However, in this excellent situation, there was a cruel infighting within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Xiuquan colluded with Wei Changhui and slaughtered the East King Yang Xiu Qing, and then Shi Dakai killed Wei Changhui's family. Later, in order to avoid Hong Xiuquan's suspicion, Shi Dakai led 200,000 soldiers to flee. As a result, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was weakened and it was difficult to compete with Zeng Guofan.
As the saying goes, misfortune comes from Xiao Qiang, and the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom mainly stems from the deformity of its political structure. What was the system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time? Hong yang? Binary body. In religion, Hong Xiuquan is? Father's second son? Therefore, it is religious leaders who balance the kingdom of heaven. Claiming to be with Yang? Father is possessed? Be able to deliver orders in the name of the Father Jehovah. Therefore, the military and political power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is actually in Yang's hands.
Dualistic politics has been unstable since ancient times. Because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has two cores, infighting is inevitable. The formation of this abnormal system is related to the death of a person, namely Xiao Chaogui, the Queen Mother of the West.
After jintian uprising, Hong Xiuquan established a system in Yong 'an. Self-reliance is king, with Yang as the east king, Xiao Chaogui as the west king, Feng Yunshan as the south king, Wei Changhui as the north king and Shi Dakai as the wing king.
Like King Dongyang, Xiao Chaogui was once penniless? Charcoal burner? . The two lived next to each other, planted mountains and burned charcoal in Peng 'ai Mountain, and became close friends. Later, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan preached in the local area, and they also joined the worship of God. 1847, Feng Yunshan was arrested by the government, and Hong Xiuquan disappeared. For a time, the worship of the gods was leaderless, and there was a tendency to disperse in a hubbub.
Just then, under the guise of young Yang? Father is possessed? With the tone of God, it soothed people's hearts. Later, Xiao Chaogui followed in his footsteps and became the spokesman of Tiange Jesus. Later, he gave orders in the name of Brother Tian, raised hundreds of strings of money and rescued Feng Yunshan.
Later, Hong Xiuquan returned to the believers and recognized the special status of Yang as heavenly father and Xiao Chaogui as heavenly brothers. In this way, the status of Yang and Xiao Chaogui has soared and surpassed? Old revolution? Feng Yunshan became the second or third person to worship God.
Politically, the three-headed politics is a relatively stable political form, and the relationship among Hong Xiuquan, Yang and Xiao Chaogui is such three-headed politics. The three checks and balances each other and the three powers are separated, forming a wonderful trinity political situation. And this stable political situation is also the basis for the Taiping Army to triumph and be invincible all the way.
Compared with resourceful Yang, Xiao Chaogui is a born warrior. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom document "Awakening the World" wrote:? Tianpai West King is really brave and good at fighting, and he is slightly better at breaking enemy weapons. ? As a subordinate of Xiao Chaogui, Li Xiucheng once summed up Xiao Chaogui's military talents in eight words:? Brave and strong, charge ahead? . Li thinks that Xiao Chaogui is the best soldier of Taiping Army, even worse than Shi Dakai. Even the Qing army recognized Xiao Chaogui? Brave and good at fighting? Take the lead? Face to face, fly together? .
However, it is this brave spirit that makes Xiao Chaogui choose the middle road. In the second year of Xianfeng (1852), the Taiping Army besieged Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Under the guidance of Xiao Chaogui, the Taiping Army almost breached the city. At that time, Xiao Chaogui had led his troops to occupy the commanding heights such as Aoshan Temple and Ma Gaozhai, and stormed Changsha from the commanding heights.
In order to spy on the situation in the city, Xiao Chaogui led troops to the watchtower outside Changsha to see the military situation. At that time, Xiao Chaogui was wearing gorgeous clothes and gold and silver, which was very conspicuous. Unfortunately, it was discovered by the Qing gunners. According to Hong's account:
And sent the West King Brigade to attack Changsha, and Qin Rigang, Chen and other teams marched one after another. The former team won a great victory, broke into the outer city, besieged the city in an emergency, and the people inside were ready to move. King Shu Xi watched the city from the watchtower in abnormal clothes. Suddenly, he was wounded by a meteor shell and ascended to heaven. ?
Just as Xiao Chaogui was detecting the enemy's situation, he instantly fell into a coma. A few days later, Xiao Chaogui died of his injuries at the age of 32. In order to prevent the morale from wavering, Taiping Army secretly refused to send out obituary, and temporarily buried Xiao Chaogui in Laolongtan. Later, when the Taiping Army withdrew from Changsha, the news of Xiao Chaogui's death was revealed.
Many scholars believe that Xiao Chaogui's death dealt a great blow to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Because of his death, the political balance just established by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was instantly broken. Without the restriction of Xiao Chaogui, Yang's strength was greatly enhanced and he became the actual ruler of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In this way, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom changed from three-headed politics to two-headed politics. Although the Taiping Army kept winning militarily, political contradictions kept accumulating, which eventually led to the end that the Qing Dynasty did not die and the kingdom of heaven died first. If Xiao Chaogui hadn't died, the political situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom might have been more stable, even lasting until the demise of the Qing Dynasty. After all, the corruption of the Qing Dynasty is no less than that of the Qing Dynasty.
It can be said that although the Qing artillery fired a shot, it changed the fate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and ruined Hong Xiuquan's last chance to win the world. The tragic fate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been foreshadowed in the battle of Changsha.