, revealing her desperate struggle to endure the excruciating agony. A moment later, the protruding piece of charred flesh grew longer and longer, finally breaking off and falling to the ground.
Zeng Mingying was a strong woman; she endured the intense pain of being roasted alive, biting her red lips tightly without uttering a sound until they bled. But when the flames reached her knees, she could no longer bear the agonizing agony of being burned alive and screamed in agony. Seeing her screams of agony, Zhang Ronggui knew this fierce woman from Guangxi couldn't endure it any longer. He grabbed a bucket of water and went to ask her if she would confess. He promised to extinguish the fire immediately and relieve her of the unbearable pain. Zeng Mingying's beautiful, strong face was contorted with pain. Hearing Zhang Ronggui's words, she barely opened her tightly closed eyes, glanced at the bucket, gritted her teeth, glared at Zhang Ronggui, and then closed her eyes again, still refusing to confess. Zhang Ronggui chuckled sinisterly, "Let's see how long you can hold out. You'll confess eventually anyway. Better to confess sooner rather than later, to save yourself more suffering."

As he spoke, the fire had already reached her thighs. The cloth burned quickly, revealing two strong thighs underneath. In the flickering flames, the bright golden-red thighs contrasted sharply with the dark brown and even charred calves above. Slowly, the thighs caught fire, burning inch by inch downwards, emitting plumes of black smoke. Normally, during a burning at the stake, the person is standing, and the black smoke rises upwards as the fire burns below, quickly suffocating them to death. Therefore, the suffering isn't long; in fact, the legs aren't even completely burned before the person dies, and the rest is just cremation. However, during the sky lantern punishment, the person is upside down, and the smoke rises upwards, not reaching the mouth and nose. Therefore, it's impossible for them to be suffocated by the smoke; they are truly burned alive. Thus, the pain endured before death far exceeds that of a normal burning at the stake.

At this moment, Zeng Mingying's screams were extremely shrill, a scream of utter agony. Then she fainted from the pain. Qing soldiers poured cold water on her head and face to revive her. The two female generals guarding the execution ground watched with hearts breaking, closing their eyes. But the screams still reached their ears. Zhou Yuyan, who had previously stood tall and proud, her face full of strength and unyielding spirit, was now pale and distraught. Hong Xuanjiao, though still trying to hold on, had already shed two streams of tears. Zeng Mingying endured half an hour of torment in the flames. The excruciating pain would have spurred any other woman to confess. But she stubbornly endured it, though her screams grew hoarse and weak. Her thighs were slowly engulfed by the flames, which gradually approached her buttocks. Zeng Mingying was a martial arts practitioner, her body muscular, but this area also had a layer of fat that ignited easily, turning into white flames. At this point, Zeng Mingying's screams had turned into groans, and she fainted again after only a short while.

Zhang Ronggui revived her by dousing her with water before ordering her to confess. By this time, Zeng Mingying was delirious from the pain; human language had lost its meaning for her, and she remained unresponsive.

A little while later, the fire reached her abdomen, and her smooth skin was burned and cracked, her once vibrant red muscles twitching and trembling. Then, her charred thighs broke off in sections. She had been roasted alive for two hours. Zhang Ronggui had originally intended to slow the burning, but Senggelinqin was preoccupied with military affairs, planning a joint operation with Sheng Bao to annihilate the Taiping army, and had no time for further procrastination. Furthermore, Zeng Mingying, though small in stature, was all muscle, and burned intensely when engulfed, thus the execution proceeded faster than expected. By the time the fire reached her upper abdomen, she could no longer scream; the continuous, excruciating pain had rendered her unconscious, and neither cold water nor pinching her philtrum had any effect. Finally, when the fire reached her chest, Zeng Mingying's head arched back, then went limp, hanging motionless. Zhang Ronggui checked on her; she was already lifeless. But the fire hadn't died down; it continued to burn downwards, turning her entire body into a torch.

Senggelinqin ordered the two bound female generals to be brought forward. First, he grabbed Hong Xuanjiao's hair, pulling her head up and facing him. Seeing that the beautiful face was already streaked with tears, her beautiful phoenix eyes were filled with sorrow and grief, her expression full of pain and resentment. Looking at the female deputy general, although she was still barely standing, her naked body trembled uncontrollably, yet her eyes still burned with hatred. Senggelinqin shouted, "If you don't confess, tomorrow I'll skin you alive, making you die even more tragically than her!" Zhou Yuyan trembled, her almond eyes still wide open, but upon closer inspection, a hint of fear appeared, yet she remained silent.

