There are too many lessons, and the most fundamental lesson is only two words: corruption.
"I can sleep well, be king, and sit quietly."
From the day when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Tianjing its capital, the leaders headed by the heavenly king Hong Xiuquan lost the initiative and practiced inaction. He entered Tianjing in March 1853, and committed suicide at the age of 52 in June 1864 (at that time, he said he died of hunger). 1 1 years, he never stepped out of the gate of Tianjing, only once sat in a big sedan chair carried by 64 people and went out to visit the sick Dongwangyang. The rest of the time, he is sitting in the golden dragon hall of Sun City and enjoying the splendor. The dignity and style of his imperial life are quite ostentatious.
According to forest, a British translator and agent of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the scene of the heavenly palace was recorded in Travel Notes of Tianjing. He mentioned that during a survey in front of the palace, all of a sudden, the sounds were mixed, and drums, cymbals, gongs and cannons were mixed together. It turned out that it was time for the heavenly king to eat, and these voices didn't stop until after dinner. At this moment: "The holy door was half open, and many weak and poor women either entered or left, each carrying utensils such as bowls and chopsticks and offering royal meals. Most items are made of gold. " The heavenly king has a crown, made of pure gold and weighs eight pounds; There is also a gold necklace, which weighs eight Jin. His embroidered gold robe also has gold buttons. He rose from the inner palace to the main hall to face North Korea, and took a golden cart called Shenlong Car, led by a beautiful woman.
The harem of the heavenly king and the cage of women.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom practiced polygamy. In a foreign affairs document that Yang replied to Americans, he publicly admitted: "Brothers marry wives and concubines, and the marriage is predestined." The number of wives and concubines owned by the heavenly king Hong Xiuquan is accurate: 15 people arrived in Yong 'an one year later. According to Wang Hongde Hong Daquan, who was captured during the breakout, "Hong Xiuquan loves women like life, and there are 36 women." It was later reduced. 1864, the young king of Tianjing, Hong Futang, said in his confession after being captured: "I am 16 years old this year, and the old king is my father. I have 88 mothers, and I am the second one. When I was nine years old, I gave four wives. " The 88 queens of the heavenly king here have exceeded the number of 72 queens in the three palaces and six courtyards of feudal emperors in previous dynasties.
Hong Xiuquan also made many strange rules and regulations for his empresses, which should be strictly observed. If women are forbidden to look up at him, "at first glance, it's a big sin for the Lord to go against the sky." "If you look at your shoulders, you'd better look at your chest. If you look at your eyes boldly, you will ignore 1 this day (all quoted from your father's poems).
In Poems of the Heavenly Father, we can't see Hong Xiuquan's equal thought of "all men are brothers and all women are sisters" when he began to worship God, only absolute authority and suppression of women.
Is Qionglou Yuyu high or not?
After the Taiping Army entered Tianjing, it widely publicized two words: "It's time for all countries to come to Korea and build great projects." In fact, no country came to North Korea at that time, and construction began immediately.
The construction of Tianwangfu began in the second month after entering the city. Wang Fu is a group of palaces surrounded by a yellow wall three feet high on the basis of the former Governor's Office of Liangjiang. There is an imperial ditch two feet deep and two feet wide outside the palace wall. There is a three-hole stone bridge on the ditch called Wulong Bridge for pedestrians to come and go. The first door to cross the bridge is the Tianchao Gate, with yellow silk hanging over ten feet long, and a 5-foot-long imperial edict written by the heavenly king: "All ministries and ministers should stop here before they can enter, or there will be snow in the clouds (the code word for" beheading "by Taiping Army).
