Chapter 81 2. Jintian Uprising

Between Jiaqing and Daoguang, bandits in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan were rampant, and gangsters were everywhere.This situation did not improve until the end of the Qing Dynasty. For example, the Guangxi warlord Lu Rongting in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China was born as a green forest hero, and Mr. Sun Yat-sen's repeated uprisings in Guangdong and Guangxi were all based on the power of the party. However, the development of history is often combined with more accidental factors.In 1843, in order to consolidate Hong Kong, a valuable oriental colony, the British Empire appointed a new Assistant Superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Department, and the Royal Navy also stepped up its activities to suppress pirates in the South China Sea. Does it matter?Not to mention, it really has a lot to do with it.The new Assistant Inspector, not only proficient in Chinese, but also deeply familiar with the inside story of China's three religions and nine streams, so after he took office, the South China pirate community that has been haunting Hong Kong for a long time immediately felt the pressure.He deftly used local informers and interrogated sampans in Hong Kong waters to learn where the pirates were going.The Royal Navy, on the other hand, gave full play to the power of the steam warships, combined with accurate intelligence, and killed the pirates, gradually driving these pirates out of the ocean.

The unemployed pirates had to enter the inland river and go up along the waters of the Xijiang River.And the equipment of the Daqingshui Division in this area is only: four large ships, each with fourteen officers, soldiers and sailors; eighteen small boats, each capable of carrying two people-it's no wonder it can be managed with this little strength.These new "river bandits" combined with the local "bandits" through party relations, which led to the prosperity of "banditry" in Guangxi. Since there are bandits everywhere, and the government cannot wipe them all out, it makes sense for the common people to organize their own forces to guard the village. This is the so-called "Tuan Lian" at that time. direct descendants.Because there are villains like Hu Hansan among the descendants of "Tuanlian", they are quite eye-catching today. However, at that time, this was an important force for maintaining law and order in the local area.If the local league training is done well, it will be commended by the government, but if it is not done well, it will be like a bandit.By 1846, the number of "Tuanlian" had expanded rapidly, becoming an intermediate force that was increasingly difficult for the government to control.

Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and others took the excuse that banditry was too serious in the local area. In order to maintain law and order, they set up their own regiment training in Jintian Village, called "Baoliang Attack Bandit Association", and openly trained troops to raise money and recruit disciples.Because the joints in the government were not opened up, and there was friction with the local regiment training—the "Baoliang Attack Bandit Association" was not recognized by the local government.Before Baoliang or the attacking bandits had time, a team of soldiers was attracted to ransack the house. Feng Yunshan was arrested and taken to Guixian prison.To make matters worse, 17 other congregation lists were also confiscated by the government.Hong Tianwang went to Guangzhou in person, trying to find Qiying, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to make a theory, but unfortunately the governor was listening to the order in front of the imperial court in Beijing, so he had to return without success.

But in Bauhinia Mountain, there is no leader among the dragons, thanks to Yang Xiuqing and others who stayed calm in the face of danger, the situation was stabilized.Yang Xiuqing, who was deaf and dumb due to illness at the time, "suddenly opened his golden mouth" to spread the word on behalf of the "Father", and together with Xiao Chaogui, who spoke on behalf of the "Brother Heaven", shocked the congregation and swept away the voices of the opposition.Because bandits were everywhere in Guangxi at that time, the government was busy suppressing bandits, and did not pay attention to the "Baoliang Attack Bandits Association" which belonged to the local security forces. As soon as the money came to the joints, Feng Yunshan and others were released soon.

Yang Xiuqing is a native of Zijin Mountain in Guiping. He used to grow mountains and burn charcoal as a career.He often leads heroes from all over the world. Although he is poor, he always sells charcoal money and takes bamboo tubes into the market to sell wine to entertain guests.On the way, he sang loud songs from time to time, which seemed to disregard the Tianmen.After this incident, Yang Xiuqing also became the number two person after Hong Xiuquan because of the rumors on behalf of the "Heavenly Father". Desperadoes from all over the world came to the meeting one after another, the famous ones were Qin Rigang and Lin Fengxiang from Guixian County, and Luo Gangang from Jieyang Pirate.