Senggelinqin then shouted at Hong Xuanjiao, "Look, your loyal subordinate has died tragically for you. You haven't uttered a word, how cruel!" Hong Xuanjiao had witnessed Zeng Mingying's gruesome death, her heart breaking. She almost blurted out her identity and name. But remembering the oath she had sworn before the campaign, remembering Hong Xiuquan's loving and trusting gaze, she held back.

The next
day, it was time to skin someone alive.

The executioner was Zhang Bopi, a master skinner from the Jianrui Battalion. He possessed two extraordinary skills: first, his unparalleled ability to skin a person alive, capable of peeling off a complete and intact skin; and second, he was said to have learned another skill from foreigners, the ability to cast lifelike wax figures that were indistinguishable from female prisoners. He combined these two skills, covering the wax figures with the skinned human skin, creating lifelike portraits.

Zhou Yuyan was drugged and stripped naked before being carried into the tent. Her entire body was covered in oil, her beautiful and full flesh shimmering, quite alluring.

Zhang Bopi had prepared a wooden box the size of a coffin, poured plaster mixed with water into it, and then laid Zhou Yuyan flat on her back inside, her hindquarters sinking into the plaster while her front half protruded from the surface. After the plaster dried, a wooden frame of the same size was added, and then the mixed plaster was poured in until it was close to her mouth and nose. Hollow bamboo tubes were inserted into her nostrils, with the ends protruding from the plaster surface to allow her to breathe. When the plaster was completely dry, the wooden frame and plaster were removed, and Zhou Yuyan was lifted out. Inside the plaster of the upper and lower wooden frames, a mold exactly like her was revealed. Zhang Bopi poured molten wax into the mold, closed the upper and lower frames tightly, turned it over and over a few times, and then immersed it in cold water. After a while, it was taken out, the plaster mold was opened, and sure enough, it was a wax figure exactly like Zhou Yuyan. Zhang Bopi took out the wax figure, scraped off a thin layer to leave space for the human skin, and dug shallow pits in the nipples and genitals. The wax figure was now complete.
Zhou Yuyan, who had woken up, was washed clean with hot water, naked, and bound hand and foot, and taken to the execution ground outside the tent. A door-shaped rack had been set up in the center of the area. The wax figure had been brought in and erected beside the rack. The naked Hong Xuanjiao, bound and gagged, knelt nearby, watching. Zhou Yuyan, seeing the wax figure identical to herself, was filled with doubt. The executioner approached and ordered the tightly bound young heroine to confess; if she didn't, she would be skinned alive, the skin then used to cover the wax figure for public display. Zhou Yuyan glanced sorrowfully at Hong Xuanjiao, closed her eyes, and remained silent, her face turning deathly pale, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

Seeing her refusal to confess, Senggelinqin ordered Zhou Yuyan to be nailed to the rack. This rack was about the width of a door. Her feet were nailed to the lower ends of the side posts. Her arms were not outstretched horizontally, but rather slightly spread downwards at an angle, nailed to the middle of the side posts. Her beautiful hair was suspended from the crossbeam above the rack, then a wooden stick was inserted into her hair and twisted several times, tying her entire body taut and upright on the rack, rendering her completely immobile. Her extraordinary skills were now useless; she could only await being skinned alive. In the sunlight, her snow-white, delicate skin, wrapped around her youthful and voluptuous body, resembled a jade-carved goddess statue, eliciting both pity and excitement from the onlookers.

Zhang the Skinflint took out a sharp, swift knife and first made a circular cut along Zhou Yuyan's neck, reaching her shoulder; blood seeped out, forming a red line. Then, starting from her rounded left shoulder, he made a horizontal cut across her skin from left to right, reaching her right shoulder, dividing her torso into two halves. Next, he made a cut along the right shoulder, down the junction of her arm and torso, to her wrist, then turning towards the inside of her arm, continuing down to her armpit. He made a similar cut on her left arm. Then, from under her armpits, he made cuts along the junction of her torso and torso to her ankles, then down the inside of her thighs to her genitals. In this way, her torso and limbs were completely separated into two halves. After the incision was completed, fresh blood slowly seeped out, flowing down the incision and hanging in shocking streaks of bright red blood on the white skin. The white flesh and red blood were extremely poignant and beautiful.