After entering the celestial gate, we entered the second gate, the holy gate. There are two drums and two glazed tile drum-blowing pavilions by the door. The drums are beating for 24 hours, the piano is curling and the music is melodious. After passing through the sacred Tianmen Gate, you enter the palace area. There is a memorial archway with dozens of palaces in the east and west rows. In front of it is the Golden Dragon Hall where the King of Heaven sits. Behind the main hall is a long hall with seven or eight entrances. At the end of the hall, the ninth entrance is a three-story building. The top floor is surrounded by bars with long windows. When you climb the building, you can overlook dozens of miles away. The construction of this heavy temple is based on the nine days designed by Hong Xiuquan himself. There are East Garden, West Garden and Houlin Garden in Wang Fu. There is Zhou Shi in the pool in the garden, and Chi Pan has five floors, which can also be viewed from a distance.
According to historical records, the decoration of this palace is "beautifully carved, decorated with gold and painted with colorful colors." The court pillars are painted with red dragons, kissed with gold, the doors and windows are pasted with satin paper, the walls are painted with mud gold, and the ground is paved with marble. "("shield nose record "volume 5)
The first phase of Tianwangfu project was completed in half a year, but it was partially destroyed by a sudden fire. The second phase of the project began in the first month of the following year. The masonry and wood used in the second phase of the project were all removed from the Forbidden City, temples and private houses in the Ming Dynasty. Construction workers mainly expropriate women and elderly people who are not in the army, while craftsmen are recruited from Anhui and Hubei at the behest of the heavenly king, all of whom work for free.
The third phase of Tianwangfu project is planned to extend 20 miles around.
At the same time of large-scale construction, the princes and nobles of Tianjing are also competing for luxury and wealth, competing to make gorgeous rows and rows, often customized like horses. Starting from the "Second Sima" under the jurisdiction of 25 people at the grass-roots level, four people carried black sedan chairs, increasing layer by layer. Dongwangyang takes a rhubarb sedan chair carried by 48 people every time he travels. In summer, there are water sedan chairs, glass filled with water and goldfish. Every trip is a courtesy, just like a contest.
King Hong Xiuquan never leaves the palace gate. There is a golden cart led by a beautiful woman in the palace. There are 64 people standing outside the palace, carrying dragons, phoenixes and topaz. In order to adapt to the extravagant wind, there are 1000 people in the palace,1000 people in the palace, and there are gongs and music in the palace. Extremely extravagant.
From Wuhan to Nanjing, the Taiping Army seized trophies, confiscated Tianjing's industrial and commercial property, and drove away the residents. After the men and women separated, they collected countless money from the residents' homes. In order to manage and use these gold and silver treasures, the China Dynasty set up gold officials who were responsible for casting, printing and manufacturing gold and silver vessels. A jade bureau specializing in carving jade articles; Tube manufacturing crown hat standard horn hat; Classic golden boots for making boots and shoes. For example, make 24 golden bowls and chopsticks for Tianwang. "The ribs are nearly feet long and the bathtub is also gold." (A Brief History of Jinling Province) Even chamber pot is made of gold.
Officials in China pursue luxurious styles in dress and decoration, competing with each other, and are extremely luxurious. A robe can reach the output of China people. The golden buttons and eight catties of gold crowns of the heavenly king Hong Xiuquan are priceless.
In addition to being so extravagant for the King of Heaven, more than 365,438+0,000 civil and military officials at all levels participated in the struggle for food, clothes and ostentation, most of whom were meritorious brothers of Wang, Qi and Hong Xiuquan during the uprising. At this time, they are all redundant idlers, enjoying the glory, and soon hollowed out the Jinshan Yinhai plundered from the library.
According to Zhang Zai, a famous spy lurking in the official's son's palace in the north of Tianjing, in the first letter sent to the commander-in-chief of the Qing army in September 1853, "When the pseudo-holy library just broke the city, there were more than 18 million, but at this time there were only more than 8 million." The sixth message sent two months later said: "The pseudo-holy library was reported to have more than 8 million in September, and now it is only1000000. I wonder why its use is so wasteful? " (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Ⅳ 761,page 774)
Your report spread all over the country.