1850 was an eventful year.At that time, Emperor Daoguang died of illness in Yuanmingyuan, and the bandits in Guangxi became more and more serious. To be honest, at that time, the Qing court really did not notice the chaos that was about to occur in Jintian Village, especially in Xiuren, Lipu and other places. Banditry is especially serious.In August, the Qing court transferred Xiang Rong, the former admiral of Gu, into Guangxi.In September, with Lin Zexu as the imperial envoy, he went to Guizhou together with Zhang Bilu, the former admiral of Yunnan, to suppress the bandits.In October, Zheng Zuchen, governor of Guangxi, was removed from his post and Lin Zexu was appointed governor of Guangxi. However, Lin Zexu died of illness as soon as he arrived in Chaozhou.In November, the Qing court appointed Li Xingyuan, the governor of Liangjiang, who was living in Xiangyin, as the imperial envoy, and Zhou Tianjue as the governor of Guangxi.

At the end of the year, thousands of Hakka residents in Jiaying Prefecture fought unfavorably with the natives of Guixian County. They were defeated in Guiping and came to Zijing Mountain to join the God Worship Association.Hong Xiuquan ordered congregations from all over the country to gather in Jintian Village and set up a "group camp".On the 10th day of December in the 30th year of Daoguang, or January 11th of the following year (1851) according to the Western calendar, Hong Xiuquan and others announced an uprising in Jintian, which was named the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.More than 10,000 congregations participated in the uprising, and many of them were joined by the whole family or even the whole village.The Taiping Army divided into men's battalions and women's battalions, and implemented military communism, adopting a supply system to solve the food problem.

As early as November of the lunar calendar, Zhang Yong, the inspector, led troops to attack Siwang Ruins in Pingnan, and was killed by Hong Xiuquan and others.After hearing the news, Li Xingyuan, the imperial envoy, immediately dispatched Zhou Fengqi, the commander-in-chief, to go to the conquest. On the 29th, the two sides fought.Since then, Hong Xiuquan's name has been registered in Beijing. This name was mentioned for the first time in the imperial decree on the fifth day of the first month of the first year of Xianfeng, "The thieves in Jintian Village are Wei Zheng, Hong Xiuquan, etc., and everyone resisted."From this edict, we can see that the intelligence work of the Qing Dynasty was really bad, but Hong Xiuquan's name was not mistaken, and it also confused the leader list of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which made Wei Changhui blatantly overstep.

However, this is just the beginning. In the next ten years, the edicts of the Qing Dynasty will keep mentioning this name that has caused headaches for Aixinjueluo.This year, another historical figure also appeared on her stage. Yulaner, the daughter of Huizheng, a Xianglan bannerman, was selected into the palace. Her surname was Yehenala. The Qing Dynasty dispatched the admiral Xiang Rong from Hengzhou to return to the division to suppress Jintian. The Taiping Army went out of the Rhubarb Ruins and defeated Xiang Rong. Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the Taiping King here.Under the pressure of the Qing army, the Taiping army burned down the Dahuang Ruins and entered Xiangzhou.In March, the Qing Dynasty felt that the situation was grim, and appointed the great scholar Sai Shang'a as the imperial envoy, led the capital commander Ba Qing, and the deputy capital commander Da Hong'a, and went to Hunan and Guangdong to take charge of command and dispatch. Strong color.Sai Shang'a left Beijing in April, but at the moment Li Xingyuan, who was in charge of the frontline command, died of illness suddenly, and the court had to fill in the vacancy with Sai Shang'a.After May, the Qing army finally mobilized a large number of troops and gained some military advantages.

In mid-August, under the pressure of the Qing army, Hong Xiuquan and others decided to break out from the Zijing Mountain area.Going up against the Mengjiang River to attack Yong'an City, Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai led the land army's vanguard, Feng Yunshan and Yang Xiuqing led the water army to advance along the river.On September 24, 1851 in the Western calendar, the vanguard of the Taiping Army arrived at Yong'an City and immediately launched an attack.In the evening, the Taiping army entered the city, and more than 800 Qing troops were wiped out. This was the first city that the Taiping army conquered.