Zhang the Skinner's knife was sharp, and his hands moved swiftly. The incision was completed the moment Zhou Yuyan felt the pain. Zhang then began peeling skin downwards along the incision, starting with her chest. He used a round-headed iron clamp in his left hand to hold the skin and gently lift it. With his right hand, the knife sliced away, separating Zhou Yuyan's fair, delicate skin from the underlying muscle. Zhou Yuyan felt waves of burning pain, and cold sweat began to bead on her forehead. After peeling a three-inch-wide strip of skin, Zhang then peeled another three inches down along her shoulder and upper arm. Thus, Zhou Yuyan's rounded shoulders and upper arm muscles were exposed, the bloody red muscle contrasting sharply with the snow-white skin.

At this point, Zhang's henchman took a bottle of concentrated salt water and repeatedly wiped the back of the peeled skin with a cloth soaked in the salt water. This was for cleaning and disinfection to prevent the skin from rotting later; it was not originally part of the torture. However, the large amount of salt water absorbed caused Zhou Yuyan excruciating pain, a burning agony far exceeding the pain of the skinning itself. Zhou Yuyan trembled with pain, sweat pouring down her forehead, but she gritted her teeth, remaining silent.

Next, the skin on Zhou Yuyan's beautiful breasts would be peeled off. Her breasts were firm and round, crucial for replicating the human specimen. Zhang was extremely careful, peeling off the skin from the upper half of the breast first, deliberately leaving extra flesh on the nipple to keep it erect. Beneath the peeled breast lay a complex structure of muscle, mammary glands, and some yellowish fat. When the concentrated salt water was applied, the rich nerve endings in the breast were intensely stimulated. Even Zhou Yuyan, with her strong will, could no longer endure it; she let out a scream and began to struggle and writhe. Two Qing soldiers rushed forward and held her back tightly to prevent her struggles from hindering the skinning process.

Zhang the Skinner peeled off a section of skin from the front of her arms and then began peeling her abdomen. By this time, Zhou Yuyan's muscles were convulsing in pain, revealing the distinct outline of her rectus abdominis muscles. Zhang the Skinner had to be extremely careful while peeling, following the contours of the undulating muscles, making deep cuts and then shallow ones, tearing as he peeled, the tearing pain exceeding that of the skinning. Zhou Yuyan's cries had changed from intermittent screams to continuous wails: "Pain...pain...it hurts so much...it hurts so much...I can't take it...hurry up!" Her voice was sharp and shrill. Hearing her speak, the executioner came forward and told Zhang the Skinner to stop, telling her that if she confessed, she would be killed with one cut. But as soon as Zhang the Skinner stopped, Zhou Yuyan fell silent again.

Seeing that she wouldn't confess, Zhang the Skinner continued peeling with focused concentration, cutting deeper when he reached her genitals, peeling off the roots of her pubic hair. Then, with the blade facing inward, he carefully peeled off her labia and clitoris completely. The knife was cut inwards, even peeling off an inch of the vaginal mucosa. The excruciating pain of the genital mutilation brought Zhou Yuyan's screams to a climax. She then fainted, and someone immediately sprayed her awake with cold water.

By this time, the skin peeled from Zhou Yuyan's torso was quite long. The skinner carefully rolled up the skin, dripping water to keep it moist. The skin was peeled down to her groin. Then the skin was peeled from her arms, down to her wrists, where it was cut at the junction of her palm and wrist. Zhou Yuyan fainted again from the pain, only to be revived by the splash. When she awoke, Zhou Yuyan was deathly pale from the pain. The executioner, holding a dagger, approached again and asked her if she would confess: "Confess, and we'll give you a quick death—one stab to the heart. Don't confess, this is just the beginning; you'll suffer the full punishment!" Zhou Yuyan desperately wanted to be stabbed, but she hardened her heart, gritted her teeth, and endured the pain without uttering a sound. The supervising officer cursed, "You long-haired woman, let's see how long you can hold out!"

Zhang the Skinner began peeling off her lower body again, first rolling the skin from the front half up to her thighs, then peeling the skin down her long, slender thighs. Zhou Yuyan's young body was incredibly beautiful and elastic, but her skin was also taut and difficult to peel. Unlike the loose skin of an elderly person, which could be easily torn off with a few cuts, this made Zhou Yuyan suffer considerably. However, young people's skin is firm and dense, not easily broken. If peeled well, the entire skin could be wrapped around a wax figure, making it indistinguishable from a living person.