1On September 2, 856 (July 27, the sixth year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom), the Tianjing Incident happened suddenly, and more than 20,000 officials under East Wang Yang died by the swords of Wei Changhui, Qin Rigang and others. It turned out that there was a legend that the heavenly king killed Yang with a secret imperial edict, but Hong Xiuquan always denied it. Up to now, there is no definite evidence about Yang's forced seal and heavenly king's secret edict, which is generally considered to be Wei Changhui's imperial edict. In any case, this is the inevitable result of the political struggle between power and profit caused by corruption. The Tianjing incident dealt a fatal blow to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, * * * created five foreign surnames Wang who contributed to the uprising and the establishment of the dynasty. The five kings were Feng Yunshan, king of the south, and Xiao Chaogui, king of the west. They all died on the way from Guangxi to Nanjing. East Wang Yang who was killed by Wei Changhui, the northern king, in the Tianjing Incident; Wei Changhui, the northern king who was later killed by the heavenly king Hong Xiuquan; After the Tianjing Incident, Shi Dakai, the wing king, was the only one among the five physical surnames.
After the Tianjing Incident, Shi Dakai returned to the North Korean auxiliary government, which was supported by the Manchu military and civilians. However, at this time, the Hong brothers and sons were eager to seal the king after the death of the East King. First, the King of Heaven made their eldest brother Hong Renfa an Wang and their second brother Hong Renda an Wang to contain Shi Dakai. Shi Dakai angrily led the troops away and vowed never to come back.
After Shi Dakai left, Hong Xiuquan had to shed the titles of his two second brothers to thank the world, but he still failed to recall Shi Dakai and his hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers to Tianjing, thus losing an opportunity to revitalize the kingdom of heaven.
After the Tianjing Incident, the Taiping Army lost tens of thousands of elite cadres, and Shi Dakai, the wing king, split out and took away hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, which greatly weakened the military strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and put the situation in jeopardy. At this point, Zeng Guofan's Xiang army besieged Anqing on the fourth road, threatening to break Beijing this year and capture Hong Xiuquan alive. Fortunately, Chen Yucheng, a new young soldier, revived his military power in Anhui and joined forces with Li Xiucheng and Nian Army to fight back against the enemy. June1858+065438+1October 15 Destroyed more than 6,000 Li, the main force of Xiang Army. Later, in pursuit of victory, the siege of Anqing was solved without fighting, and the gateway of the upper reaches of Tianjing was held. Chen Yucheng returned to northern Anhui, defeated the Qing army in Luzhou, and captured Li, the governor of Anhui in the Qing Dynasty, which reversed and stabilized the critical situation in the past two years after the Tianjing Incident.
Hong Xiuquan, in view of the storm caused by Brother B's sealing the king, announced that China would never seal the king again. On top of the original marquis, titles such as Yu, Yan, Fu, An, Yi and ***6 were added, and Chen Yucheng was appointed as full-time Yu, and Li Xiuwei was a perfect man. At the same time, the previous system of commanders of the five armies was restored, with Chen Yucheng as the former commander, Li Xiu as the later commander, Yang Fuqing as the commander of Ren Zhongfang, Wei Jun as the right commander, Li Shixian as the commander, Chen Yucheng as the "chief commander" and Li Xiu as the deputy commander to command the whole army. The formulation and title of this new title generally reflects the subordinate relationship of all Taiping Heavenly Kingdom troops after the Tianjing Incident and the command system formed according to their military capabilities. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom once again witnessed the resurgence of reconstruction after the chaos.
However, the collapse of Chen Yucheng triggered a new chain reaction. Because of his great contribution, Chen Yucheng was very popular with the second-class jade Jue in the knight's road. Now he suddenly surpassed the four-level title, and naturally there are other active warriors to keep up with the competition. First, Li Xiucheng, the commander of the rear army stationed in Pukou to defend the north gate of Tianjing, secretly communicated with Li Zhaoshou who defected to the enemy, and reported it to China after being discovered.