As Zhang the Skinner peeled the skin off her thighs, blood kept flowing from her upper body. To avoid hindering his work, two assistants worked together. One used a hot salt water cloth to press and dry the wounds, while the other used a branding iron to heat the larger bleeding points one by one. With each branding, a wisp of smoke rose, and the bleeding point stopped, causing Zhou Yuyan to shudder in pain. At this point, Zhou Yuyan's pain was multifaceted: peeling, tearing, rubbing with salt water, and branding with hot irons. The excruciating pain was unbearable even for a fairy descending to earth. Her cries grew increasingly pitiful and desperate, and she fainted more frequently. But each time she fainted, she was awakened by a splash of ice water; they couldn't let her escape the torment. After peeling the skin

from
her thighs came her knees. Here, the skin was tightly attached to the bone, posing a challenge for both Zhang the Skinner and Zhou Yuyan. Zhang had to be careful not to break the skin, so he could only cut close to the kneecap. This added the pain of scraping the periosteum to Zhou Yuyan's experience. It is said that the periosteum is far more sensitive to pain than the skin. Guan Yu, over 1600 years ago, was hailed as a hero of all time simply for enduring the bone-scraping surgery on his arrow wound. Today, this young heroine was to endure the brutal scraping of two large pieces of her kneecap periosteum, each piece larger than a large steamed bun, far exceeding the size of Guan Yu's wound. The pain was likely ten or even a hundred times greater than what Guan Yu had felt.

Zhou Yuyan was now experiencing a continuous, excruciating, and seemingly endless pain, far beyond her endurance. She even doubted whether she could withstand it any longer. The executioner's promise of a single, fatal blow, freeing her from all suffering, was far too tempting. Several times, she couldn't help but beg for mercy and confess. But thinking of Hong Xuanjiao's special status, her sisterly bond with her, and the blow to the morale of the Heavenly Kingdom's soldiers from the exposure of the Heavenly King's sister, the Western Queen's capture, she stubbornly held back. She deceived herself, telling herself that this wasn't torture to force a confession, but punitive torture. There was no way to confess; she had no choice but to endure the pain until death. Only by thinking this way could she persevere.

While Zhou Yuyan was wrestling with her conscience and desperately enduring the ordeal, the skin on her calves was peeled off, all the way down to her ankles. The entire front of her body was ripped off alive from her young flesh. Zhang the Skinner dipped the skin piece into a bucket of fresh brine, then quickly carried the bucket to the wax figure. He carefully attached the skin to the wax figure's front, flattening, straightening, and taut it, ensuring a seamless finish at all edges. Then, using many fine needles, he nailed the skin piece to the wax figure along the edges.

Zhou Yuyan remained nailed to the rack, enduring excruciating torture. The muscles of her forebody were exposed, their strong lines clearly visible. Fresh blood continuously seeped from the wounds, with large bleeding points forming streams of blood. The executioner returned, holding a brine-soaked cloth in his left hand and a branding iron in his right, asking if she would confess. If she didn't, she would either be violently rubbed with the brine-soaked cloth or branded with a red-hot iron. At first, each stab was accompanied by a scream. Later, Zhou Yuyan's voice became hoarse, and she no longer had the strength to scream. Neither the concentrated salt water compress nor the branding iron caused any further reaction beyond a spasm in her muscles.
After arranging the skin, Chen the Skinner moved to Zhou Yuyan's back and began peeling away the skin from top to bottom, inch by inch, from her fair, jade-like back. By this time, Zhou Yuyan was more likely dead than alive, occasionally letting out a low moan when the pain became unbearable. It took more than an hour to peel off most of the skin from her lower body. At this point, Zhou Yuyan had lost all sense of time; that hour felt like a year, ten years—an endless, agonizing ordeal. Her consciousness was completely confused. Her once bright red lips had turned deathly pale, and she occasionally uttered low, pleading cries: "It hurts...it hurts so much...I'm so thirsty...please...hurry up...I can't take it anymore." She seemed deaf to the executioner's shouts. She had convinced herself that there was no way out, no escape from the pain; she could only patiently await death. Death was near, very near… The process of skinning her alive took over two hours. By noon, almost all the skin on this young heroine's body had been peeled off, leaving Zhou Yuyan nailed to the rack. Only her head, face, neck, hands, and feet remained. The rest of her body was covered in gruesome, bright red wounds and constantly twitching muscles. Her once beautiful and spirited face was now distorted by pain. Her bright eyes had lost their luster and could no longer be opened. Only the faint rise and fall of her chest and abdomen with each breath proved she was still alive.
Over there, Chen the Skinner was busy attaching the skin pieces from the back of the wax figure, then carefully sewing the front and back pieces together with flesh-colored silk thread along the edges of the wounds. Indeed, a skilled hand produces fine work. After sewing, the young, healthy body was perfectly reconstructed on the wax figure. The high places were high, the low places were low—the prominent breasts, the flat abdomen, the rounded shoulders, the long limbs, the smooth back—it was exactly the same as Zhou Yuyan when she was first nailed to the rack.