King Hong Xiuquan was so frightened that he ordered the river to be closed to prevent change, and at the same time wrote a letter to Li Xiucheng as a loyal gentleman. Subsequently, Yang Fuqing, commander of China Army, was appointed as the auxiliary king, and Li Shixian, commander of Zuo Jun, was appointed as the servant king. Wei Jun, the left-behind commander of the right army, led tens of thousands of people to mutiny in Chizhou, Anhui, because he was Wei Changhui's younger brother.
These Hong families, big and small, made kings and became tyrants in Beijing. Especially when Hong Renfa, a loyal gentleman of "Beijing is always a mirror", and Hong Renda, a brave gentleman of the "Kingsguard", are in charge of state affairs and run rampant in Tianjing. If they were in charge of the entrance and exit of the city gate by selling "Redstone Tickets", even loyal Li Xiucheng had to pay 654.38+ 2 million silver to get out of the city. For another example, before Tianjing fell into the final encirclement, some people in the DPRK suggested buying grain in advance and transporting it back to Beijing to prepare for the war. However, due to the high price of the "flood ticket" to and from the city gate, heavy taxes have to be paid when transporting grain back, and grain sellers refuse to buy any more grain, resulting in a grain shortage after Tianjing was besieged. Hong Xiuquan called on the soldiers and civilians to eat grass, euphemistically called "manna". He died himself, because he was sick after eating grass, and there was no medicine to cure him (it is recorded that he committed suicide by taking poison).
Because Hong Xiuquan abused the title of king for his brother-in-law, the wind of kingship spread rapidly for a time, and several brothers even sold officials and titles. Later, there was really no title, so I added an oblique word to the word "Wang" and created a new word? ",for the sixth king, a total of * * * sealed more than 2700 kings.
Anyone who is crowned king, regardless of rank or position, once crowned, immediately repairs the palace, holds a beauty pageant, holds a ceremonial ceremony, and surrounds himself when he goes out, blocking the streets. According to the etiquette system of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the second Sima, a 16-level junior official with 25 people, can go out in a black sedan chair carried by four people, not to mention the prestige of the general Wang and others who led the troops above. Today, it is circulating in Zhejiang that Li Shixian, a servant, goes out to sit in a dragon, phoenix and yellow sedan chair carried by 54 people, on which his subordinates can be called for a meeting. Wherever Wang Ye's sedan chair goes, small officials, soldiers and civilians should avoid it. Those who can't avoid it should bow their heads and kneel on the spot to see him off. If they accidentally bump into the etiquette ceremony, they will be flogged or beheaded. Because there were too many princes at that time, the people couldn't meet them, so a folk song was circulated: "The princes walked everywhere and the people cried."
So many princes needed a lot of handyman to serve them, so they arrested Rafe to recruit and surrender. On the other hand, in order to raise soldiers and create a comfortable home, they levy exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes under various pretexts, such as shop donation, stock donation, monthly donation, Japanese donation, house donation, government donation, kitchen donation, worship donation, house number tax, poll tax, teacher fee and so on. At the beginning of China, the land tax was set at seven liters and five buckets per mu, and increased to seven buckets per mu two years later.
The scraped land went into the pockets of princes and local officials, so the extravagant wind of building and ostentation prevailing in Tianjing blew to the newly occupied areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and many official houses in Wang Fu were built one after another. The stone in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and the clock in Suzhou, Jiangsu, which are still well preserved, were built in two or three years of war. Especially the palaces, houses and gardens of Suzhou Zhongwangfu, even the new owner Li Hongzhang is amazed: "The Qionglou Yuyu and Qulan bridal chambers of Zhongwangfu are really like fairy caves." "There are three or four gardens and two or three stages, which is unprecedented in my life." (Quoted from Luo Ergang's History of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Volume 38) This building began when Taiping Army/KLOC-0 captured Suzhou in June, 860, and fell to Suzhou in February, 863. "Hundreds of craftsmen have been working all the year round, the work has not been completed, and the city has been broken." . (Record of Robbery Relics)
Li Xiucheng claims to have millions of soldiers, so he has deep pockets. In addition to Suzhou's "Garden Pavilion, Flowers and Plants" Palace, Tianjing has also built a more magnificent palace, consciously or unconsciously competing for glory with the king who has no power or influence. He openly boasted about the magnificence of his new palace to forest, a British translator who visited Tianjin at 186 1.
Forrest Gump said in the Travel Notes of Tianjing: "Zhongjun boasted that his new house is the best and most beautiful building in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom except the Tiangong."
Forrest Gump lived in an old mansion in Zhong Wang and was personally received by Zhong Wang's brother. In his book, he wrote about his experience in a mansion in Zhong Wang: "Chopsticks, forks and spoons are all made of silver, knives are made in Britain, and wine glasses are made of gold and silver."
"He (Wang Di) showed me many rare things that were hidden by Wang Zhong. Besides the heavenly king, only Zhongjun has a crown of real gold, which is really beautiful and exquisite. The crown is a thin piece of gold, carved into the shape of a tiger, and the tiger body and tail can grow around the crown; There is a bird on each side, among which, there is a phoenix standing on the crown. The front and back of the crown are inlaid with precious stones, which I have put on my head and weigh about three pounds. Zhongjun also has A Jin Ruyi, with many precious stones and pearls embedded in it ... All utensils that can be made of silver are made of silver, scabbard and belt are all made of silver, umbrella handle is silver, fans, whips and mosquito swatter handles are all silver, and Wang Di's hands are all gold bracelets and silver bracelets. "
So, Li Xiucheng, the late commander-in-chief with millions of soldiers, may have millions of wealth at the same time.
The new king paid tribute to the soldiers in order to collect money and make a fortune. When Chen Yucheng fought bloody battles to defend Anqing, the gateway to the upper reaches of Tianjing, Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian, brothers with millions of troops, wholeheartedly managed Jiangsu and Zhejiang sites. They never sent a single soldier to help in northern Anhui, and watched Anqing and Luzhou fall one after another, while Chen Yucheng sacrificed. It was not until/0/7 days after the fall of Luzhou that Tianjing fell into the encirclement of the Xiang army again, that Li Xiucheng saw the danger of the overall situation being shaken and organized/0/3 Wang 600,000 troops to rescue Tianjing. But because of the king's selfish desires, he was passive and afraid of war. After 46 days of fighting, the 20,000 Xiang army, which was hungry and cold, was not beaten back, but broke up on the pretext of lack of warm clothes. Until the fall of Tianjing, there was no king to save them.
These princes returned to their comfort zone and enjoyed the splendor. Xiao Wang didn't listen to the middle king, and the middle king didn't listen to the king. Finally, they defected. Suzhou, painstakingly managed by Li Xiucheng, was also presented to Li Hongzhang by his confidant, the Four Kings, who defected to the enemy. It took Li Xiucheng only three and a half years from the occupation of Suzhou to the fall of Suzhou, and his million-strong army collapsed. Li Xiucheng's million-strong army was swallowed up by corrupt poisonous bacteria. After the fall of Suzhou, Li Xiucheng only led hundreds of relatives to flee to Tianjing, but Tianjing also fell six months later. When Tianjing fell, Li Xiucheng protected the young king from breaking out of the city, broke away from the brigade and fled to Fangshan alone. He took off the treasure bag wrapped around his waist and was found resting. The treasure bag was robbed, and he was also arrested and sent to Qingying as a prisoner. After he was robbed of the old and new palaces in Tianjing, he was razed to the ground by the fire, leaving only the ruins like the Temple of the King, leaving wild pigeons flying about. The premature decline of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, regardless of policy and military strategic mistakes, could not resist the temptation of greed and corruption after entering the city from the countryside, and it intensified, eventually leading to the demise of a million-strong army in a flash. This lesson is extremely painful and cannot but arouse the deep thought of future generations.