Meanwhile, on the rack, the Taiping Army female general, already skinned, was still suffering in the north wind. The executioner wasn't letting her off the hook. First, he tortured her with salt water and branding irons. Later, seeing that she had little reaction, he simply poured an entire bucket of salt water onto her bare wounds. Then, he used iron clamps to clamp the muscles and tear them apart piece by piece, ripping off her strong tendons and muscles. The cruel torture of skinning and dismembering was truly used on her in its entirety. She wasn't dead yet, but remained in a coma, making a confession impossible.

She only uttered intermittent, almost delirious moans and cries: "It hurts so much... I'm dying... I'm dying... Princess Consort... take care... I'm going... I didn't say anything." Luckily, she spoke in a Hunan dialect, her voice muffled and indistinct, making it impossible for anyone to understand what she was saying. Hong Xuanjiao was heartbroken, but only she could bear it. She didn't utter a sound, only two streams of tears flowed down her beautiful, strong face.

Senggelinqin tortured the two female generals to death, but still couldn't extract a confession. The cruelty of the torture and the horrific sight of the two women enduring excruciating pain deepened his suspicions. If this female commander wasn't of special status and involved in the Taiping Army's top secrets, how could there be such a woman who would refuse to confess even to the death? But he had no time to think about it further; the Taiping Army was stirring again, seeking a way to break out. He still had to deal with them.

Hong Xuanjiao was imprisoned in the camp. Fearing her escape, her hands and feet were shackled with iron chains. She was given three meals a day, and several fully armed guards watched over her day and night.

Meanwhile, Senggelinqin, during a lull in his military duties, thought of this mysterious and beautiful female rebel. He was undecided. After several days of interrogation, he had executed a group of female soldiers, torn apart by five horses, burned a female general alive, and even skinned another female general alive, yet he still couldn't ascertain her identity. He had clearly captured a female rebel leader, a great achievement, but her identity remained unknown. If he reported her as one of Hong Xiuquan's concubines based on his own guess, what if he was wrong? Wouldn't that be a crime of deceiving the emperor? Keeping her in the camp was also risky; she was highly skilled in martial arts, brave and fierce, and if she escaped in the chaos of battle, it would be another disaster. Furthermore, leaving a stunningly beautiful female rebel in the camp, hiding her without reporting it, could lead to a difficult situation if an enemy reported it to him.

Senggelinqin pondered this, growing increasingly troubled. He could only consult with a group of trusted confidants. After much discussion, they finally came up with a brilliant plan: escort the female rebel to the capital, claiming that they had captured a female general, but due to the busy military affairs, they hadn't had time to thoroughly investigate her identity. They requested the Ministry of Justice to investigate carefully, and if no evidence was found, they wouldn't be punished. If she was indeed a high-ranking figure, they would have the merit of capturing a bandit leader and escorting her to the capital. Senggelinqin thought it was a good idea and selected a capable officer from the Jianrui Battalion to lead a troop of cavalry and about ten infantrymen to escort the female captive to the capital. The
escorting
officer knew that Hong Xuanjiao's identity was special and that she was skilled in martial arts, so he dared not be careless and put her into a prison cart. The prison cart was actually a short, small iron cage with wheels, made entirely of thick iron bars except for the front. She was forced to kneel in the cage. In front of the cage were two iron plates, each with a round hole in the center. Her head was pulled out of the car, then the plates were closed, shackled around her neck. Because the holes were only inches from the bottom of the cage, she could only kneel with her back bent and unable to move. Iron shackles were placed on her ankles and nailed to the iron bars at the bottom of the cage. Another iron bar was inserted through her knees, pressing her calves firmly against the bottom of the cage. Her arms were twisted behind her back, pulled out of the top of the cage, and an iron bar was inserted under her elbows, wedging them outside the cage. Her forearms were then bent downwards, hardened into the cage, and handcuffed at the wrists. An iron chain was used to pull her handcuffed hands down and lock them to the iron bars at the bottom of the cage. To prevent hijacking, an iron chain was also pierced through her collarbone and locked to the iron bars beside the cage. Once the cage was closed, the strong and tall Hong Xuanjiao was crammed into the short, narrow iron cage. She could only kneel inside, head bowed and back bent, her limbs locked tight, unable to move a single muscle. Her arms were especially stiff, her shoulder joints almost dislocated, causing her immense pain. By the end of the day, her knees and calves, chafed by the iron bars at the bottom of the cage, were in excruciating pain. Even when she went to an inn for a meal in the evening, she wasn't allowed out; eight Qing soldiers were assigned to guard her in shifts. The next

day, when they set off, because many passersby had come to see the heavily guarded young woman, to prevent news from leaking and causing trouble, they simply covered the prison cart with a black cloth. They didn't open it during the day, depriving her of food and water or the ability to relieve herself. If she couldn't hold it in any longer, she would relieve herself on the ground; fortunately, the cage only had a few iron bars underneath, so she could urinate and defecate on the road outside. The black cloth was removed only in the evening, and she was given a little food. That day, Hong Xuanjiao happened to be menstruating, and her body was covered in menstrual blood. She already suffered from gynecological problems like menstrual cramps, and being forced to kneel with her back bent so low, her lower abdomen constricted, intensified the pain, making her face pale and her body covered in cold sweat. Although Hong Xuanjiao was strong, she couldn't bear this torture and couldn't help but groan and cry out, but no one paid her any attention. The officer simply hurried on his way, hoping to reach the capital as soon as possible to report back

and clear his name. Fortunately, the journey was uneventful, without any trouble. Upon arriving in the capital, the Jianrui Battalion officer went to the Ministry of Justice to explain his purpose. The official in charge of the Ministry of Justice immediately recognized this as a troublesome matter; those who had captured her didn't know her identity, so how could the Ministry of Justice possibly find out? Furthermore, the female prisoner was on the verge of death, and her lower body was covered in blood. She was clearly a seriously wounded female prisoner; taking her in, even if she died, wouldn't be a disaster. He dared not take her in rashly and went to report to his superior. The Minister of Justice was not present that day, and the Vice Minister, upon hearing the news, also felt troubled and initially wanted to refuse. However, considering that the person sent was Prince Senggelinqin, the Emperor's cousin, a high-ranking official with direct access to the Emperor's ears, and that the court currently relied on him to repel the enemy, enjoying great favor from the Emperor, they couldn't refuse and had to accept him first.

After accepting the prisoner, the Ministry of Justice took Hong Xuanjiao out of the prison cart. According to regulations, prisoners had to be bathed and cleaned, examined, and then dressed in prison clothes and Ministry of Justice shackles. After a flurry of activity, Hong Xuanjiao was washed clean, and her disheveled hair was tied up. Upon closer inspection, she was a stunning beauty. Although she had a somewhat worldly appearance, her beauty was still undeniable, and her figure was quite agile. Apart from some old scars and abrasions on her limbs, there were no major injuries. Only there was some vaginal bleeding, which the prison doctor examined and found to be menstruation. The officers of the Jianrui Battalion had warned them that she was a female bandit leader with extraordinary skills, and the fact that she had her collarbones pierced confirmed this. He dared not delay, and had her placed in a heavy cangue weighing sixty jin (approximately 30 kg) with shackles weighing forty jin (approximately 20 kg). He dared not place her in the women's prison, but instead put her in the death row, where skilled male guards took turns watching over her day and night.

The next day, during her court appearance, two constables brought Hong Xuanjiao, wearing the cangue and shackles, to the court and forced her to kneel. The interrogating officer ordered the constables to pull her hair up and, expecting her to be a vicious, ugly, and uncouth female bandit, was surprised to find her to be a beautiful woman, though her eyes held a hint of murderous intent. He first asked her name, but she ignored him, remaining silent despite kind words and threats.

The interrogating officer was not confident in his interrogation skills; he thought the elite troops in the army had many skilled torturers, and if torture could force a confession from this female prisoner, there would be no need to send her to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation. With the Taiping army approaching the capital, morale was low, and no one cared about investigating further; they sought to avoid trouble rather than gain merit. Following protocol, they first whipped her forty times with a rattan cane. Initially, the officers, seeing her fair skin, didn't hit her hard, but seeing her ability to withstand pain, they whipped her harder. Afterward, her smooth back was covered with crisscrossing welts, her skin torn and bleeding. She didn't utter a sound. Then they removed Hong Xuanjiao's lower garments, leaving her naked, and subjected her to another forty strokes of the cane, her plump buttocks bleeding profusely. The officers, seasoned veterans, used their most potent methods, managing to make her cry out and faint twice, but she still refused to confess.

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